London Luton Airport (
IATA code
LTN, previously called
Luton International Airport) is an
airport in central
England,
United Kingdom close to the
town of
Luton.
An airport was first opened on the site on
July 16,
1938 by then
Secretary of State for Air[?] Kingsley Wood. During the
Second World War, the airport was used as a base for
RAF fighters. Following the airport grew as a commercial operator, providing the base for major tour operators such as Euravia (now Brittania Airways) and Monarch Airlines. In
1972, Luton Airport was the most profitable in the country. The airport suffered a severe setback in
1974 when one tour operator scheduling flights out of Luton, Clarksons, went bankrupt. The next fifteen years saw a process of rebuilding, including the opening of a new international terminal in
1985. At this time
Ryanair[?] flew flights from Luton to
Ireland. In
1990 the airport was renamed London Luton Airport in order to boost the profile of the airport in the eyes of foreign visitors, likely to have heard of
London but not Luton. In
1991, Ryanair transferred its operations to
Stansted, again resulting in the decline in the airport's importance in the British transport network. This trend was dramatically reversed later in the 90s with the introduction of charter flights for Airtours and 'low cost' scheduled flights from
easyJet and Debonair.
Number of millions of passengers using Luton airport.
Financial Year
- 1995/96 1.9
- 1997/98 3.4
- 1998/99 4.4
- 2001 (calendar year) 6.5