Early history:
An airport was opened on the site on 16 July 1938 by the Secretary of State for Air, Kingsley Wood.During World War II, it was a base for Royal Air Force fighters. Situated where the valley of the River Lea cuts its way through the north-east end of the Chiltern Hills, the airport occupies a hill-top location, with a roughly 40 m (130 ft) drop-off at the western end of the runway
Following the war, the land was returned to the local council which continued activity at the airport as a commercial operation, providing a base for charter airlines such as Autair (which went on to become Court Line), Euravia (now Thomson Airways, following Euravia's change of name to Britannia Airways and subsequent merger with First Choice Airways), Dan-Air and Monarch Airlines. In 1972, Luton Airport was the most profitable airport in the country. It suffered a severe setback in August 1974 when major package holiday operator Clarksons and its in-house airline Court Line (which also operated local bus services) went bankrupt.
1980s and 1990s
View across London Luton Airport. A Thomsonfly Boeing 737–300 is just lifting off. The orange hangars belong to easyJet. Private jets are visible.
The next 15 years saw a process of rebuilding, including the opening of a new international terminal in 1985. In 1990, the airport was renamed London Luton Airport to re-emphasise the airport's proximity to the UK capital. In 1991, another setback occurred when Ryanair, which had flown from the airport to Ireland for a number of years, transferred its London operating base to Stansted. Later in the 90s, MyTravel Group began charter flights from the airport, using the Airtours brand and new low-cost scheduled flights from Debonair and EasyJet, the latter making Luton its base.
In August 1997, to fund an £80 million extension of the airport, the council issued a 30-year management contract to a public private partnership consortium, London Luton Airport Operations Limited, which was headed by Barclays Bank. Barclays later sold out to TBI plc.
The main feature of the development phase in 1998 was a £40 million terminal made from aluminium and glass, based on an original design by Foster and Partners. The new terminal, which was officially opened in November 1999 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, houses 60 check-in desks, baggage and flight information systems and a wide range of shops, restaurants and bars.
Recent history
In September 2004, development work started on a major project to transfer departures from the international terminal building built in 1985, to the previously unused first floor of the 1999 Terminal Building, a 9,000 sq ft (800 m2) area featuring a spectacular vaulted ceiling, which was completed with the new terminal, but intended to lie unused until required. The new departure hall opened on schedule on 1 July 2005 and features a new boarding pier extending 200 m (660 ft) out between the airport's north and east aprons and relocated security, customs and immigration facilities. This also expanded the number of boarding gates from the previous number of 19 to the current 26. In January 2005, London Luton Airport Operations Limited was acquired by Airport Concessions Development Limited, a company owned by Abertis Infraestructuras (90%) and Aena Internacional (10%), both Spanish companies. Abertis is a European infrastructure provider, whilst Aena Internacional is the international business arm of the Spanish national airport and air traffic control organisation.
All-business class airline Silverjet operated flights to Newark and Dubai from a dedicated terminal between 2006 and 2008; however, the airline has since ceased operations due to the global economic crisis.
The airport today
The airport possesses a single runway, running roughly east to west, with a length of 2,160 m (7,087 ft) at an elevation of 526 ft (160 m). The runway is equipped with an Instrument Landing System (ILS) rated to Category IIIB, allowing the airport to continue operating in conditions of poor visibility.All the airport facilities lie to the north of the runway. The terminal and aprons have a somewhat unusual layout, with ground-side access to the terminal being via a road (which goes under the taxiway) to a bus station, drop off area, taxi rank and short term car park on the runway side of the terminal building. There are approximately 60 stands available for aircraft. All of these stands are located on the northern side of the terminal building, away from the runway and connected to it by a 'U' shaped set of taxiways and aprons that together encircle the terminal.
The northern side of the U-shaped apron is ringed by a continuous line of hangars and other buildings, emphasising the fact that Luton is a major maintenance base for several airlines including Thomson Airways, Monarch Airlines and EasyJet. By contrast to the heavily built up apron area, the airport's southern boundary is entirely rural with only a few isolated farm buildings and houses close to the airport boundary.
The airport remains in municipal ownership, owned by Luton Borough Council but managed by the private sector London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL). London Luton Airport has a Civil Aviation Authority Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P835) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. An indicator of the importance of the airport to the economy of Luton is that Luton is reported to have the highest number of taxicabs per head of population in the United Kingdom.The airport has become even more critical to the future of Luton given the closure of the Vauxhall Motors factory in March 2002.[citation needed]
EasyJet's head office is Hangar 89 (H89), a building located on the grounds of London Luton Airport; the hangar, a former Britannia Airways/TUI facility, is located 150 metres (490 ft) from EasyLand, the previous headquarters of EasyJet. Hangar 89, built in 1974, has 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) of office space and can house three aircraft the size of an Airbus A319 or Boeing 737 at one time. When EasyJet received H89, it had a 1970s style office setup. EasyJet modernised the building and painted it orange.
In addition Monarch Airlines and Thomson Airways have their head offices located at the airport.