Airport History - Luton Airport Car Parking from SkyParkSecure
History of Luton Airport
The Beginning
1938: London Luton Airport was officially opened on 16 July 1938 as "Luton Municipal Airport". The airport was owned by the Borough of Luton and, it was considered that Luton ought to be designated the northern terminal for London.
1939 - 1945: The airport continued to operate as a commercial aerodrome as well as being the 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 - including the famous Mosquito fighter bomber .
1952: Development of the civil use of the airport continued after the war and in 1952 a new control tower was opened. The 1950's and 1960's saw the birth of affordable holidays which combined the transport and accommodation arrangements into a single 'package'. The 'package holiday' enabled many people to travel abroad for the first time and laid the foundations of the immensely successful inclusive tour holiday market.
1962: 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 Luton took place in 1962 with the formation of a new charter airline called Euravia, which in 184 changed its name to Britannia Airways and then to Thomsonfly in 2004.
1968: Another charter operation, Monarch Airlines, was formed. Monarch are also based at London Luton and have continued to develop both charter and scheduled passenger operations here over last 4 decades.
1986: In 1986 Monarch Airlines started Monarch Crown Service scheduled flights to Spain and Irish airline Ryanair launched scheduled services from Luton to Ireland. This was the start of the growth of scheduled air services from London Luton Airport which have now become over 70 per cent of the business volume.
1990: By 1990 the scheduled service traffic was growing substantially due largely to 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.
1998: In 1998/9 the number of passengers had increased to 4.4 million and London Luton Airport was the UK's fastest growing major airport according to Civil Aviation Authority statistics.
1999: As a result of new financial backing, an £80 million development programme was completed in Autumn 1999. The main feature of this development phase was a £40 million terminal, based on an original design by Foster and Partners, which HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened in November 1999. The terminal houses 60 check-in desks, "state of the art" baggage and flight information systems and a wide range of shops, restaurants and bars.
2000: In early 2000 work to refurbish the existing terminal building saw it become a larger airside departures and arrivals area with 15 new retail and catering outlets open along with improved baggage reclaim facilities.
2004: Work has been underway since September 2004 on the largest civil engineering project undertaken at the airport since the building of the New Terminal Building in 1999.
Commenced in September 2004 this major project is scheduled for completion on 1st July 2005 and features extensive 'new build' in the form of the new Boarding Pier extending 190 metres out between the Airport's North & East Aprons and relocated Security, Customs and Immigration facilities. It also encompasses the development and remodelling of the entire 1st floor of the so-far unused 1st Floor of the 1999 Terminal.
London Luton currently supports the following scheduled airlines - EasyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Helios Airways, British Airways CitiExpress, Monarch Scheduled, Aer Arann and FlyBe. The Airport offers passengers a large choice of both scheduled and charter services including daily departures to over 50 daily scheduled UK and European destinations.
