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A Brief History on Manchester Airport |
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Barton, five miles west of the city, was Manchester's first choice airport and in 1929 the first municipal airfield in the UK to be licensed by the Air Ministry. Despite its convenient location, however, Barton had a problem. After heavy rain it became severely waterlogged, services were disrupted and eventually a new location had to be found. Manchester Corporation looked to the south west where the aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation had set up a factory in 1934. The small airfield there was transformed into a commercial airport in the space of four years, but it was as a military base that Ringway was to make its mark. The wartime years from 1940 to 1945 saw 600,000 troops of Britain's Airborne forces training there as glider pilots and parachutists. With another prominent plane maker A.V.Roe setting up shop alongside Fairey some of the most famous military aircraft of the conflict were manufactured at Manchester. It was here that the prototype of the Lancaster bomber made its first flight. With peacetime came new opportunities for civil expansion and in 1949 part of the old Parachute School cast off its past and was converted to handle an increasing number of passengers. Two years later the runway was lengthened but it was the 1960's that brought a major step forward. An imposing terminal building with air traffic control facilities and two passenger piers was added. That development heralded two decades of burgeoning traffic and growing facilities which included a third pier, new departure hall and a longer runway. Manchester had still greater ambitions. They were realised in the 1980s when the airport was designated an International Gateway handling direct long-haul international flights. The airport responded to its international reputation with an on-going investment programme directed not only at passenger traffic but as a major cargo handler. A second international passenger terminal and direct rail and motorway links have made the airport increasingly accessible to a wide catchment area. Approval to build a second runway gained against much local opposition has further enhanced the airport's potential. Manchester is still municipally owned - the city now has a consortium of local authority partners - and contributes handsomely to the local economy. Comedians passing through on their way to the next gig tell jokes about Manchester's weather at their peril |
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