Bournemouth Airport

Bournemouth Airport
Code	IATA: BOH, ICAO: EGHH
County	Hampshire
	Private
Owner	Manchester Airports Group
Location	SZ111979 50°46’50"N, 1°50’38"W
Runway	7,451 feet (Asphalt)
Website	bournemouthairport.com

Bournemouth Airport (IATA: BOH, ICAO: EGHH) (previously known as Hurn Airport and Bournemouth International Airport) is an airport located 3.5 nautical miles north-northeast of Bournemouth, in south-western Hampshire.

The site opened as RAF Hurn in 1941 and began commercial services in the late 1950s, with Palmair commencing flights to Majorca in October 1958.

Subsequently, Ryanair and Thomson Airways based aircraft at the airport, with scheduled flights now frequently serving Western Europe and the Mediterranean area, with charter and seasonal services serving North Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. Passenger numbers peaked in 2007 when just over one million passed through the airport. In 2016 the passenger total was around 670,000.

Ryanair and Thomson Airways remain the primary users of the airport, which is owned and operated by Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the largest British airport operator.

Location

Bournemouth Airport is situated on the edge of Hurn village in Hampshire four miles north of Bournemouth and a mile west of the A338. The airport is accessible by way of the A31 from the M27 and M3 motorways to the east, and by way of the A35 to the west. The nearest other airports serving the area are Exeter Airport, Bristol Airport and Southampton Airport.

History

1940s

From November 1944 the airfield took over from Bristol's Whitchurch airport as the main operating base for British Overseas Airways Corporation until Heathrow fully opened in 1948. Starting in October 1945 Hurn served as London's transatlantic airport until Heathrow opened to the airlines in mid-1946. It was the starting point of the first Britain-Australia landplane service, which took three days in Avro Lancastrians (modified Lancaster bombers).

1950s-1980s

First charter flights

1958 saw the first Palmair charter from the airport, using a single 36 seat Viking aircraft destined for Palma de Mallorca. The service was one of the first charter flights in the United Kingdom.

Aircraft manufacture

A BAC 1-11 at Bournemouth Airport in 1971

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. During a 33-year period 222 One-Elevens, 146 Varsities and 279 Viscounts were built and delivered from Hurn making a total of 647 produced at this site.

Some of the development of the ill-fated TSR-2 was also done here (although assembly and flight testing was carried out at Warton in Lancashire), as well as the production of Jet Provost wings; other components were manufactured here for Concorde, the Panavia Tornado and Shorts Skyvan. The closure of the British Aerospace site in 1984 ended Bournemouth's role as a significant player in the aircraft manufacturing industry.

College of Air Traffic Control

Adjacent to the entrance to Bournemouth Airport was the College of Air Traffic Control, operated by NATS, the now privatised provider of air traffic control services in the UK. Established by the Ministry of Civil Aviation as the School of Air Traffic Control in 1949, the establishment was retitled College in 1962. Students from home and abroad were trained in all aspects of air traffic control operations and went on to work throughout the world. Electronic computer-based ATC simulators were widely employed. Usefully situated at an operational airfield, for a considerable period training in Approach Radar Control was facilitated by the airport ATC unit. Students were able to practise live radar control exercises using temporarily detached Civil Aviation Flying Unit de Havilland Dove aircraft as live targets. The building was also the home to the Air Traffic Control Evaluation Unit, responsible for developing technology used within the service.

During 2011 NATS transferred ATC training to its headquarters facility at Whiteley near Southampton. The Hurn facility was purchased by a free school, Parkfield School, serving Bournemouth and the local area.

Change of ownership

In 1969 the airport was purchased jointly by its local authorities and renamed "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.

1990s–2000s

In 1993, the airport received its first regular passenger flights when Palmair wet leased its first aircraft and European Aviation Air Charter (EAC) started operations. In 1995, the airport was sold to National Express Group and then, in March 2001, was acquired by the Manchester Airports Group, which was at that time the second-largest owner of UK airports.

In 1996, an extension to the main runway was officially opened by the arrival of Concorde. Travel agency Bath Travel chartered Concorde for supersonic champagne lunches across the Bay of Biscay. Ryanair also began services from Bournemouth to Dublin with a Boeing 737-200.

Since 2001, a Boeing 747SP has been based at the airport; it is used by the Royal Family of Qatar and other VIP government staff from the Middle East state of Qatar. The aircraft is often stored in the former BASCO building (Hangar 12) and is a regular visitor to Zürich Airport and Heathrow.

Bath Travel's Palmair remained the prime user of the airport, with a 737-200 permanently based there. In 2005 Thomsonfly became the first major low-cost airline to establish a hub at Bournemouth, allocating two Boeing 737-300 aircraft for scheduled services to Europe and (in 2008) to the Caribbean. Also in 2005, Air Berlin and EasyJet began services by announcing routes to Paderborn and Geneva respectively. Air Berlin have now ceased operations at the airport. The airport previously had a daily service to the Channel Islands provided by the Jersey-based Blue Islands airline, which withdrew from Bournemouth in April 2009. Polish-based Wizzair also ran routes to Danzig, Katowice, and Kraków during 2006 and 2007.

Route development

In 2007, Ryanair began to rapidly increase the number of services from the airport, initially starting routes to Marseille, Alicante, and Milan which brought the total to eight. In 2008, Palmair introduced a new series of charter flights to Tunisia, Fuerteventura, Naples, Amalfi Coast, and Rhodes. Olympic Holidays also launched new charter flights to Corfu and Zakynthos in Greece and Larnaca in Cyprus.

On 9 January 2008, Ryanair announced that they would base one of their Boeing 737-800s at Bournemouth from April 2008. During the first quarter, the airline announced routes to Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Wroclaw and the re-introduction of the Nantes route. An additional flight each day was added to the Glasgow Prestwick route, with the addition of a twice-daily flight to Edinburgh. In May the same year, Bergamo and Beauvais routes were announced to commence in October plus a new weekly ski flight to Turin for the winter season.

Increasing from 14 routes, after the discontinuation of the Nantes route, to 18 - Carcassonne, Faro, Portugal|Faro, Limoges, and Reus were added to the route network in February 2009.

On 25 November 2008, Bournemouth Airport was ranked best airport in the United Kingdom and third best in the world, after Singapore Changi Airport and Hong Kong International Airport, by the Daily Telegraph Travel Awards.

In December 2009, bmibaby announced a new summer route to Jersey. It was the first time the airline had operated out of the airport; they provided three services a week, using a Boeing 737-500. Again in December, Ryanair added four new routes to the network, bringing the total to 17. Another Boeing 737-800 was based at the airport and the airline projected to fly 650,000 passengers a year at Bournemouth, however the actual figure was lower.

Flybe started services in May 2010 but discontinued services in November the same year. It led to no scheduled services from the airport. After a hiatus of services, Blue Islands recommenced services to Guernsey and Jersey on 1 November 2011. Flybe announced on 10 November 2015 that all destinations would end 27 March 2016

Other facilities

The airport has a 200-acre industrial park, including offices and hangars. In early March 2009, Manchester Airport Developments Ltd completed the construction of Cirrus Court, a development of 14 industrial units which is the first part of a number of phases to redevelop the northern aviation sector.

When Channel Express operated, its head office was in Building 470 at the airport.

Babcock International Group has its Defence and Security offices located at the airport.

Accidents and incidents

• On 28 January 1972, Vickers Viscount D-ANEF of Airwork Services was damaged beyond repair when the undercarriage collapsed after a heavy landing.
• Shortly after 17:00 on 11 February 2006, adventurer Steve Fossett made an emergency landing at Bournemouth International Airport, after completing the longest non-stop flight in history, having covered 25,766 miles in 76 hours and 43 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 tyres as he touched down.
• Between 15 April and 21 April 2010, Bournemouth Airport was closed to IFR Traffic as a result of the eruptions by Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The eruptions caused severe disruptions to services as the UK government deemed it necessary to close air space until ash ejected into the stratosphere had subsided. It was originally feared that disruptions could continue as the last eruption lasted around 16 months. Services resumed on 22 April. Despite this, VFR Traffic continued and Bournemouth Airport became the busiest airport during this period as it has a large general aviation clientele.
• 20 August 2011 (XX179) RAF Red Arrows aircraft crashed into a field near Throop Mill, Bournemouth. As the pilot, FLT LT Jon Egging began to break into land the G-Forces caused him to suffer from ALOC.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bournemouth Airport)

• Bournemouth Airport