Newsstand - Takeoff for Britain's new International airport

With the level of taxes on aviation in UK, should've changed the name to bloody Robbing Hoods... ;)

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4470718

The first flight from a new £80m international airport will take off for Spain today as the first full service airport in the UK for more than 50 years opens its doors.

Robin Hood Airport is built on the site of the former RAF Finningley airbase and its managers hope it will serve 2.3m passengers over five years, taking them to 33 destinations across 20 countries.

as the first full service airport in the UK for more than 50 years opens its doors
This just had to be a challenge (it says this on their website too).

Opened since 1955 :

London Gatwick
Glasgow Abbotsinch
East Midlands
London City
Sheffield
Belfast Aldergrove
Belfast City
Bristol Lulsgate
Humberside
Teesside

any more ?

BTW there was a pre-war airport at Doncaster, and even KLM served it on a Doncaster - Amsterdam service with DC-3s.

This just had to be a challenge (it says this on their website too).

Opened since 1955 :

London Gatwick
Glasgow Abbotsinch
East Midlands
London City
Sheffield
Belfast Aldergrove
Belfast City
Bristol Lulsgate
Humberside
Teesside

any more ?

BTW there was a pre-war airport at Doncaster, and even KLM served it on a Doncaster - Amsterdam service with DC-3s.

Well, seems most, if not all on your list started out their lives as RAF bases and were converted later, so were technically airports if not actual commercial aviation airports from day one. An interesting exercise nonetheless.

http://www.gatwick-airport-guide.co.uk/history.html

London Gatwick Airport has been around for over 70 years and it has always been ahead of its time.

http://www.teessideairport.com/devel/corporate/history.shtml

In September 2004 Teesside International Airport changed its name to Durham Tees Valley Airport. Teesside International Airport was built on land known locally for generations past as 'Goosepool'. It came into being originally as Royal Air force Station, Middleton-St-George in 1941, as the base for No. 78 (Bomber) Squadron, and subsequently No. 76 (Bomber) Squadron.

http://www.colourpoint.co.uk/titles/0948124911-12.html

This new route was to be the nucleus for the development of Belfast City Airport which was opened by Neville Chamberlain on 16th March 1938.

http://www.uk-airportparking.co.uk/glasgow/

1960 November 14th brought the announcement that a new airport for Glasgow was to be built at Abbotsinch to replace Renfrew.

"The new airport will offer flights to European destinations, mainly operated by Thomsonfly.com and Ryanair, with long-haul flights to Florida, Mexico and the Dominican Republic taking off next summer."



Just the sort of airlines you would want to fly with (not).
Are Ryanair calling it London North?

Well, seems most, if not all on your list started out their lives as RAF bases and were converted laterIsn't that exactly what has happened at Robin Hood, aka RAF Finningley ?

Gatwick was a civil airport from 1936 to 1938 but was abandoned due to flooding. A completely new airport was started partly covering the old location, it opened in 1958. The old airport had its own train station just like the current one, it's about 1/2 mile south on the railway.

Belfast City was the airport until 1945 when it was replaced by Nutts Corner airport and closed to the public. It's runway remained in private use for the Shorts aircraft factory. Nutts Corner was in turn replaced by Aldergrove in the 1960s, while Belfast City was opened to the public by Shorts themselves using the old runway in the early 1980s.

Ha, Ha. :D This article doesn't even come close to the first linked article did about the saying it's the first full service airport to poen in half a century.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/29/nhood29.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/04/29/ixhome.html

Britain's first big airport in almost 40 years opened yesterday with its debut commercial flight from a former Royal Air Force Bomber Command base.