On the evening of February 7, 2008 an Airbus A310-300 made its descent over Central England. To many, the aircraft was just one of the ever-increasing air transport movements in the skies across the UK, but to the management of Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA) and the residents of Yorkshire it represented a new era for the region. The Shaheen Air International aircraft was the first scheduled intercontinental flight into the Yorkshire gateway, arriving almost 24 years after the first long-haul passenger flight--a Wardair Boeing 747 from Toronto, Canada in November 1984.

That may seem a long time to wait for a scheduled long-haul connection but securing a lucrative non-stop link to Pakistan ahead of many of its larger rivals can be viewed as a major coup for LBIA. The airport is, after all, only the 16th largest in the UK based on traffic, handling just under three million passengers a year.

This figure is fairly low for an airport serving a city the size of Leeds and which has more than nine million people living within a 90-minute drive. In the past it has certainly suffered from a lack of investment with many potential passengers choosing to make a road journey to Manchester instead. But, now under private ownership and with a new management team, LBIA is embarking on a major project to enhance its facilities and promote itself as the true gateway for both inbound and outbound traffic to and from Yorkshire.

Background

The airport had its origins in the early 1930s with the opening in October 1931 of the Leeds and Bradford Municipal Aerodrome, or more commonly Yeadon Aerodrome, the West Yorkshire town where it was located. The 60-acre site on the main Bradford Harrogate Road was initially used for club flying and training flights with classic models such as the de Havilland DH60G Gipsy Moth, DH80A Puss Moth and DH85 Leopard Moth being prevalent. In 1935 the site was extended a further 35 acres, enabling the first scheduled passenger flights to begin. The first was operated on April 8 by North Eastern Airways, its Airspeed Envoys making a stopover en route from London to the old Newcastle Airport at Cramlington. These flights were soon extended to Aberdeen and Edinburgh, while from June 1935 West Coast Air Services added connections to Blackpool and the Isle of Man.

In 1936, 609 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force was formed at the Aerodrome and seasonal holiday flights to the Isle of Man and Liverpool operated by Isle of Man Air Services. Plans were also announced that year for a 40,000 £ terminal building but only one wing of this initial project was built (this was demolished in 1977 to make way for new facilities that form the basis of the current terminal building).

With the outbreak of World War Two, the airfield was requisitioned by the military and developed as a bomber and fighter base, but in early 1942 it was transferred to the Ministry of Aircraft Production when a...