History
The airport was officially opened on 5 May 1939. However, regular air services only commenced in October 1946. By 1948, BEA were operating a daily service to Southampton using Douglas DC-3 aircraft. From 1951, Jersey Airlines flew BEA associate scheduled services to Southampton at weekends using Rapide eight-seat biplane airliners.
In 1960 there were four grass runways, with lengths ranging from 2,040 ft (622 m) to 3,060 ft (933 m). 1960 also saw the construction of a new tarmacked runway of a length of 4,800 ft (1,463 m). In early 2000s alongside the work on the new terminal, Commerce and Employment claimed an extension was necessary to allow use of larger aircraft such as the Boeing 737, or other larger jets for trans-European flights. In 2012, a set of four two-day closures under the Airport 2040 programme is allowing the States of Guernsey to resurface of the existing runway, extend safety areas and also reconstruct parts of the concrete apron areas. Taxiways which connect the aprons to the runway are also being resurfaced and realigned, whilst a new drainage system is being implemented. New airfield ground lighting and navigational aids are also being installed.
Aurigny Air Services has its head office on the airport property. At one time the Channel Islands subsidiary of British United Airways had its head office on the airport property.
Read more about this topic: Guernsey Airport
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)