Heathrow is London’s largest airport and is the fourth busiest airport in the world. Aviation first began during the First World War when the surrounding areas were military airfields. The first non-military flight took place in January 1946 to Buenos Aires and officially opened in March of the same year.
In 1955 Queen Elizabeth opened the first permanent terminal building now known as Terminal 2. A further two terminals opened in the 1960s, and in 1977 the Picadilly line was extended to connect to the airport. By then Heathrow was serving almost 30 million passengers annually. Terminal 4 was opened in 1986 and Terminal 5 in 2008.
Located to the south of London, Gatwick is the capital’s second biggest airport. Gatwick was once used as a private aerodrome and flying school until 1933, when the Air Ministry decided commercial flights should start running. Unfortunately, the death of two passengers in 1936 caused many to question the safety of the airport and it became a private facility once again.
In 1950 the government decided Gatwick should be used as an alternative to Heathrow when planes needed to be diverted due to bad weather. Passenger numbers increased in the 1970s after many flights were transferred from Heathrow. Today, Gatwick serves around 35 million travellers annually.
Stansted airport mainly operates flights for low cost airlines, such as Easyjet and Ryanair, with most of them being short haul flights. Located in Essex, it was opened in 1943 as an RAF bomber airfield. In the years after the Second World War, it was used to house German prisoners of war.
In the 1960s Stansted began to relieve some of the traffic congestion at Heathrow and Gatwick. In 1991 the terminal building was redesigned by architect Norman Foster and at the time was the most modern airport terminal building in the world. Today Stansted serves roughly 20 million passengers each year.
Luton airport operates flights by low cost airlines, such as Easyjet, Monarch and Ryanair. Most flights are short haul and to European destinations. Like other London airports, Luton was initially a military base. Despite a series of setbacks, including major holiday operator Clarksons going bankrupt and Ryanair moving operations to Stansted, Luton remains an important London airport. It has recently gained momentum for being the setting of the ITV reality series "Airline".
London’s smallest airport is situated in the Docklands area. It opened in 1988 and began operating short flights to Europe. Since September 2009 flights to New York have been operating and around 3 million passengers use this airport each year.
