Glasgow Airport History
Glasgow International Airport is located 8 miles to the west of central Glasgow.
In 1932, Glasgow airport began life as an airfield that was overspill for the RAF base at Renfew.
In 1943 the airport became known as HMS Sanderling, this was when the Royal Navy took over, and also when the Royal Auxiliary Air Force 602 was based here. It remained like this for some time, until the 1960’s when Glasgow Corporation decided that a new airport for the city was needed, and it was announced that this location would take over from Renfew as the main airport to serve Glasgow and the surrounding area. In May 1966, Glasgow airport opened, and on 27th June of the same year it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II one month after the first commercial flight had landed there. By the end of it’s first year, it had already had over one million customers pass through it’s doors.
In 1973 the runway was extended so that it could cater for the new larger jets that were now in service, and in 1975 BAA bought the airport from Glasgow Corporation and began further developments starting by extending the terminal building. By 1986 the terminal building had been extended so much that it had a capacity of 3.5 million. The extension continued through the late 80’s and into the 90’s and today, the terminal is capable of catering for 6 million passengers a year.
Today, Glasgow is an international airport, and is the second busiest airport in Scotland and eighth busiest in the UK. It has two terminals – the second one being opened in 2004, - and two runways. A large range of services are provided within the main passenger terminals, including restaurants, cafes and bars, various well known shops, wireless internet access, car hire companies and currency exchange facilities. Over 40 different airlines use the two runways, and between them they fly to over 80 destinations, and over 8 million passengers pass through the airport each year. There are plans for more expansion of the airport and passenger numbers are expected to reach around 20 million per year by 2025.
