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Liverpool John Lennon Airport
IATA: LPL ICAO: EGGP
Summary
Owner	Peel Airports
Operator	Liverpool Airport Ltd.[1]
Serves	Liverpool, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Shropshire and North Wales
Location	Speke, Liverpool
Focus city for	Blue Air easyJet Ryanair Wizzair
Elevation AMSL	81 ft / 25 m
Coordinates	53°20′01″N 002°50′59″W / 53.33361°N 2.84972°W / 53.33361; -2.84972Coordinates: 53°20′01″N 002°50′59″W / 53.33361°N 2.84972°W / 53.33361; -2.84972
Website	liverpoolairport.com
Map
EGGP Location in Merseyside
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 2,285 7,497 Asphalt
Statistics (2017)
Passengers 4,901,157 Passenger change 16–17 3% Aircraft Movements 56,643 Movements change 16–17 9%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[2] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[3]

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (IATA: LPL, ICAO: EGGP) is an international airport serving North West England. On the outbreak of World War II, the airport was operated by the RAF and known as RAF Speke. The airport is within the City of Liverpool on the banks of the estuary of the River Mersey some 6.5 nautical miles (12.0 km; 7.5 mi)^[2] south east of the city centre. Originally called Speke Airport, in 2001 the airport was renamed after Liverpudlian musician John Lennon of The Beatles. Scheduled domestic, European and North African services are operated from the airport.

Between 1997-2007, the facility was one of Europe's fastest growing airports, increasing annual passenger numbers from 689,468 in 1997 to 5,470,000 in 2007.^[3] Despite passenger numbers having decreased to just over 4,800,000 in 2016, this was an 11.1% increase on the 2015 total, making it the twelfth busiest airport in the UK. In 2017 the airport served 4.95 million passengers an increase of 3% over 2016. The CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence Number is P735, that allows flights for the public transport of passengers and flying instruction.

History

Aerial view

The old terminal building, used between the 1930s and 1986, now the Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport Hotel

The check-in hall

The control tower

Imperial Airways

Built in part of the grounds of Speke Hall, Liverpool (Speke) Airport, as the airport was originally known, started scheduled flights in 1930 with a service by Imperial Airways via Barton Aerodrome near Eccles, Salford and Castle Bromwich Aerodrome, Birmingham to Croydon Airport near London. The airport was officially opened in mid-1933.^[4] By the late 1930s, air traffic from Liverpool was beginning to take off with increasing demand for Irish Sea crossings, and a distinctive passenger terminal, control tower and two large aircraft hangars were built.^[5]

World War II

At the beginning of 1937 Liverpool City Council leased between 70 and 110 acres of their Speke Estate on a 999-year lease to the Air Ministry. The price included at all times the use of Speke Airport next to the shadow factory site. The LMS Railway provided a siding. Erection of the building was planned to take 30 weeks and when complete it would provide employment for more than 5,000 people. It was to be managed by Rootes Securities on behalf of the Air Ministry. Work started Monday 15 February 1937.^[6]

During World War II, Speke was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force and known as RAF Speke. Rootes built in a "shadow factory" by the airport Bristol Blenheims and 1,070 Handley Page Halifax bombers.^[7]Lockheed Aircraft Corporation assembled many types of planes at the airport, including Hudsons and Mustang fighters, that had been shipped from the United States in parts to Liverpool Docks. The airport was also home to the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit.^[4]

On 8 October 1940 (one day before John Lennon's birth), Speke was witness to what is thought to be the fastest air-to-air combat "kill" in the Battle of Britain and possibly of all time. Flight Lieutenant Denys Gillam took off in his Hawker Hurricane from Speke to be confronted by a Junkers 88 passing across him. He shot the Junkers down while his undercarriage was still retracting, and, along with Alois Vašátko and Josef Stehlík, all of 312 Squadron, was credited with the kill. The moment has been caught in a painting by Robert Taylor called Fastest Victory.^[8][9]

Civil airport

Normal civil airline operations resumed after VE-day and passengers increased from 50,000 in 1945 to 75,000 in 1948, remaining ahead of Manchester Airport. Ownership by the Ministry of Aviation proved to be a drag on the airport's progress thereafter and Manchester gained the lead from 1949, resulting in Liverpool's loss of the only ground-controlled radar approach unit available to North West airports, further hampering operation.^{[citation needed]}

During the post war years, Speke Airport hosted an annual air display in aid of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Air Force Association, a charity for veterans. The displays were immensely popular and attracted a huge crowd. On one such occasion on 21 May 1956 sadly tragedy struck with the death of Léon Alfred Nicolas "Léo" Valentin billed as the Birdman when his balsa wood wings struck the opening of the aircraft from which he was exiting and he was hurtled into an uncontrollable spin. He attempted to deploy his emergency parachute but it became entangled and 'roman candled' leaving Leo to fall to his death. The local newspaper headlined the story with "The world has been robbed of a daring personality". Ironically, a few years earlier Valentin had been attributed with discovering the free-fall stable position still used by sports parachutists today for safe deployment.^{[citation needed]}

The city took over control of the airport on 1 January 1961 and prepared development plans. In 1966, a new 7,500 ft (2,286 m) runway was opened by Prince Philip on a new site to the southeast of the existing airfield. It enabled the airport to be open for business around the clock and is in use to this day. Control of the airport transferred to Merseyside County Council from Liverpool Corporation in the mid-1970s and then, ten years later, to the five Merseyside councils following the abolition of Merseyside County Council. In 1982, Pope John Paul II visited and met crowds at the old Liverpool airport.

Southern Terminal (1986)

A modern passenger terminal adjacent to the new runway opened in 1986 followed by the closure of the original 1930s building.^[10]

The original terminal building dating from the late 1930s, famously seen on early television footage with its terraces packed with Beatles fans, was left derelict until converted into a hotel, opening in 2001, preserving its Grade II listed Art Deco style. It was part of the Marriott chain of hotels, but is currently the Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport Hotel after a renovation in August 2008.^[11] The former apron of the terminal is also listed and retained in its original condition, although it is no longer connected to the airport or subject to airside access control. It is the home of several aircraft, including BAe Jetstream 41 prototype G-JMAC and Bristol Britannia G-ANCF, preserved by the Speke Aerodrome heritage Group.^{[citation needed]} The two art-deco-style hangars that flank the terminal and apron have also been converted for new uses: one is now a David Lloyd leisure centre, the other the headquarters of the Shop Direct Group, called Skyways House.^{[11][12][13][14]}

In 1990 the airport was privatised, with British Aerospace taking a 76% shareholding in the new company. Subsequently, the airport has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Peel Holdings.^[4] In 2000, work on a £42.5 million passenger terminal began, tripling its size and passenger capacity, completed in 2002. There have since been further extensions. The airport's strategy is to cater largely for 'low cost' operators, and consequently the layout of the terminal and gates requires passengers to walk unprotected from the weather to and from passenger aircraft. Destinations served are throughout Europe, the 2007 scheduled services to the United States and Canada having been withdrawn.^{[citation needed]}

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (2001)

2001 saw the airport being renamed in honour of John Lennon, a founding member of The Beatles, 21 years after Lennon's death - the first airport in the UK to be named after an individual.^[15] A 7 ft (2.1 m) tall bronze statue stands overlooking the check-in hall. On the roof is painted the airport's motto, a line from Lennon's song "Imagine": "Above us, only sky".^[16] In 2005 the Yellow Submarine, a large-scale work of art, was installed on a traffic island at the entrance to the airport. A permanent exhibition of The Beatles in India's photographs made in 1968 at the Ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, (founder of the Transcendental Meditation technique), by Paul Saltzman can be seen above the retail units in the departure lounge.^[17] In 2005 a brand-new apron exclusively for EasyJet was constructed to the east of the terminal with six stands and a pier with six boarding gates.

In September 2006 reconstruction started on the main runway and taxiways. This was the first time the runway had been reconstructed (as opposed to resurfaced) since it was opened in 1966. This work was completed in 2007.^[18] In addition to runway and shoulder work was the upgrade of the 40-year-old airfield group lighting with a new system, intended to upgrade the runway to ILS Category III standards.^[18]

In 2007 construction of a multi-level car park^[19] and a budget Hampton by Hilton Liverpool/John Lennon Airport started. The hotel opened in October 2009.^[20] In June 2010 Vancouver Airport Services announced that it reached an agreement with The Peel Group to acquire 65% share in its airports, including Liverpool.^[21] Airside improvements include additional retail units and a more advanced security area aiming at reducing waiting times, completed in autumn 2010.^[22]

April 2014 saw Peel repurchase the 65% stake it had sold in the airport giving it 100% ownership once more.^[23] In March 2016, Peel sold a 20% stake in the airport to Liverpool City Council for a reported £12m. This valued the airport at £60m.^[24]

A master plan is in place to be completed by 2030 which plans for the airport to grow significantly. This includes new terminal buildings and the introduction of permanent long-haul services, as well as growing passenger numbers from 5 million a year to 7.8 million.^[25][26]

Airport directors

Captain Harold James Andrews was appointed as the first Airport Manager in July 1932, and he was effectively the first full-time professional co-ordinator for the whole project. Jack Chadwick took over many of the management functions post-war until 1961. That year there was a traffic increase of 42%, attributed to the first airport marketing campaign initiated by the new Airport Director, Wing Commander H.W.G.Andrews.^[27]

In the late 1960s, Brian Trunkfield MBE was a much-respected Assistant Director, and Keith Porter took over as Airport Director in the days when The Beatles were regular passengers.^[28] Chris Preece, a former executive of British Aerospace, was Airport Director during much of the British Aerospace years of ownership, replaced by Rod Rufus and then Rod Hill, who brought in Direct Holidays, part of the MyTravel Group on a commercial deal which was to prove the market for easyJet. Neil Pakey took over as Managing Director in 2002, taking the airport through its major passenger growth years and renaming of it to John Lennon Airport.

On selling the airport to Vancouver Airport Services in 2010, the former Operations Director for Vancouver Airport, Craig Richmond, took over, and on 1 March 2013, Matthew Thomas, also from Vancouver Airport Services (by then renamed Vantage Airport Group), was appointed to the role.^[29] Andrew Cornish held the CEO position from September 2014 until the end of June 2017.^[30] John Irving became the new CEO with effect from 12 March 2018.^[31]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Liverpool:^[32]

Additionally in winter, many seasonal charter flights run from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to airports in Lapland and to Akureyri Airport in Iceland via tour operators that charter different airlines.^[33][34]

Statistics

Passengers and aircraft movements

	Number of passengers[3]	% Change YoY	Number of movements[3]	% Change YoY
1997	689,468	-	83,354	-
1998	873,172	26.6	86,871	4.2
1999	1,304,959	49.5	75,489	13.1
2000	1,982,711	51.9	76,257	1.0
2001	2,253,398	13.7	74,659	2.1
2002	2,835,871	25.8	74,313	0.5
2003	3,177,009	12.0	84,405	13.6
2004	3,353,350	5.6	85,393	1.2
2005	4,411,243	31.5	92,970	8.9
2006	4,963,886	12.5	91,263	1.8
2007	5,468,510	10.2	86,668	5.0
2008	5,334,152	2.5	84,890	2.1
2009	4,884,494	8.4	79,298	6.6
2010	5,013,940	2.7	68,164	14.0
2011	5,251,161	4.7	69,055	1.3
2012	4,463,257	15.0	60,270	12.7
2013	4,187,439	6.2	55,839	7.4
2014	3,986,654	4.8	52,249	6.4
2015	4,301,495	7.9	55,905	7.0
2016	4,778,939	11.1	62,441	11.7
2017	4,901,157	3.0	56,643	9.0

Route statistics

Busiest routes to and from Liverpool (2017)^[35]

Rank	Airport	Total passengers	Change 2016/ 17
1	Belfast–International	490,613	5%
2	Dublin	401,394	26%
3	Alicante	260,395	21%
4	Málaga	246,377	8%
5	Barcelona	230,030	12%
6	Isle of Man	229,510	8%
7	Amsterdam	220,990	14%
8	Palma de Mallorca	217,918	11%
9	Faro	187,288	6%
10	Jersey	128,627	11%
11	Geneva	121,702	4%
12	Kraków	101,917	1%
13	Nice	93,325	3%
14	Madrid	91,459	1%
15	Knock	85,631	3%
16	Paris–Charles de Gaulle	75,573	7%
17	Lanzarote	75,186	– 0%
18	Cork	72,380	8%
19	Warsaw-Modlin	71,456	0%
20	Bucharest	63,320	25%

Ground transport

Liverpool South Parkway railway station was built to improve links to the airport

Long-distance trains from Liverpool South Parkway

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is within Merseytravel Area C, like the remainder of Liverpool, for local public transport tickets. Plusbus tickets are also available, the Arriva North West 500 route to/from Liverpool City Centre is now the quickest way to Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool One Bus Station and now extends to Widnes and Runcorn.^[36]

Road

The airport has several on-site car-parks^[37] and is accessible from the M53 and M56 motorways via the A533 / Runcorn Widnes Bridge to the south, and from the M57 and M62 motorways via the Knowsley Expressway to the north.^[38]

Rail

The nearest station is the Merseyrail Hunts Cross station at 2.2 miles away, which is served by a direct bus service to the airport by the Arriva North West 89 service. Merseytravel combined the Garston and Allerton stations into a parkway station called Liverpool South Parkway at 2.9 miles from the airport at a cost of £32 million. Regular bus services, 80A, 86A & 500, operate between the Airport and the station, operated by Arriva North West. The station provides regular trains services to many locations throughout England and local Merseyrail services.

Bus and coach

Regular bus services link the airport with surrounding urban areas. Most buses that run to the airport are operated by Arriva North West, they connect local urban areas to the airport such as St Helens, Bootle, Halewood, Runcorn, Widnes, Huyton, Garston and Liverpool City Centre Liverpool One bus station^[41] Arriva operates a 24-hour 86A service to the airport from Liverpool city centre via Penny Lane and Liverpool South Parkway.^[42]Merseytravel also runs a service from the airport (3A/3B) which terminates at Huyton Industrial Estate, the service is operated by Selwyns Travel. EasyBus operates a service connecting the airport directly with Chester, Wrexham, Oswestry and Shrewsbury.^[43]

Facilities

There are shops and restaurants both landside and airside within the passenger terminal, including a payable lounge.

Hotels

The Hampton by Hilton Liverpool John Lennon Airport

The original terminal building dating from the late 1930s, famously seen on early television footage with its terraces packed with Beatles fans, was left derelict for over a decade after being replaced in 1986. It was renovated and adapted to become a hotel, opened for business in 2001, preserving its Grade II listed Art Deco style. It was part of the Marriott chain of hotels, but is currently the Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport Hotel after a renovation in August 2008.^[11]

The Hampton by Hilton Liverpool/John Lennon Airport is one of four Hilton Worldwide hotels in Liverpool. It is situated directly opposite the main terminal building, and is the second largest hotel serving the complex after the Crowne Plaza.^[44] The hotel was constructed as part of a £37 million development by Peel Holdings at John Lennon Airport (which also included a multi-storey car park), the Hampton by Hilton Liverpool/John Lennon Airport is also the first hotel to be built actually attached to the airport's terminal building.^[45]

Accidents and incidents

• On 20 July 1965 Vickers Viscount G-AMOL of Cambrian Airways crashed on approach from Isle of Man Airport, killing both crew members.^[46]


• On 8 December 1983 Trans Europe Air Charter Cessna Citation I G-UESS from Liverpool crashed off the coast of Stornoway killing all eight passengers and two crew members.^[47]


• On 10 May 2001 Spanair Flight 3203 (McDonnell Douglas MD-83 EC-FXI) was substantially damaged when the starboard undercarriage collapsed on landing. All 51 people on board evacuated via the escape slides. It was repaired and returned to service.^[48]

See also

• The Yellow Submarine sculpture, previously displayed in Liverpool's Albert Dock, is now outside the airport entrance.

Bibliography

• Phil Butler Liverpool Airport - an Illustrated History. Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2004. .mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
  ISBN 0-7524-3168-4.


• 
  Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper: Berlin-Tempelhof in: Berlin-Tempelhof, Liverpool-Speke, Paris-Le Bourget. Années 30 Architecture des aéroports, Airport Architecture of the Thierties, Flughafenarchitektur der dreißiger Jahre. Éditions du patrimoine, Paris 2000,
  ISBN 2-85822-328-9, S. 32–61.


• Bob Hawkins (ed.): Historic airports. Proceedings of the international "L'Europe de l'Air" conferences on Aviation Architecture Liverpool (1999), Berlin (2000), Paris (2001). English Heritage, London 2005,
  ISBN 1-873592-83-3.

References

External links

Media related to Liverpool John Lennon Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website


• Airport Consultative Committee