Luton Airport History![]() | ![]() |
London Luton Airport HistoryLondon Luton Airport is one of the fastest growing airport in the UK with passenger numbers increasing from 1.9 million in 1995 to 6.5 million in 2001. The Airport is publicly owned by Luton Borough Council, but for the last 30 years has been managed and developed by a Private consortium, London Luton Airport Operations Limited for a period of 30 years. During World War Two Luton airport was a base for 264 Fighter Squadron, It was also an important manufacturing site at which the Percival Aircraft Company designed and built a series of aircraft for both civil and military use. Development
of the civil use of the airport resumed after the war and in 1952 a new control
tower was opened. The 1950's and 1960's saw the start of affordable holidays which
combined the transport and accommodation package, it was named even in them days
London luton airport was officially opened in July 1938 by the right honourable Kingsley Wood, secretary of state for Air. London Luton airport was owned by the Borough of Luton and, even in those early days, it was considered that Luton ought to be designated the northern terminal for London. London Luton Airport played an important role in the development of the inclusive tour holiday business in the UK. A key event in the growth of charter traffic at London Luton took place in 1962 with the formation of a new charter airline called Euravia. At the end of 1964 Euravia had its name changed to Britannia Airways. Now, Britannia is one of the world's largest charter airlines and is still based at the London Luton airport. In 1968, Monarch Airlines, another charter operation,was formed. Monarch Airlines also developed its business over the years and continues to have its base at London Luton Airport. The growth of the inclusive tour market at London Luton Airport that in 1969 a survey revealed that a fifth of all holiday flights from the UK operated and departed from Luton Airport. By 1972 Luton Airport had become Britain's most profitable airport. London
Luton History suffered a major setback in 1974 when a major tour operator,
Clarksons and its airline Court Line, went into liquidation. This sent shockwaves
throughout the travel industry but had a major impact on Luton where Court Line
was a large airline operator. By the 1990s London
Luton scheduled service traffic was growing substantially due largely to Irish
company Ryanair. It was therefore a major blow to the airport when in 1991 Ryanair
moved most of their business to the newly opened terminal at Stansted Airport.
This caused another sharp decline in the number of passengers using London
Luton Airport and put the business back into loss. Also in 1999, Railtrack opened the new £23 million London Luton Airport Parkway station. Located on the Thameslink line, with the journey to central London taking less than 30 minutes, the new station will improve public transport access to Luton airport. A free shuttle bus will take passengers on the 1.8 km journey to Luton Airport terminal. December 2003 marked
the first anniversary of Helios Airways inaugural scheduled service from London
Luton Airport to the sunshine island of Cyprus – and two days later on 15th
December the airline reached yet another important landmark. Fares were very reasonable
The History of London luton Airport continues to thrive as today, and to find out all about this thriving airport click here and go to history London Luton airport. | London
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