Southampton Airport's busiest year
January 2007
2006 was a busy year for Southampton Airport which welcomed over 1.9 million passengers, 130,000 in December alone, making it the busiest in Southampton Airport's 97 year history.
The announcement from BAA marked an increase of 4.1% on 2005 with Southampton Airports Managing Director Chris Butler stating that "2007 promises to be another exciting year" with the airport looking to "pass the 2 million passenger milestone in the latter part of the year." Southampton Airport currently serves 48 destinations with 8 different airlines. BAA unveiled expansion plans in November 2006 which it is hoped will see passengers quadruple by 2030, creating 4009 jobs and contributing and estimate £260m to the local economy.
Southampton Airport has a rich aviation history beginning in 1910 when the site was used by a local man to test his pioneering Moonbeam 2 aircraft. The site was requisitioned by the War Office in 1917 and, when the US Navy arrived, work on building the hangars began. In 1936 the first test flights of the Supermarine Spitfire were conducted at Southampton Airport and a scale model commemorating the event still stands at the airport. The airport was bought by BAA in 1990 and today its 2 runways serve destinations in 13 European countries.
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