Southampton Airport

Southampton Airport is an international airport located in both Eastleigh and Southampton, Hampshire, in England. The airport is located north-northeast of central Southampton.

The airport handled nearly two million passengers during 2016, an 8.8% increase compared with 2015,

Up to March 2020, 95% of the flights from Southampton were operated by Flybe. However, the airline went into administration on 5 March 2020 with all flights cancelled. When Flybe was purchased and relaunched, it was announced that they would start serving Southampton Airport from the 23 July 2022. The reincarnated Flybe ultimately ceased operations nine months after its relaunch.

History

Aviation began at the site in 1910 when pioneer pilot Edwin Rowland Moon used the meadows belonging to North Stoneham Farm as a takeoff and landing spot for his monoplane, Moonbeam Mk II. The site became known as Eastleigh Airfield.

First World War

The Royal Flying Corps earmarked the site as an aircraft acceptance base during the First World War, but when forces from the United States Navy Air Service (NAS) arrived in 1917 it was handed over to them and designated NAS Eastleigh. Work on the building of hangars which had begun under the Royal Flying Corps was accelerated.

The hostel was intended as a short-term clearing house for those trans-migrants changing ships, but following changes to United States immigration law which restricted entry under national origins quotas, some residents were forced to stay much longer. In 1924 about 980 Ukrainian Jewish would-be emigrants were cared for at the hostel. Some of them were still there seven years later, stranded between the US and UK which would not accept them, and unable to return to the countries they had fled. Atlantic Park had a school, library, and synagogue; the refugees formed football teams that played local sides and took part in local events, such as Eastleigh carnival. At the height of its use, 20,000 passed through Atlantic Park in 1928 but then numbers started to fall away, leading to the closure of the hostel in 1931. By 1935, part of the site was being used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and was briefly known as RAF Eastleigh before it became RAF Southampton in 1936. Also in 1936, Supermarine opened a flight test facility on the site and built a large new Flight Shed at the south end of the aerodrome in 1937-38, and construction of the vast Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft factory between this and Wide Lane soon followed. The latter factory was better known post-war for production of the Ford Motor Company's Transit vans until this finally closed in 2013 - leaving only the almost forgotten Supermarine Flight Shed which had accommodated so many Spitfires locally before their first flights and deliveries to the RAF. Sadly, despite its obvious historical significance, this 84-year-old building is now set for demolition and redevelopment with modern industrial units.

Second World War

The first test flight of the Supermarine Spitfire took place at the airport on 5 March 1936, an event commemorated in 2004 by the erection of a two-thirds-size sculpture of K5054, the prototype Spitfire, at the road entrance. On 5 March 2006, five restored Spitfires took off from Southampton Airport to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first test flight of the Spitfire. The local council wanted to rename the airport after R. J. Mitchell, designer of the Spitfire. However, the airport owner at the time, Heathrow Airport Holdings, did not agree.

The military site was transferred to naval command in 1939, renamed RNAS Eastleigh (HMS Raven), and spent most of the war in a ground and air training role for the Royal Navy. Owing to the 'HMS' designation in the airport's name, Nazi propaganda inaccurately reported that HMS Raven had been sunk when a bombing raid hit the airport. It passed back into civilian ownership in April 1946.

Development after the Second World War

The Cierva Autogiro Company rented portions of the Cunliffe-Owen plants from 1946, but had to move to another location on the field when it was acquired by Briggs. In 1951, Saunders-Roe took over the interests of Cierva Autogyro and built a rotor testing building on the eastern side of the airfield, which is now derelict. They continued operations on the field until about 1960.

During the 1950s, a mainstay of business for the airport was the cross-channel car ferry service operated by Silver City Airways using Bristol Freighters and Superfreighters. In 2012, the Olympic flame visited the airport as part of the torch relay for the 2012 Olympics, in London. In October 2014, Heathrow Airport Holdings reached an agreement to sell the airport, together with those at Glasgow and Aberdeen, for £1 billion to AGS Airports, a consortium of Ferrovial and Macquarie Group.

In 2016 the airport won the Airport of the Year award of the European Regional Airlines Association, having demonstrated extraordinary involvement with the local community and reducing its carbon footprint, whilst growing and expanding in a highly competitive market. In March of the same year, Aer Lingus Regional announced it would fly from Southampton to Cork Airport with an ATR 72, operated by Stobart Air. In 2017, the airport reached two million passengers. In 2019 Southampton was ranked third of 30 airports in the UK for customer satisfaction by Which? magazine, with a score of 77%. On 5 June Air Force One touched down in Southampton carrying then president, Donald Trump. He then travelled to Portsmouth to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The Boeing 757 was the biggest jet ever to visit Southampton.

On 9 December 2020, British Airways (BA CityFlyer) announced they would fly to 13 destinations, mainly holiday destinations, to Spain, Portugal, France, Austria, Italy and Greece. These flights filled the void left by Flybe.

On 25 May 2023, easyJet announced that they would start flying to two domestic destinations, with twice weekly flights to Glasgow and thrice weekly flights to Belfast International starting at the end of October. On 7 November 2023, easyJet yet again announced they would start flying to two summer destinations, those being Faro once a week and Alicante once a week. Not long after, easyJet announced the third summer route, a twice weekly service to Palma de Mallorca.

Operations

thumb|Apron at Southampton Airport

thumb|Interior view

Terminal

Southampton Airport has one terminal which has twelve stands. None of the stands are equipped with jet bridges. Inside the terminal, there are thirteen check-in desks. Facilities include coffee shops, bars, stationers, a duty-free shop and an upstairs lounge.

Airfield

Southampton Airport has one main ground handler, Swissport (Servisair), who took over from Aviance. They handle all passenger services and apron operations for all airlines except for Aurigny Air Services who operate their own ground handling.

Southampton has one asphalt runway, 02/20, which is now long and wide. Only runway 20 has an Instrument Landing System. Runway 02 has VOR/DME and NDB navigation aids. Visual approach is allowed on both runways.

In September 2019, the airport announced plans to extend its runway north by to allow it to support larger aircraft which would enable longer routes. The airport stated aims to increase passenger numbers from 2million to 5million by 2037.

The airport managing director claimed that if the runway extension is not approved, the airport may have to close in 2021. Work commenced on the 164m runway extension on 31 March 2023. The new 164m runway extension became operational on 15 August 2023 with an official opening on 21 September. Attendees included then Aviation Minister, Baroness Vere, as well as then MP for Eastleigh, Paul Holmes.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled services to and from Southampton:

Statistics

Passenger numbers

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|+Southampton Airport Passenger Totals 2002–2025 (thousands)

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bar:2002 from:start till:789.325

bar:2003 from:start till:1218.634

bar:2004 from:start till:1530.776

bar:2005 from:start till:1835.784

bar:2006 from:start till:1912.979

bar:2007 from:start till:1965.686

bar:2008 from:start till:1945.993

bar:2009 from:start till:1789.901

bar:2010 from:start till:1733.690

bar:2011 from:start till:1762.076

bar:2012 from:start till:1694.120

bar:2013 from:start till:1722.758

bar:2014 from:start till:1831.732

bar:2015 from:start till:1789.470

bar:2016 from:start till:1947.052

bar:2017 from:start till:2069.910

bar:2018 from:start till:1991.014

bar:2019 from:start till:1781.457

bar:2020 from:start till:296.094

bar:2021 from:start till:263.131

color:blue

bar:2022 from:start till:631.458

bar:2023 from:start till:754.931

bar:2024 from:start till:852.727

bar:2025 from:start till:885.266

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|Updated: June 2021.

! Rank || Airport || Total <br />passengers || Change<br />2024- 2025 || Carrier(s)

|1|| Amsterdam|| align="right" | 121,698 || 17.04% ||KLM, EasyJet

|2|| Dublin|| align="right" | 101,664 || 15.57% ||Aer Lingus

|3|| Glasgow|| align="right" | 97,226 || 0.53% ||EasyJet

|4|| Belfast City (George Best)|| align="right" | 96,738 || 3.29% || Aer Lingus

|5|| Guernsey|| align="right" | 90,185 || 3.96% ||Aurigny

|6|| Jersey|| align="right" | 83,462 || 6.77% ||Loganair

|7|| Edinburgh|| align="right" | 82,130 || 0.53% || Loganair

|8|| Belfast International|| align="right" | 43,979 || 8.22% ||EasyJet

|9|| Newcastle|| align="right" | 41,194 || 3.00% ||Loganair

|10|| Alicante|| align="right" | 29,556 || 109.57% ||EasyJet

Ground transport

Rail

Southampton Airport has a dedicated mainline railway station, . It is on the South West Main Line from (66 minutes away) to Winchester (15 minutes away), Southampton (city centre about 7 minutes away), Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester and Weymouth, with a fast and frequent service to those places. The station is a 60-second walk from the terminal, one of the closest airport links in Europe.

Bus

Unilink buses run to Southampton city centre throughout the day. Taxis are available outside Arrivals. Bluestar also runs services between Eastleigh and Hedge End aboard their 24 service hourly on the south-side of the train station.

Motorway

The airport is near the junction between the M3 motorway and M27 motorway, giving easy road access to Southampton, Winchester, Bournemouth, Poole, Portsmouth and places between.

Bicycle

Southampton Airport has designated parking and storage for bicycles. Southampton cycle route 7 is proposed to run just outside the airport, giving it a direct cycle path to the city centre. National Cycle Route 23 also runs outside the airport, running between Southampton and Reading via Basingstoke, Alresford, Winchester and Eastleigh.

Accidents and incidents

On 10 June 1990, British Airways Flight 5390 suffered an explosive decompression over Didcot, Oxfordshire while flying from Birmingham to Málaga, Spain. The captain, Tim Lancaster, was partially ejected from the cockpit; co-pilot Alastair Atchison managed to land the plane safely at Southampton with no fatalities. Two crew members including Lancaster were seriously injured, but all passengers were unharmed. This accident appeared on the National Geographic television programme Air Crash Investigation (known as Mayday in some countries).
On 26 May 1993, a Cessna 550 Citation II landed with a tailwind of , while the operating manual recommended a maximum safe tailwind of ; this resulted in a landing distance requirement greater than that available at the airport. The plane overran the runway through the airport perimeter fence and onto the M27 motorway where it collided with two cars and caught fire. The two flight crew sustained minor whiplash injuries, and the three car occupants also sustained minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed.