Bournemouth Airport

Bournemouth Airport
File:Bournemouth airport.gif
IATA: BOH ICAO: EGHH
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Manchester Airports Group
Operator	Bournemouth International Airport Ltd.
Serves	Bournemouth
Elevation AMSL	38 ft / 12 m
Coordinates	50°46′48″N 01°50′33″W
Website	www.bournemouthairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 08/26 2,271 7,451 Asphalt
Source: UK AIP at NATS

Template:Location map start Template:Location map marker Template:Location map end Bournemouth International Airport (IATA: BOH, ICAO: EGHH) (previously known as Hurn Airport) is an airport about 5 miles (8km) north east of Bournemouth, England. The airport is in the borough of Christchurch. Until recently charter services and diversions from other UK airfields made up the bulk of the airport's commercial airliner movements, however scheduled services now dominate. Flights from the airport serve Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey the United States as well as other countries. Passengers handled in 2006 rose by 16% to 960,000, placing the airport at 22nd in the UK.

Bournemouth International Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P736) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

History

Bournemouth Airport began as RAF Hurn on 1st August 1941, during World War II. It was used for paratroop training and as a glider base before the North African Landings in 1943. Prior to D-Day, it was the base of 570 Squadron, who landed agents and dropped supplies to the French Resistance. The hardened runways of the airfield saw extensive use by United States Army Air Forces in the preparations for D-Day and the subsequent Battle of Normandy. It was also the home base of 84 Group 2TAF, nine squadrons of Typhoons, who flew daily to France supporting ground forces.

From November 1944 the airfield took over from Bristol's Whitchurch aerodrome as the main operating base for British Overseas Airways Corporation until Heathrow fully opened in 1948. It was the starting point of the first England-Australia service, which took three days in Avro Lancastrians (modified Lancaster bombers).

Vickers-Armstrongs took over some ex-BOAC hangars at Hurn in 1951 and started production of Varsities, then Viscounts and eventually, as the British Aircraft Corporation, the BAC One-Eleven.

Nearly all Vickers Viscounts & BAC 1-11s were built at this site. Some of the development of the ill-fated TSR-2 was also done here, (but assembly and testing was at Warton, Lancs); as well as the production of a number of parts for Concorde. The closure of the BAC site in the 1980s saw an end to Bournemouth's role as a significant player in the aircraft construction industry. The site of the BAC works now forms one of Dorset's largest industrial sites, including a base for Flight Refuelling Limited.

Bournemouth International Airport

In 1969 the airport was purchased jointly by the Bournemouth Corporation and Dorset County Council and renamed as "Bournemouth Airport" (later to become Bournemouth International Airport). The new owners decided to redevelop the facility as a commercial airport and, by 1980, the airport became used by charter airlines, when European Aviation began services.

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

In 1995, the airport was sold to National Express Group and then, in March 2001, was acquired by the Manchester Airports Group, now the largest UK-owned airport group.

In 2003 EAC acquired six Boeing 747-200s from British Airways, with the intention of operating long haul holidays from the airport. Due to financial difficulties, these aircraft were scrapped in 2005.

Bath Travel's Palmair remained the prime user of the airport

In 2005, Thomsonfly became the first major low cost airline to establish a hub at Bournemouth; allocating two 737-300 aircraft for low-cost scheduled services to European destinations.

Also in 2005 Air Berlin and easyJet, along with the already established Ryanair, began services. The airport also has daily services to the Channel Islands, provided by the Jersey-based Blue Islands airline.

In 2006 Ryanair opened new routes from their bases in Madrid, Pisa and Shannon.

Manchester Airports Group, owners of the airport, are to invest £32 million in the redevelopment of the airport starting in 2007 which focusses mainly on creating new car parking spaces in two separate car parks and building a new International Arrivals terminal with plans to screen off the current arrivals terminal with a three metre screen, with plans to ultimately phase out use of the building. On Thursday 21st June 2007, planning permission was unanimously granted to the scheme by Christchurch Council Planning Committee, despite several public objections and protests. This was conditional, however, on a maximum of three million air passengers per annum, and required contributions to road systems, bus routes, and to use quieter aircraft.

In 2007 Wizz Air introduced a route to Katowice, Poland and Thomsonfly re-introduced its Valencia, Spain route. Ryanair also announced the introduction of Marseille and Nantes,France, Alicante in Spain, and Milan, Italy; however the airline also announced that it would be terminating its Madrid, Nantes(which had only been operating a few months) and Shannon routes. In the summer of 2007 Ryanair operated 8 routes from Bournemouth. Easyjet announced the introduction of an annual route to Krakow, Poland and a seasonal service to Grenoble, France; bringing the number of Easyjet routes to 3. On the 20th September 2007 Wizz Air announced their second route to Gdansk which starts in March 2008.

Christchurch council and Central Government have backed plans for the re-building of the airport terminal, increasing its size by 62%, with work starting in August 2007.

In 2008 Palmair will introduce a new series of charter flights to Tunisia, Fuerteventura, Sorrento & the Amalfi Coast and Rhodes.

Steve Fossett

Shortly after 17:00 on Saturday 11 February 2006, millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett 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. Fossett had planned to end his flight 144 miles further away at Kent International Airport, but the failure of an electrical generator on board the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer forced him to issue a Mayday call and land in limited visibility, bursting two tires as he touched down.

Scheduled airlines and destinations

• Air Berlin (Paderborn) [ends 30/10/07]*
• Blue Islands (Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey)
• EasyJet (Geneva [seasonal], Grenoble [seasonal], Krakow [starts October 30th 2007])
• Ryanair (Alicante [starts 06/12/07], Dublin, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Madrid [ends 27/10/07], Marseille, Milan(Orio Al Serio)[starts 22/12/07], Nantes[ends 27/10/07], Pisa, Shannon [ends 6/11/07])
• Thomsonfly (Alicante, Amsterdam [ends 30/10/07], Faro, Gran Canaria [seasonal], Grenoble [seasonal], Ibiza, Málaga, Palma, Paphos, Pisa [seasonal], Prague, Pula, Salzburg [seasonal], Tenerife Sur, Valencia [seasonal])
• Wizz Air (Gdansk [starts 15/3/08], Katowice)

The airport is capable of handling lightly loaded Boeing 747 aircraft; although smaller Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s are much more common.

Charter Destinations

• Spain (Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura)
• Italy (Tuscany, Lake Garda, Sorrento, Neopolitan Riviera)
• Greece (Corfu, Crete, Rhodes)
• Cyprus (Paphos, Larnaca)
• Turkey (Bodrum, Dalaman)
• Austria (Austrian Tyrol)
• Portugal (Algarve, Madeira)
• Malta
• Tunisia

Charter airlines

• MyTravel
• Thomson
• Palmair
• First Choice
• Thomas Cook

Industrial Park

The airport has a 200 acre industrial park, including offices and hangars. Companies at the airport include:-

FRAviation - De Havilland Aviation - Meggitt - Target Express - European Air Charter - Siemens VAI - Hobbycraft - Channel Express - HoneywellLester - ldridge - Cryovac - Corporation - Ocean Yachts - Basepoint - AOG Sameday - B & H Worldwide

External links

• Official website
• Aerial Photo of Bournemouth Airport From Multimap.Com
• Early History (inc RAF and USAAF units)