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77-620: Maastricht Aachen Airport ( IATA : MST , ICAO : EHBK ) is a major cargo hub and regional passenger airport in Beek in Limburg , the Netherlands , located 5  NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) northeast of Maastricht and 15 NM (28 km; 17 mi) northwest of Aachen , Germany . It is the second-largest hub for cargo flights in the Netherlands. As of 2022, the airport had

154-569: A Skyways associate, established in the early 1950s by Eric Rylands to operate low-fare coach-air services between London and several European capital cities. Following Euravia's acquisition of Skyways, Skyways Coach-Air remained independent until its successor Skyways International was taken over by Dan-Air in 1972. By 15 June 1963, Euravia was operating a mixed fleet of eight Constellations and four Avro Yorks . Euravia also took on Skyways Pan Am engine contract at London Heathrow using ex-Skyways Yorks; under this arrangement, one of these aircraft

231-493: A few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

308-415: A hangar on the east side of the airport and supports a wide range of aircraft maintenance activities. Building work on a second adjacent hangar was completed in 2018. The Aviation Competence Centre (ACC) is a training organization for aircraft mechanics and is located at the airport. Construction of a hotel adjacent to the passenger terminal building started in 2019. The GR8 hotel opened 2021. The airport

385-614: A hangar situated on the East side of the airport. Maas Aviation has operated an aircraft painting facility at the airport since the late 1980s. In 2017 it doubled its capacity when it opened a second adjacent paint shop hangar. The Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) is located next to the airport. Samco Aircraft Maintenance B.V. operates from

462-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

539-462: A pair of 767s. Britannia also became the first European airline to fly the Boeing 767 , which was added to its fleet in the 1980s; the 767 was the first widebodied aircraft to enter service in the company's fleet and enabled Britannia to become the first British holiday airline to offer passengers free in-flight audio and video entertainment. During August 1988, Britannia's immediate parent company,

616-420: A passenger throughput of 266,000 and handled 108,000 tons of cargo. The Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) of the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) is also located at the airport. Plans for an airport in southern Limburg date back as far as 1919, with various locations being considered. Years of debate among various municipalities over the location and funding of

693-552: A second aircraft during the summer season. The number of aircraft movements decreased significantly between 2005 and 2007 compared to previous years due to relocation of a major Dutch flight school, the Nationale Luchtvaartschool , nowadays better known as CAE Oxford Aviation Academy . The flight school, which was originally based at this airport, moved all flight operations to Évora Airport in Portugal. In

770-400: A tank battle were commandeered and cleared. Rubble from the nearby town of Geleen , which had been unintentionally bombed in 1942, was used to level the area. The runway was 5,565 feet (1,696 m) and reinforced with pierced steel planks . The field was built in less than 2 months and was operational on 22 March 1945, and was designated Y-44. The first unit to be based at the field was

847-565: A wholly owned subsidiary, Britannia GmbH, based in Germany to operate long and short-haul flights from airports in Germany, Switzerland and Austria for German tour operators, flying several 767-300s. On 3 November 1997, the subsidiary's inaugural flight was flown, flying between Berlin and the Dominican Republic . At one point, Britannia Airways GmbH employed roughly 200 people and operated 4 Boeing 767-300s; however, this division

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924-475: A wider reorganisation of TUI's UK operations in September 2004, it was announced that Britannia would be rebranded as Thomsonfly . As of January 1995, Britannia Airways operated services to the following international scheduled destinations: only for Full stop over The Britannia Airways fleet consisted of the following aircraft: The Airline also operated Bristol Britannia aircraft and Boeing 707s. At

1001-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1078-586: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

1155-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

1232-479: Is located along motorway A2 , exit 50. Taxis are available at the airport. There is bus service (line 30), operated by Arriva , running between Sittard and Maastricht . This line also covers transport between the Maastricht railway station and the airport. KLM operates a bus connection service to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol . Tickets to use this service are an add-on to a KLM flight ticket. The airport

1309-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

1386-584: Is situated along the Sittard-Maastricht fast cycling route, which is designed to encourage more people to cycle. [REDACTED] Media related to Maastricht Aachen Airport at Wikimedia Commons IATA airport code The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in

1463-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

1540-630: The Air Registration Board , and an Air Operator's Certificate from the Ministry of Aviation . These applications were not without some difficulty as Euravia had the distinction of being refused more licences than any other two airlines put together; this was due to the fact that the firm placed a larger number of applications than any British airline, except for British United Airways (BUA). On 1 April 1962, Euravia established its initial operating base at Luton Airport ; on 13 April,

1617-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

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1694-604: The United Kingdom . It was founded in 1961 as Euravia and became the world's largest holiday airline. Britannia's main bases were at London Gatwick , London Stansted , London Luton , Cardiff , Bristol , East Midlands , Birmingham , Manchester , Newcastle , Leeds Bradford , Liverpool , and Glasgow . It had its headquarters at Britannia House in Luton . Britannia was originally a charter operator for Universal Sky Tours and later for Thomson holidays where it became

1771-641: The flying with confidence course and closer customer service coordination within Thomson. During the early 1990s, the airline launched its in-flight Royal Service brand to increase the profile of the company's high-end services, somewhat akin to the premium service levels available on scheduled airlines. It was succeeded by a newer brand, 360 , during the late 1990s; this service was billed as being less old-fashioned and possessed greater personality. During 2000, Thomson Travel Group, and thereby Britannia Airways, were acquired by TUI Group of Germany. As part of

1848-481: The list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and the use of two letters allowed only

1925-562: The 31st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, flying the F-6, a reconnaissance version of the P-51 Mustang . The unit arrived on 22 March 1945. As Nazi Germany was rapidly collapsing, the front was already well into Germany by the time the field was ready, and no direct combat sorties were operated from Y-44. 31st TRS was moved to Y-80 near Wiesbaden on 19 April 1945. Authority over what was to become known as Beek airfield ( vliegveld Beek ),

2002-500: The Dutch tourist board for the nearby town of Valkenburg aan de Geul , aimed at British tourists, was highly successful and brought services by Invicta Airlines , Britannia and Channel Airways . Domestic travel picked up as well, and newly created NLM CityHopper started to operate a service between Maastricht and Amsterdam Schiphol in 1966. The service would continue after KLM acquired NLM in 1992, and would last until 2008. When it

2079-509: The European edition of The Wall Street Journal ), runway length limits intercontinental operations. The Dutch government initially approved plans for the runway in 1985, however, the new runway would mean increased noise over other towns and parts of Belgium as well, and the final decision was delayed. As the new east–west runway would require substantial investment, it would only be profitable if night operations were permitted and increasingly

2156-523: The IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn , is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as

2233-598: The Thomson Travel Group, purchased Horizon Travel and its airline, Orion Airways , which was then integrated into Britannia. During the 1990s, Britannia also began to operate services for Skytours and Portland Direct, themselves also part of the Thomson Group. During this time, Britannia heavily modernised its fleet and expanded its route network to holiday destinations in Asia, Canada, South Africa, and

2310-476: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Euravia Britannia Airways was a charter airline based in

2387-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

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2464-492: The United States. During 1997, 34 per cent of Britannia's flights were flown to long-haul destinations. By the summer of 1998, Britannia's operations, which were by then centered around Germany, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom, operated a mixed fleet of three Airbus A320s , a single Boeing 737-800, 24 757s and 13 767s. Several efforts were made at European expansion during this time. During 1997, Britannia formed

2541-463: The airline to procure the British airliner instead. These pressure tactics ultimately proved to be unsuccessful; by 1975, Britannia was operating a fleet of 13 Boeing 737s. By 1972, the airline had become the largest of the British independent charter airlines. Prior to the mid-1970s, Britannia, much like other British charter airlines of the era, had concentrated upon low-cost flights to Spain and

2618-405: The airline's first aircraft, a Lockheed Constellation , was delivered for certification and training. Early on, Euravia benefitted from its close association with inclusive tour holiday company Universal Sky Tours. On 5 May 1962, Euravia commenced flight operations, using an initial batch of three Constellations to perform flights on behalf of Universal Sky Tours. Within ten days, the operation

2695-622: The airport delayed its construction. In July 1939, the Limburg provincial government agreed to financially back the airport, however, the start of World War II meant the plans were put on hold once more. After the allied invasion of Normandy , the USAAF Ninth Air Force , specifically the IX Engineer Command, was tasked with constructing temporary airfields close to the advancing front . The area around Maastricht

2772-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

2849-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

2926-421: The airport's name was changed to "Maastricht-Aachen Airport". In July 2004, a 100% share in the airport was acquired by OmDV, a consortium of airport investment company Omniport and the construction company Dura Vermeer , making it the first fully privatised airport in the Netherlands. Substantial investments in the airport infrastructure have been made since the privatization. Between August and October 2005,

3003-415: The airport, as part of his visit to the Netherlands. In 1981, a development plan for the airport recommended constructing a 3,500m east–west runway to facilitate growth in cargo operations, particularly during the night hours. The new runway would greatly reduce noise impact over the towns of Beek , Meerssen and the city of Maastricht . Although some night operations are allowed (including distribution of

3080-489: The airport, initially operating to Berlin , Munich , and Amsterdam , before adding Copenhagen , Paris Charles de Gaulle and Southend in 2014. This did not happen and the company declared bankruptcy. Also in 2013, the airport was helped by the province with a 4.5 million euro contribution. The airport was very close to bankruptcy during this period. Later on, in March 2014, the same province of Limburg believed that closure

3157-483: The airport. Bush visited the Netherlands American Cemetery in nearby Margraten the next day. The instrument landing system (ILS) for runway 21 was upgraded to category III in 2008, which allows landings in very low visibility conditions. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the only other airport in the Netherlands that has category III ILS. In March 2011, the airport was certified to handle

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3234-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

3311-510: The company's activities being beneficial to the general public. As a result of this interest, during 1965, Britannia became part of Thomson , itself part of the Canadian-owned International Thomson Organisation. This acquisition was beneficial to the company's prospects, including financing the acquisition of a new generation of jet-powered airliners to enable Britannia's rapid transition into

3388-588: The debate became focused on whether or not night flights should be allowed. Successive cabinets could not reach a final decision, and in 1998, after some 25 years of debate and postponement, the plan was aborted altogether. In 1992, the Belgian town of Tongeren became shareholder of the airport. Two years later, the board of trade or chamber of commerce of the nearby German city of Aachen became shareholder. This interest eventually became prominent and in October 1994

3465-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

3542-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

3619-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

3696-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

3773-433: The in-house airline with a fleet of Boeing jet aircraft. In 2000, Thomson Travel Group, and thereby Britannia Airways, were acquired by TUI Group of Germany. As part of a wider reorganisation of TUI's UK operations in September 2004, Britannia was rebranded as Thomsonfly . The airline was established as Euravia (London) by British businessman T.E.D. Langton and aviation consultant J.E.D. Williams on 1 December 1961. It

3850-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

3927-423: The jet age. During 1968, Britannia commenced a re-equipment effort involving the then-new Boeing 737-200 jetliner; it had the distinction of being the first European airline to operate the type. The purchase of the brand new and relatively unproved 737 was seen as a major breach of traditional practice; historically, charter airliners procured secondhand aircraft from their larger scheduled airlines. In addition,

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4004-500: The large ' flag carriers ' were comparatively wary of the value of jet-powered aircraft, normally opting for comfort and high-quality passenger conditions over speeds. This unconventional purchase was also politically controversial; Sir George Edwards , the chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), had expected Britannia to order the rival BAC One-Eleven and lobbied government officials to convince

4081-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

4158-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

4235-401: The passenger terminal. Also, freight carriers as Emirates SkyCargo and Saudia Cargo found their way to the airport, while Turkish Airlines Cargo , Silk Way Airlines and Sky Gates Airlines further expanded their operations in Maastricht . Meanwhile, both Corendon Dutch Airlines and Ryanair announced that they would expand their number destinations. Corendon Dutch Airlines even based

4312-578: The runway was resurfaced and renamed to 03/21 (from 04/22) to compensate for changes in the Earth's magnetic field . The airport originally had two runways; the second (shorter, 1,080 m (3,540 ft)) runway (07/25) was closed and removed to make room for a new cargo terminal and additional aircraft maintenance facilities. Construction of the new facilities started in April 2008. On 7 May 2005, Air Force One carrying US president George W. Bush landed at

4389-502: The same and cargo operations expanded. The international air traffic control area control centre for EUROCONTROL was built at the airport. It started operations on March 1, 1972. Around 1980, the airport changed its name to "Maastricht Airport". In 1983, the aging passenger terminal and air traffic control tower were replaced by new buildings The new terminal was later expanded and is still in use as of 2010. On 14 May 1985, Pope John Paul II held an open-air mass for 50,000 people at

4466-451: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

4543-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

4620-761: The summer of 2007, flight training at the airport resumed as the Stella Aviation Academy moved into the facilities previously used by the NLS. In 2009, there were a total of 40,621 aircraft movements, up 13.9% from 2008. In 2008, there were a total of 35,668 aircraft movements, up 83.4% from 2007. In 2007, there were a total of 19,454 aircraft movements, up 35% from 2006. The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Maastricht/Aachen: Source: Statistics Netherlands Jet Center - Maastricht Aachen Airport (MAA) provides handling for general aviation aircraft. Jet Center operates from

4697-442: The time of rebranding, Britannia was the largest charter airline in the United Kingdom, its position of market dominance being owed to the growth of Thomson Holidays. Initially its main competitor was British Airtours . The 1980s saw the growth of Monarch Airlines as a credible competitor. In the 1990s Air 2000 , Airtours International , First Choice Airways and Flying Colours Airlines grew as competitors. Its main competitor at

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4774-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

4851-523: The upcoming Boeing 747-8 , as two of the airport's major airlines— Cargolux and AirBridge Cargo —have placed orders for this aircraft. Ryanair announced on July 3, 2012, that Maastricht will become a new Ryanair base from December 2012, the first on Dutch soil, with one Boeing 737-800 being based at the airport and three new routes being launched: Dublin , London-Stansted and Treviso . In late October 2012, start-up Dutch airline, Maastricht Airlines , announced plans to base six Fokker 50 aircraft at

4928-437: The use of provincial airports (other than its Luton base) to provide its services. However, the company held ambitions to expand beyond this. During 1988, Britannia's 767s were used to commence regular charter flights between Britain and Australia, as well as to New Zealand the following year. Between 1968 and 1984, Britannia carried nearly 42 million passengers, while the company's fleet grew to include twenty-nine Boeing 737s and

5005-418: The war had left many roads and railroads heavily damaged. The service used six de Havilland Dragon Rapides made available by the British government. In 1946, the service was taken over by KLM , using DC-3 Dakotas . However, as repairs to the Dutch infrastructure progressed, demand for the service dropped and it was stopped in 1949. The first semi-permanent airport terminal was completed in 1947. The runway

5082-558: Was also used as an intermediate stop for services from London and Manchester to Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia. A local airline based at the airport, Limburg Airways , had a contract with the International Herald Tribune for distributing the newspaper's European edition, which was printed in Paris. Limburg Airways was taken over by Martin's Air Charter (now Martinair ) in 1962. A promotion campaign by

5159-447: Was cancelled, it was the last remaining domestic service in the Netherlands. An ILS system , which allows landings in poor weather, was built in 1967, for runway 22 only. In 1973, the airport was expanded again to handle bigger aircraft. The main runway was lengthened to 2500 m (8,200 ft), taxiways were widened, and aprons were enlarged. This mostly offset the negative effects of the 1973 oil crisis , passenger volume remained

5236-493: Was founded at a time of considerable turmoil for the independent sector of the British air operators industry, during the early 1960s, several firms suffered from severe financial hardship and were even driven into bankruptcy . Upon deciding to launch operations, the company quickly obtained the necessary licences from the Air Transport Licensing Board, airworthiness certificates for its aircraft from

5313-539: Was liberated in 1944. In October 1944, the advance headquarters of the XIX Tactical Air Command and the 84th and 303rd Fighter Wings were moved to Maastricht to keep up with the Ninth Army. Because of the proximity to the new headquarters, the decision was made to create a temporary airfield between the towns of Beek , Geulle and Ulestraten . Several orchards which had suffered damage from

5390-562: Was never an option. They decided that they would like to take over the airport. In December 2013, a spokesperson of the airport confirmed the closure of the Ryanair base from March 2014, entailing the ending of the Bergamo , Brive , Dublin , London-Stansted and Málaga flights. In 2017, Corendon Dutch Airlines announced that they would open a base on the airport with one aircraft based in summer 2018. In late 2018 renovations started on

5467-549: Was officially transferred to the Dutch government on 1 August 1945. It was decided to keep it open rather than re-open the pre-war debate over the location of an airport in the Maastricht area. The first civilian aircraft landed on 26 September 1945 and were operated by the Regeeringsvliegdienst , a government service with the purpose of carrying government officials and other people with urgent business, because

5544-438: Was on permanent standby at Heathrow ready to fly a spare jet engine to rescue any PanAm Boeing 707 jetliner that encountered engine problems. These rescue flights were flown as far afield as Singapore and Hong Kong. The other Yorks were used for ad hoc freighting until 1965 when the last aircraft G-AGNV was flown from Luton to Staverton, Gloucester to be an exhibit at the now defunct Skyfame museum. Upon retirement, this aircraft

5621-562: Was paved in 1949, and a second paved runway was completed in 1950. In 1951, an agreement between the airport and the Dutch Air Force allowed for rapid expansion of the facilities. Runway 04/22 was lengthened to 1,850 m (6,070 ft), and permanent runway lighting was installed in 1960. The late 1950s and early 1960s brought significant expansion in commercial operations at the airport. Operators included KLM , Airnautical, Skytours, Euravia , Tradair and Transair . The airport

5698-543: Was preserved and placed on display at the RAF museum , RAF Cosford . On 16 August 1964, the airline was rebranded, becoming Britannia Airways ; this name was adopted to coincide with re-equipping with ex- British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Bristol Britannia turboprop airliners to replace the Constellations. The type would not be used for long however; during December 1970, the last remaining Britannia 102

5775-399: Was reportedly breaking-even ; by a month later, the firm's initial fleet was operating at its maximum planned utilisation rate. On 5 October of that same year, a rival charter airline Skyways , one of Britain's foremost independent airlines during the 1950s and early 1960s, was taken over by Euravia and integrated into its operations. The Skyways takeover did not include Skyways Coach-Air,

5852-591: Was successful( more than 1 million passengers per year) but closed down during March 2001 due to the TUI acquisition. During early 1998, the Thomson Travel Group also acquired the Scandinavian holiday operation, Fritidsresor Group, along with its airline Blue Scandinavia, which was later renamed Britannia Nordic (since rebranded as TUI fly Nordic ). In addition, it was during this decade that Britannia launched several public image and service quality initiatives, such as

5929-436: Was withdrawn from service, consequently, the airline became an all-jet operator at this point. During the late 1960s, Britannia became the first charter airline to offer assigned seating, as well as hot in-flight meals. During the mid-1960s, Britannia had attracted the interest of the newspaper business magnate Lord Thomson , who sought a good prospect with which to diversify his business stakes; Thomson also approved of

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