Humberside Airport celebrates half a century of serving the region
When a light aircraft first touched down in Kirmington on March 26th 1974, local history was made. Fifty years later and Humberside Airport is still a mainstay in the region, providing hundreds of thousands of people every year with access to the world via Amsterdam and businesses with a base for vital offshore operations.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Humberside Airport, the team is planning a host of events over the next year to commemorate the transport hub and its growth throughout the years. To mark 50 years since its first flight as an airport, passengers were treated to prosecco and chocolates.
50 years in numbers
Humberside Airport has seen significant growth over the last fifty years, opening as Kirmington Airport before it changed its name to Humberside Airport after the autonomous region came into existence less than a week later. The former RAF base was home to Humber Airways Ltd, which had four aircraft – Islanders and Piper Aztecs – for charter work, the former being only nine-seaters.
Also operating from Kirmington was Lease Air, a charter and air taxi company with a flying school on the airport. During its first year of operation, nearly 17,000 aircraft landings and take-offs were recorded at the airport. Of these movements, 9,415 were for training purposes, 7,452 were by commercial and private aircraft, while the number of passengers carried was 6,601.
The first commercial scheduled flight left for Amsterdam in 1975, operated by Air Anglia, and since then, passengers have used Humberside Airport to link to the rest of the world via Schiphol Airport.
- Site purchased in 1969 by Lindsey County Council
- More than 100,000 passengers used the airport annually for the first time in 1984
- In 2003, the airport broke the 500,000 annual passenger mark
- Since 2000, the airport has safely hosted more than 660,000 aircraft movements
- By 2024, Humberside Airport has helped more than 10m passengers reach their destination with Amsterdam, Aberdeen and Palma amongst the most popular
Continuous growth throughout the years
As a transport hub for both the North and South Bank, Humberside Airport naturally expanded, with a terminal extension completed in 1988 and a runway extension in 1992. In 1997 regional airline Eastern Airways started operations with a scheduled route between Humberside and Aberdeen. Further expansion on the business park saw a second hotel, a Hampton by Hilton opened on the site in 2017.
But passenger aircraft is not its only operations. In 2004, Humberside Police located a helicopter at the airport for 12 years and in 2015 the airport became one of ten UK bases for Search & Rescue operations. Following the closure of Doncaster Airport in 2022, a fixed wing surveillance operation relocated to Humberside Airport and operates from Humberside to this day.
Today, the airport is home to offshore companies which use Humberside Airport as a base to support offshore operations; this now includes offshore wind as well as the traditional offshore gas operations.
Deborah Zost, Managing Director for Humberside Airport, said: “Whilst Humberside Airport is one of the smaller regional airports in the UK, it has experienced significant levels of expansion, growth and has solidified its reputation as a local, friendly transport hub which has seen passengers come back again and again over the years.
“We are proud to be such an essential component in supporting the growth of the region, and unlocking the rest of the world to local people with quick, reliable flights to Amsterdam with KLM. We are proud to maintain a hassle-free process, where passengers can be in the terminal simply minutes after parking their car.
“We are delighted to celebrate 50 years of this fantastic airport with our passengers and staff over the next year. The sky is the limit for this airport, and we are excited for the future.”