Renfrew Airport was the domestic airport serving the city of Glasgow until it was decommissioned in 1966.
It was located in the Newmains area of Renfrew, approximately 2 kilometres east of the current airport which would later replace it. It consisted of a main terminal building and ancillary buildings, and a main runway which ran west south-west of the terminal.
Already in existence as a military facility during the First World War, it first handled scheduled flights in 1933 with the first regular destination being Campbeltown. During the Second World War it served as RAF Renfrew.
The following units were here at some point: [1]
Despite the construction of a new terminal building (with a parabola arch) in 1954, it became evident that the airport was unable to cope with the increasing demands for domestic air travel in the 1960s. The final departure took place on 2 May 1966 – its destination being the new Glasgow Airport a few hundred metres away.
The site is now occupied by a Tesco supermarket and the M8 motorway; this straight and level section of motorway occupies the site of the runway. [4] Opened in March 1968, the M8 connected the new Glasgow Airport to Bishopton in the west and Glasgow city centre (via Hillington) in the east. The entire airport was demolished in 1978. Arkleston Primary School (1972) and a Tesco superstore (1980) were built on the former terminal site, and the whole of the surrounding area is now covered with housing.
The only trace left of the airport is the Flying Scotsman pub which was the Hertz car rental building, opposite the terminal building.
The airport was served by airlines such as Scottish Airlines, Aer Lingus, Railway Air Services and British European Airways, for destinations in Scotland and London. [5]
Icelandair offered flights to Iceland and a number of destinations in Europe. [6] Other airlines offering international flights were Dan-Air, Sabena and LOT.
The airport handled 138,146 passengers in its first year of operations. By the end of the decade, the airport was handling more than half a million passengers annually; one million passengers passed through the airport for the first time in the year 1964. In the year of the airport's closure, it handled 1.4 million passengers. [7]
| Year | Number of Passengers [8] | % Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 138,146 |  |
| 1951 | 139,599 |  1 |
| 1952 | 156,916 | 12.4 |
| 1953 | 210,023 | 33.8 |
| 1954 | 258,481 | 23.1 |
| 1955 | 305,574 | 18.2 |
| 1956 | 373,948 | 22.4 |
| 1957 | 436,561 | 16.7 |
| 1958 | 443,481 | 1.6 |
| 1959 | 528,682 | 19.2 |
| 1960 | 652,180 | 23.4 |
| 1961 | 741,398 | 13.7 |
| 1962 | 854,988 | 15.3 |
| 1963 | 996,264 | 16.5 |
| 1964 | 1,150,506 | 15.8 |
| 1965 | 1,240,066 | 7.8 |
| 1966 | 1,406,879 | 13.5 |
1 ^ combined with the new Glasgow Airport
The airport features briefly in the second novel of a space opera series by Angus MacVicar, Return to the Lost Planet. One of the characters is about to fly back from Scotland to Berlin, but the hero and his companion join him at the last minute on the bus from St. Enoch, Glasgow, to the airport, and persuade him to stay and help them.
Croydon Airport was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located in Croydon, then part of Surrey. Built in a Neoclassical style, it was developed as Britain's main airport, handling more cargo, mail, and passengers than any other UK airport at the time. Innovations at the site included the world's first air traffic control and the first airport terminal. During World War II the airport was named RAF Croydon as its role changed to that of a fighter airfield during the Battle of Britain; and in 1943 RAF Transport Command was founded at the site, which used the airport to transport thousands of troops into and out of Europe.
Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport, formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport in Scotland. It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, 8.6 nautical miles west of Glasgow city centre. In 2019, the airport handled 8.84 million passengers, an 8.4% annual decrease, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom.
Aberdeen International Airport is an international airport, located in the Dyce suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, approximately 5 nautical miles northwest of Aberdeen city centre. As of 2023 1.9million people used the airport.
Newcastle International Airport is an international airport in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK. Located approximately 7.7 mi (12.4 km) from Newcastle City Centre, it is the primary and busiest airport in North East England, and the second busiest in Northern England. As of 2017, Newcastle International handled just under 5.2 million passengers annually.
London Biggin Hill Airport is an operational general aviation airport at Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley, located 12 NM south-southeast of Central London. The airport was formerly a Royal Air Force station RAF Biggin Hill, and a small enclave on the airport still retains that designation.
Royal Air Force Nutts Corner or more simply RAF Nutts Corner is a former Royal Air Force station located 2.7 miles (4.3 km) east of Crumlin, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and 9.2 miles (14.8 km) north west of Belfast.
Islay Airport is located 4.5 nautical miles north-northwest of Port Ellen on the island of Islay in Argyll and Bute, off the west coast of Scotland. It is a small rural airport owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. Today the airport is used for scheduled services to the Scottish mainland, and for air ambulances.
Royal Air Force West Malling or RAF West Malling is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.6 miles (2.6 km) south of West Malling, Kent and 5.2 miles (8.4 km) west of Maidstone, Kent, England.
Inverness Airport is an international airport situated at Dalcross, 7 NM north-east of the city of Inverness, Scotland. It is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL). The airport is the main gateway for travellers to Inverness and the North of Scotland with a range of scheduled services throughout the United Kingdom, and various scheduled services to Continental Europe. Charter and freight flights operate throughout the UK and Europe. Latest figures state 946,391 passengers passed through the airport in 2019. The airport is also headquarters to Dalcross Handling which now operates across Scotland.
Coventry Airport is located three nautical miles south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.
Cambridge City Airport, previously Marshall Airport Cambridge UK, is a regional airport in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the eastern outskirts of Cambridge, south of Newmarket Road and west of the village of Teversham, 1.5 NM from the centre of Cambridge and approximately 50 mi (80 km) from London.
Royal Air Force Prestwick otherwise known as RAF Prestwick, was a RAF unit based at the NATS air traffic control centre, adjacent to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, South Ayrshire, in south west Scotland. The unit was home to the Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre (Military) which provided an air traffic control service to military aircraft operating within its area of responsibility. Prestwick was also home to a Distress and Diversion (D&D) Cell which provided assistance to both military and civil aircraft in an emergency.
Royal Air Force Turnhouse or more simply RAF Turnhouse is a former Royal Air Force Sector Station located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is now Edinburgh Airport.
Cranfield Airport is an airfield just outside the village of Cranfield, in Bedfordshire, England. It is 7 NM south-west of Bedford and 5.5 NM east of Milton Keynes. It was originally a World War II aerodrome, RAF Cranfield. It is now used for business aviation, private flights, and for research and development activities.
Wick John O' Groats Airport is located one nautical mile north of the town of Wick, at the north-eastern extremity of the mainland of Scotland. It is owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. The airport provides commercial air travel connections for Caithness, with scheduled services to Aberdeen Airport and, until early 2020, Edinburgh. It remains regularly used by helicopters servicing local offshore oil operations and the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm. It also serves as a stop-over for light aircraft ferry flights between Europe and North America via Iceland. The airport also operates an out of hours call-out service for air ambulances, coastguard and police flights.
Tiree Airport is located 2.5 nautical miles north northeast of Balemartine on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. It is owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.
RAF Heathfield, sometimes known as RAF Ayr/Heathfield due to its proximity to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was also used by military flights, is a former Royal Air Force station.
No. 666 Squadron was a Royal Air Force Air Observation Post (AOP) squadron associated with the Canadian 1st Army and later part of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. Numbers 651 to 663 Squadron of the RAF were Air Observation Post units working closely with British Army units in artillery spotting and liaison. A further three of these squadrons, 664–666, were manned with Canadian personnel. Their duties and squadron numbers were transferred to the Army with the formation of the Army Air Corps on 1 September 1957
RAF West Freugh is a former Royal Air Force station located in Wigtownshire, 5 miles (8 km) south east of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Royal Air Force Church Fenton or RAF Church Fenton was a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located 4.3 miles (6.9 km) south east of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England and 6.3 miles (10.1 km) north west of Selby, North Yorkshire, near the village of Church Fenton. The station was opened in 1937 and during the Second World War was home to air defence aircraft, a role retained by the station until the 1960s when it became a training station. It closed in 2013 and is now a civilian airfield known as Leeds East Airport.
