Luton Airport Information
About Luton Airport Facilities
Luton Airport's £40 million terminal was developed in November 1999 and officially opened by HM the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. The terminal boasts 60 check-in desks, modern baggage and flight information systems and a wide range of shops, restaurants and bars. For business travellers, Luton Airport provides the Aviance Executive Lounge, the entrance to which is situated in the Departures Area shopping mall. There are a wide range of services available including refreshments, internet access and fax services. If travelling with children, there is a children's play area in the departures area near to the customer service desk and departure gates and there are GamesGrids throughout the check in and departure areas. In addition, in the upper departure lounge there is a Fun Stop amusement centre with games for all ages. For those with special needs, Luton Airport tries to ensure their disabled passengers are able to travel as comfortably and hassle free as possible. Facilities available include a designated accessible door for customers not wishing to use the revolving door, induction loops fitted into the customer services and special assistance desks and specialized equipment available to assist passengers to board and disembark the aircraft.
For travel to and from Luton Airport, there is a regular 24 hour service to central London taking only 25 minutes with Luton Airport Express from Luton Airport Parkway station. The airport runs a free shuttle bus service to and from the station which is only 1.8km from the terminal. Thameslink and Midland Mainline trains connect passengers with London, the South coast and the Midlands. Connections can be made to anywhere in the country from central London.
If travelling by coach, Luton Airport has excellent connections with key towns and cities across the country and the coach pick up and drop off points are situated in front of the terminal building. Luton Railair provide an airport coach link service which runs from Milton Keynes railway station direct to the airport terminal and National Express provide regular services to a variety of destinations countrywide. Also Luton Airport is served by frequent local bus services connecting with the airport and the surrounding areas.
The History of Luton Airport
Luton Airport was originally opened as ‘Luton Municipal Airport' by the Secretary of State of Air, the Right Honourable Kingsley Wood on 16th July 1938. At that time it was owned by the Borough of Luton and was considered to be the northern terminal for London.
During the war the airport was used as a base for 264 Fighter Squadron whilst at the same time continuing to operate as a commercial aerodrome. In addition, it was a manufacturing site where both civil and military aircraft were designed and constructed by the Percival Aircraft Company. Their many projects included the famous Mosquito fighter bomber, ‘The Wooden Wonder', which was built under licence from the De Havilland Aircraft Company.
After the war the civil use of the airport grew and 1952 saw the opening of a new control tower and over the next decade the package holiday was developed and immediately gained popularity as it provided affordable foreign travel for the first time. Luton Airport was instrumental in the development of the package holiday business in the UK and the formation of Euravia in 1962, now Thomsonfly, one of the largest charter airlines, was key to this development and is still based at the airport. In 1968 another charter operation, Monarch Airlines was formed and they too are based at Luton, continuing to expand both charter and scheduled passenger operations over the last forty years.
In 1969 a survey revealed that a fifth of all holiday flights from the UK departed from Luton Airport and by 1972, it had become the UK's most profitable airport. It did suffer a setback in 1974 when major tour operator Clarksons and its airline Court Line went into liquidation, hitting the airport's profits hard. Luton was still recognised as an important part of the London airports system however, and in 1978 plans were made with a view to raise passenger levels to 5 million a year. As part of the ongoing development a new international terminal building was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales in 1985. The following year Monarch Crown Service launched scheduled flights to Spain and also, Ryanair launched scheduled services to Ireland and this represented over 70 percent of Luton Airport's business.
In 1987 Luton International Airport became a Limited Company with Luton Borough Council as sole shareholder and the airport was renamed London Luton Airport in 1990. There was a decline in passenger numbers in 1991 however, when Ryanair moved a large part of its business to Stansted Airport.
Following local elections and an abortive attempt to sell the airport, a new management team was appointed with a view to stemming the losses and attempt to turn the airport around. Over the next five years £30 million was invested in order to full develop the site to its utmost potential.
In 1995 London Luton Airport helped pioneer the ‘low cost' or ‘no frills' flying by becoming the first UK base for easyJet and as a result of the gradual introduction of new routes passenger numbers rose from 1.9 million at the end of the following year to 3.4 million by the end of 1998.
In order to expand further London Luton Airport signed a private- public partnership in 1998, which meant that although the airport was publicly owned, it was managed and developed by a new private consortium. An £80 million development programme was completed.
Since then major development has been carried out, with constant improvements to the facilities available at Luton Airport. As a result of this the airport's passenger figures continue to rise with more than 7.5 million people using the airport during 2004.
