Like many UK airports Luton airport started out as an RAF aerodrome being opened in 1938 on the orders of Kingsley Wood the then Secretary of State for Air.

After world war two commercial flights started running from Luton airport and in 1949 a missile development site was built on the northern slope by the aircraft manufacturer English Electric.

By 1972 Luton was the UKs most profitable airport being a base for the airline catering company Carass airways catering.

Luton is one of five airports that are currently serving the London area, London City Airport, Gatwick airport, Heathrow Airport and Stansted airports being the others.

During the 1980s and 90s Luton saw major building and expansion with a new international terminal opening in 1985.

A new forty million pound terminal was opened by Queen Elizabeth 2nd in 1999; plans for another new terminal and second runway were scrapped in 2007 due to financial complications.

Today Luton airport with its single 2,160 metre asphalt runway provides one hundred and seventeen thousand flights for over ten million passengers making it the fourth largest London airport.

Currently Luton airport is a hub for the budget airlines Easyjet and Ryanair and also a hub for the chartered airlines Monarch airlines and Thompson airways.

Luton airport has good rail and road links to London including the M25 and also the newly built Luton Airport Parkway railway station which was opened in 1999.

With the issues surrounding expanding Heathrow airport and Gatwick airport, Luton airports future looks secure in the foreseeable future.