London Luton Airport (LTN)

About London Stansted Airport

London Luton Airport is located just outside the town of Luton in Bedfordshire. It lies about 35 miles north of London and it is currently London’s 4th busiest airport. In 2006 Luton handled over 9.4 million passengers making it the 5th busiest airport in the UK.

Parking at the Airport

There are three parking options at London Luton Airport. They are Short Stay Parking; Mid Stay Parking; and Long Stay Parking.
Short Term Parking is situated just minutes from the terminal and is recommended for picking up passengers. There are dedicated parking bays for disabled short stay users.

Mid Stay Parking is ideal for stays of up to 5 days although longer stays are also available. The car park is just a five minute transfer by bus to the terminal. The fully accessible shuttle bus operates every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are dedicated parking bays for disabled mid stay users.

Long Stay Parking is recommended for stays of 5 days or more. The car park is just a ten minute transfer by bus to the terminal. The fully accessible shuttle bus operates every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are dedicated parking bays for disabled long stay users.

Facilities and Services

London Luton Airport has services to over 80 scheduled and charter destinations. The passenger terminal has two levels, the upper for departures and the lower for arrivals and check-in. Passenger facilities include airport information; baby change facilities; Business Lounge; car hire; cash machines; chapel; currency exchange; left luggage/lost property; postal facilities; WiFi Internet access and facilities for passengers requiring special assistance.
The terminal building also offers a good range of high street shops and restaurants including Boots; Burger King; Costa Coffee; Dixons Tax Free; Marks And Spencers Simply Food; Monsoon; Pret-A-Manger; and W H Smith.
London Luton Airport has an executive lounge situated in the Departures Area shopping mall. The Aviance Executive lounge is available for the use of both domestic and international passengers for a small fee and is open from 0545hrs until 2230hrs seven days a week. Passengers can enjoy a relaxed and comfortable lounge with a selection of hot and cold beverages and alcoholic drinks, television and easy listening music. For the business traveller, Internet access is available and fax services are also available. This is a non-smoking lounge and is not available for children under 12 years of age. Smart casual dress required.

Getting To The Airport

By road - London Luton Airport is located close to the M1. For passengers travelling from the M1, exit at junction 10/10a and take the A1081 and then A505. The airport is only 2 miles away from junction 10/10a of the M1. If travelling from the East, take the A505 from Hitchin. The airport lies just off the A505 and is clearly signposted.
By rail - There are regular services from London’s King’s Cross to Luton Airport Parkway station that take approximately 25 minutes. A shuttle bus service operates between the rail station and the airport that takes 5 minutes.
By bus/coach - London Luton Airport has excellent coach and bus connections with key towns and cities across the country. The bus pick-up and drop-off bays are located in front of the terminal building. Various services operate to and from Central London (Baker Street), Birmingham Airport, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Stansted Airport, Cambridge, East Midlands, Gatwick Airport, Heathrow. Local buses also serve the airport and connect it with destinations throughout the local area.

History of London Luton Airport

London Luton Airport was officially opened on 16th July 1938 as "Luton Municipal Airport". The Borough of Luton owned the airport and, it was considered to be a northern terminal for London. During the war years, the airport continued to operate as a commercial aerodrome as well as being the base for 264 Fighter Squadron.

Development of the civil use of the airport continued after the war and in 1952 a new control tower was opened. The 1950's and 1960's saw the birth of the affordable 'package' holiday that combined the cost of transport and accommodation. This innovative product enabled many people to travel abroad for the first time and laid the foundations of the immensely successful inclusive tour holiday market. Luton Airport played an important role in the development of the UK package holiday business, when a new charter airline called Euravia was created and based at Luton in 1962. At the end of 1964 Euravia changed its name to Britannia Airways and again in 2004 as part of the TUI Group to Thomsonfly. The airline is one of the world's largest charter airlines and is still based at the airport today.

In 1968, another charter operation, Monarch Airlines, was formed. Monarch is also based at Luton and has continued to develop both charter and scheduled passenger operations there over the last 4 decades. In 1969 a survey revealed that a fifth of all holiday flights from the UK departed from Luton Airport and by 1972 Luton had become Britain's most profitable airport. Luton suffered a huge setback in 1974 when a major tour operator, Clarksons and its airline Court Line, went into liquidation. This sent shockwaves throughout the travel industry but had a particularly serious impact on Luton where Court Line was a large airline operator.

In 1978 the government recognised Luton as an integral part of the London airports system. The airport's committee prepared to take Luton Airport into the 1990s and on to five million passengers per annum by building a new international terminal building which was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1985. The following year saw Irish airline Ryanair launch scheduled services from Luton to Ireland. This along with scheduled flights to Spain by Monarch Airlines was the start of the growth of scheduled air services from Luton Airport, which have now become 92 per cent of the business volume. Also in 1986 the Airports Act that required local authority owners of airports established their airports as companies with a Board to manage the business. In 1987 the Airport - by this time called "Luton International Airport" became a Limited Company with Luton Borough Council as sole shareholder. The airport was renamed London Luton Airport in 1990 to reflect its true standing in the London airport network.

In 1991 Ryanair moved most of their business to the newly opened terminal at Stansted Airport. This caused a sharp decline in the number of passengers using London Luton Airport and put the business back into loss. Between 1992 and 1996, £30 million was invested in the airport infrastructure, which resulted in a considerable upgrading of facilities. These upgraded facilities included a new air traffic control tower, new cargo centre, the extension and refurbishment of the passenger terminal, new access road, extension of the car parking adjacent to the passenger terminal and the installation of Category 3 Instrument Landing System.

During late 1995 London Luton Airport became the first UK base for easyJet. By 1998/9 the number of passengers had increased to 4.4 million and London Luton Airport was the UK's fastest growing major airport according to Civil Aviation Authority statistics. Additional financial investment had to be secured to enable London Luton Airport to expand any further. The result was the signing of a unique private-public partnership in August 1998, which meant that the airport would remain publicly owned by Luton Borough Council but would be operated, managed and developed by a private consortium for a period of 30 years.

An £80 million development programme was completed in the autumn of 1999 including a £40 million terminal, based on an original design by Foster and Partners, which HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened in November 1999. To meet the ever increasing demand created by rapidly growing passenger numbers London Luton Airport opened the new £35 million Passenger Terminal Development in 2005. The Departure Lounge & Retail Complex development was undertaken within the 1st Floor of the existing main Passenger Terminal, an area that had lain 'fallow' since the building was officially opened in November 1999.