Opening and early operations What became Leeds Bradford Airport was built in the late 1920s and early 1930s on of grassland next to the old Bradford to Harrogate road. Initially, the airport was operated by the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club on behalf of Leeds and Bradford Corporations. Its early operations were typified by training and
general aviation flights. By 1936, the London/Yeadon/Newcastle/Edinburgh service was flying three times a week and also stopped at Doncaster and continued to Aberdeen (Dyce). Seasonal flights between Yeadon and
Liverpool commenced during the 1930s. To accommodate the expanding passenger numbers, work commenced on a
terminal building but progress was halted after a single wing had been completed. until 27 August 1939 when it was relocated to Catterick. In 1946, 609 Squadron was reformed and returned to Yeadon the following year. The squadron was equipped with
de Havilland Mosquito MK.XXX aircraft which were difficult to operate because the runways were too short. Safety speed (at which the aircraft needs to be flown and controlled on a single engine) was not reached until over flying central Leeds when taking off in that direction—with drastic results should things go wrong. The airfield sloped downhill and it was necessary to land at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, away, if the wind was coming from the wrong direction. Eventually, the Air Ministry re-equipped 609 with
Spitfire LFXVIs. Yeadon was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force and became part of 13 Group and subsequently 12 Group. Once 609 (West Riding) Squadron left for Catterick, Yeadon served as a Flying Training School, bomber maintenance unit, and a scatter airfield. In January 1942, it was transferred to the Ministry of Aircraft Production and Avro built a
shadow factory for the production of Albermarle, Anson, Lancaster, York, and Lincoln aircraft. It was also used by Hawker Aircraft for development work on its Tornado design. The Royal Air Force remained a part of Yeadon's life until 1957, operating Austers, Supermarine Spitfires, de Havilland Mosquitoes out of here. RAF Yeadon finally closed in 1959.
Wartime use At the outbreak of the
Second World War in 1939, all civil aviation operations were halted. The aircraft manufacturer
Avro constructed a
shadow factory to the north of the aerodrome to manufacture
military aircraft. The factory was connected to the aerodrome by a taxiway from where the aircraft made their way to make their
maiden flights. The Avro factory was
camouflaged, its roof disguised as a field with dummy cattle and agricultural buildings so that from the air it resembled the surrounding fields. About 5,515 aircraft were produced at Yeadon of the following main types:
Anson (more than 4,500),
Bristol Blenheim (250),
Lancaster bomber (695),
York (45) and the
Lincoln (25). Decreased demand at the end of the conflict saw the factory closed in December 1946. Around this time, the airport's terminal building was extended and redeveloped. The first phase opened on 18 July 1985. On 4 November 1984, the day the runway extension was officially opened,
Wardair commenced
transatlantic flights to
Toronto, using
Boeing 747s but these flights were discontinued in 1989 when Wardair ceased operations.
Worldways Canada,
Odyssey International,
Air Transat,
Nationair and
Caledonian all operated transatlantic services from the airport well into the 1990s using
Lockheed Tristar and
Boeing 757–200 airliners. Occasional Concorde charter flights using
British Airways aircraft continued until June 2000, just one month before the
Concorde disaster in Paris. Leeds Bradford Airport had restricted operating hours that proved to be a deterrent to many
charter airlines, whose cheap fares were heavily dependent on 'round-the-clock' use of their aircraft. In 1994, the restrictions were removed, enabling planes to use the airport 24 hours per day, attracting more business.
1995 to 2019 Work on the airport terminal has been ongoing since 1996, and the result of this has been significant growth in terminal size and passenger facilities. The expanded terminal, along with new hangars, has accommodated the expanding use of airliners such as the
Boeing 737. In 2007, nearly 2.9million passengers passed through the airport, an 88% increase in just seven years and more than twice as many compared with 1997 (1.2million). In February 2008,
Shaheen Air commenced a link to
Islamabad. Leeds Bradford's first scheduled flight to Asia, the service catered to the Pakistani community in Yorkshire. Shaheen flew to Islamabad with an Airbus A310 that it had leased from a Turkish company. In order to comply with Pakistani government regulations, it needed to switch to a plane registered in Pakistan within three months. However, the airline was unable to obtain such an aircraft in time, so it had to end the route in May 2008.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) launched a flight to the same city two months later. It also used an A310 on the route. Between 2000 and 2013, the airport was home to the West/South air platform of the
Yorkshire Air Ambulance. It moved to Nostell in November 2013. The following May, PIA terminated its Islamabad service due to financial losses. The A310s consumed fuel inefficiently, and the carrier did not possess enough fuel-efficient aircraft to replace them.
2020 to present In 2020, the
COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the construction of a temporary extension to the terminal front, titled the 'Preparation Zone', acting as a space to queue, maintain
Social distancing measures, and to ensure all passengers were wearing face masks as per the
UK Government's COVID-19 strategy. The existing 'Yorkshire Lounge' was converted into a takeaway food outlet called 'Flight Bites', and all travel money kiosks, other shops / food outlets and the 'Fast Track' security lane were closed. On 15 July 2020, a new, refurbished Yorkshire Lounge opened; closing the Flight Bites temporary outlet. On the same day,
Starbucks and
Boots outlets reopened; coinciding with the relaunch of Jet2.com flights. resulting in huge queues for check-in and security, as a result of the airport getting back up to pre-pandemic levels of passenger numbers, leading to it being ranked worst in the UK. This later led to threats of strike action in security over better pay, which were later suspended. With the closure of
Doncaster Sheffield Airport in November 2022, the majority of
Wizz Air and
TUI's flights were transferred to Leeds Bradford, bringing new routes to destinations in
Romania and Poland, as well as bringing more passengers in from further afield. In late 2023, the airport had the introduction of two new destinations to a continent not currently served by the airport, Africa announced for 2024. Both located in
Morocco the announcement of
Agadir by
Jet2 in October and
Marrakesh by
Ryanair in December. In August 2024, the airport announced as part of its 2030 vision, plans to reintroduce long haul flights from the airport, stating that this could happen within the next 3 years. They also expect passenger numbers to go from 4 million to 7 million a year by 2030. == Facilities ==