Bournemouth Airport

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{| class="infobox bordered" style="width: 220px; font-size: 95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="text-align: center; background-color: #4682B4; color: white;" |Bournemouth Airport

Bournemouth International Airport is an airport about 8 km north east of Bournemouth, England. The airport is mostly used by charter airlines and sometimes it serves as an alternative to London's major airports. Flights from the airport serve Italy, France, Spain, Holland, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, the United States and a number of other countries.

Contents

1 History
2 Capacity
3 Scheduled Airlines and Destinations
4 Industrial Park
5 External links

History

Bournemouth International Airport's facilities were first built when the British Aircraft Corporation began to operate from what was then known as Hurn Airport. The company also built the airport's first runway in order to perform flight tests on their aircraft. With the creation of the BAC-111, the company's test runways had to be expanded.

Nearly all Vickers Viscounts & 1-11s were built at this site and it is to be remembered that the Viscount was so common in the 1950s that it has been described as the 'tramp steamer of the skies'. Some of the development of the ill-fated TSR-2 was also done here as well as the production of a number of parts for Concorde. The political closure of the BAC site in the 1980s saw an end to Bournemouth's role as a significant player in the aviation industry.

The site of the BAC works now form one of Dorset's largest industrial sites, including pioneers in flight-refueling, FRA (Flight Refueling Aviation).

BAC closed its doors after many years of operation at Bournemouth, leading to the local authority deciding to redevelop the facility as a commercial airport.

By 1980, the airport began to become a major site for charter airlines, as European Aviation began services from there; carrying company executives and other passengers on their newly bought BAC-111s, which had returned to the same place where they had been built.

In 1993, the airport received its first flow of regular passengers, when European Aviation changed its name to European Air Charter (EAC).

The airport had to undergo a runway expansion in the 1990's to enable it to handle long range flights from the airport, as well as Concorde; which officially opened the runway extension.

In 2003 EAC acquired six Boeing 747-200's from British Airways, with the intention of operating long haul holidays from the airport. However with the EAC's sale to local travel firm, Bath Travel, due to financial difficulties; these aircraft were subsequently scrapped in 2005.

Apart from European Air Charter, Palmair also makes this airport its hub.

In 2005, Thomsonfly announced that it was becoming the first major low cost airline to establish a hub at Bournemouth International Airport; allocating two 737-300 aircraft, offering low-cost scheduled services to a number of European destinations.

Other airlines to commence services for the first time in 2005 include: Air Berlin, EasyJet, along with the already established Ryanair services. The airport also has daily services to the nearby Channel Islands, provided by the Alderney based Blue Island Airways.

In 2006 more expansion is expected to take place, with the majority of the large charter airlines offering summer holidays to the Mediterranean and the Canaries from the airport, as well as Ryanair’s new Pisa service.

Shortly after 1700 on Saturday 11th February 2006, millionaire adventurer Steve Fosset made an emergency landing at Bournemouth International Airport, after completing the longest non-stop flight in history, having covered 26,389.3 miles in 76 hours and 45 minutes. Fosset had originally planned to end his flight 144 miles even further away at Kent International Airport, but the failure of an electrical generator onboard the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer forced him to issue a Mayday call and land in limited visibility, bursting two tires as he touched down.

Capacity

The airport is capable of handling Boeing 747 aircraft; although Boeing 737s are much more common.

Scheduled Airlines and Destinations

Air Berlin (Paderborn)
EasyJet (Geneva (winter only))
Blue Islands Airways (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey)
Ryanair (Dublin, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Pisa (New Summer 2006))
Thomsonfly (Alicante, Amsterdam, Faro, Málaga, Palma, Paris-Orly, Pisa (Summer Only), Salzburg (Winter Only), Tenerife Sur, Gran Canaria (commences winter 2006), Grenoble (commences winter 2006), Prague (commences winter 2006))

Industrial Park

The airport has a very large industrial park attached to it, including offices and hangers. The industrial park covers an area of 200arces of land, Companies at the airport include:-

FRAviation

Target Express

European Air Charter

VAI

Hobbycraft

Channel Express

HoneywellLester

Aldridge

Cryovac Corporation

Ocean Yachts

Basepoint

External links

Airports of the United Kingdom
: City \| Gatwick \| Heathrow \| Luton \| Stansted \| Southend
: Birmingham \| Blackpool \| Bournemouth \| Bristol \| Doncaster-Sheffield \| Durham Tees Valley \| Exeter \| Leeds-Bradford \| Liverpool \| Manchester \| Newcastle \| Norwich \| Nottingham East Midlands \| Southampton Coventry \| Humberside \| Land's End \| Newquay \| Plymouth City \| St. Mary's
: Aberdeen \| Edinburgh \| Glasgow International \| Glasgow Prestwick \| Inverness Barra \| Benbecula \| Campbeltown \| Dundee \| Fair Isle \| Islay \| Kirkwall \| Lerwick \| Stornoway \| Sumburgh \| Tiree \| Westray \| Wick
: Cardiff
: Belfast City \| Belfast International \| City of Derry
Crown Dependencies: Alderney \| Guernsey \| Isle of Man \| Jersey
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