Parking Luton Airport | About Luton Airport
Luton Airport - LTN - is situated 32 miles North West of Central London.
It is publicly owned by Luton Borough council. However, the airport is operated, developed and managed by a private consortium.
London Luton Airport was Officialy opened in 1938 on the 16th July and was first called 'Luton Municipal Airport'.
During World War II it was he base for 264 Fighter Squadron, but it still also operated as a commercial airport.
In 1969 up to a fifth of all UK holiday flights departed form Luton Airport and by 1972 it was Britains most profitble airport.
It was renamed 'London Luton Airport' in 1990.
Ryanair used to be based at Luton Airport. However, in 1991 they moved most of their business to Stansted Airport - causing a large decline in the number of passengers using Luton Airport. During this time, the Airport was actually making a loss.
From 1992 to 1996, 30 million pounds was invested into the Airport to upgrade facilities and try to turn around the declining passenger numbers. The upgrade in facilities attracted EasyJet and it became EasyJet's first UK base in 1995. As a result, passenger numbers rose from 1.9 million in 1995/1996 to 3.4 million in 1997/1998. By 1998/1999, passenger numbers had increased again to 4.4 million - making London Luton Airport the UK's fastest growing Airport.
After continued investment since then (New Aircraft stands, taxiway, train terminal,60 check in desks, modern baggage facilities, flight information systems and a range of shops, bars and restaurants, banking facilities) London Luton Airport boasted passenger numbers of 10.2 million during 2008 (an increase of 2.6% from 2007) and now directly employs 500 people. It is now the UK's fifth busiest Airport and is open 24 hours a day.
Flight operators from Luton now include:
Aer Arann Galway, Blue Air Bacau, Danube Wings Poprad, EasyJet, El Al Tel Aviv, Flybe, Monarch Airlines,
Ryanair, SunExpress, Thomson Airways and Wizz Air.