Introduction
London Luton airport, located at in Bedfordshire in the center of town Borough of Luton, serves as the sixth airport for London along with Heathrow, Stansted, London city airport, Southend and Gatwick. It is the fourth largest airport of London and as per the year 2010 considered as the fifth busiest airport of UK. The airport serves as the base for airlines such as Thomson Airways, Ryanair, Easyjet and Monach airlines. Though the major routes of the airports are devoted to countries within Europe, certain routes are also headed towards countries of Northern Africa and Asia. The airport offers 90 domestic and international destinations with an average passenger rate of 9.6 million per year.
History
The airport Luton opened on 16th July 1938 by Kingsley Wood, the Secretary of State for Air. During the World War II the airport turned in to a base for Royal Air force fighters and post war continued to serve as an airport for commercial use when the land was returned to the local council. Until the mid 1960s the airport had been a base of Percival Aircraft only but since then the airport had been a base for various executive jet operators. These companies handle aircraft from all over the world. By 1972 the airport Luton had become the most profitable airport of the country. In the year 1974, the major package holiday operator along with its in-house airline went bankrupt due to which the airport Luton had to go through a major setback. However in the decade of 1980 and early 1990s the airport went back to being good with the year 1991 bringing in another blow to the airport. The airport recovered again and going through series of changes occurring at the late 90s and early 2000s attained the popularity and excellence that it has today.
Features
Luton airport has a single runway which runs from east to west stretching roughly at the length of 2,160 m and has an elevation of 526 ft. The runway of the airport is set with ILS( instrument landing system) which allows the airport to operate if the conditions of poor visibility are prevailed. All the airport Luton facilities lie north to the runway with the terminal and the apron having a somewhat different layout. The ground-side access towards the terminal is through a road which through a taxiway enters the bus station area. The airport has nearly 60 stands for aircraft all of which are lying north to the terminal building. Currently the London Airport Luton has nine aircrafts which are using it with the Easy jet having the largest base and headquarters here.
Tips and comments
Although the airport seems to have gone through a lot of changes already, it usually undergoes changes almost every year. Therefore if you are travelling from there it's important to be aware of any changes that have occurred in various terminals and desks. If you are a regular passenger of the airport you would probably know what changes usually occur but if you are travelling from the airport for the first time or after a long time it's better to make sure if there are any changes that have taken place.
