London Luton Airport: 12 pictures from the capital’s Bedfordshire airport as it celebrates 85th anniversary

It’s not in London but it is in Luton and it is an airport - London Luton Airport opened 85 years ago this week.

Shortly before the Second World War, on July 16 1938, Luton’s aerodrome opened as a small airfield. A Royal Air Force show marked the opening - and only a year later the airport became an RAF base for the Second World War.

In 1952, commercial flights and training began and by the 1960s, the airport had become an important part of the package holiday industry.

A plan was put in place during the late 1970s for the facility to cater for as many as five million passengers a year, and the airport was used by Concorde in the 1980s.

It wasn’t until 1990 that the ‘London’ was tagged on, to promote it as a gateway to the capital, and it became London Luton Airport (LLA ).

Towards the end of the 1990s,

During that decade a new control tower and the Luton Airport Parkway station opened.

Easyjet launched in 1995 and retains its headquarters in Luton.

Just before the millennium, a new terminal was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, and its growth continued into the 2000s.

In 2019, the airport hit a record 17.9 million passengers, and this year the Luton Airport Dart opened and plans for a second terminal were submitted.