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Exeter Airport Information

Facilities

The facilities on offer at Exeter International Airport include those for business travellers, children and the disabled.

Transport

There is reliable and regular public transportation available to and from Exeter International Airport and there are regular train services to Exeter city centre. Connections to the airport can be made by bus or taxi and there are car rental offices in the terminal.

History

In January 1932 the Exeter Corporation identified a suitable site for a Municipal Airport, at Waterslade Farm near Clyst Honiton. However being unable to purchase the site by agreement, they issued a Compulsory Purchase Order to the landowners which was duly authorised by the Secretary of State. A landing ground was subsequently prepared and the Air Ministry granted a licence to the Authority at the end of May 1937. By this time there were 37 Municipal aerodromes, 32 of which, including Exeter, had customs facilities. As the Air Ministry officially acknowledged that an aerodrome with customs facilities was an 'airport', Exeter Airport was officially created.

A new company, Exeter Airport Ltd was formed to operate the airport on behalf of Exeter City Council. The first air service to take place on 31st May 1937 was a Jersey Airways flight. Operations were conducted from a 'tented' terminal as the new terminal building was incomplete. The airport was officially licensed for public use on 9th September 1937 and was formally opened by the Air Minister on 20th July 1938 when the first stage of the terminal building had been completed. During 1938 Exeter Airport handled 379 passengers and by the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 passenger services from the Channel Islands, Devon, Cornwall, the Scilly Isles and Southern England were operating from Exeter.

Civil air services were withdrawn soon after the outbreak of the war and Exeter became an RAF station for the duration of the war. On January 1st 1947, the airport was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and services resumed albeit slowly due to the austere conditions that post-war Britain was experiencing. Jersey Airways resumed operations in the early 1950's and a number of smaller operators also began using the airport. Exeter Airport was acquired by The Ministry of Defence (Air) in 1958.

The airport was sold by the Ministry of Defence in April 1972 to a consortium consisting of Devon County Council, Exeter City Council and Torbay Council which became the 'new' Devon County Council after the government reorganisation of councils in 1974. A year earlier, Brymon Airways had begun operating services from Exeter to the Scilly Isles and BEA planes began to be used for charter services to Austria. In 1981 work began on strengthening and extending the airport's main runway. A new visual control room was also built to replace the previous wartime structure. During the following year a new fire station was built and improved passenger facilities were introduced at the terminal.

Exeter Airport celebrated its 60th Diamond Anniversary in July 1998 and the following year Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal officially opened the airport's new arrivals building on 2nd June 1999. The new arrivals facility included separate domestic and international arrival areas as well as improved waiting facilities for meeting and greeting passengers. A new £950,000 Departure Lounge was opened in June 2003. The growth of the all inclusive 'charter' business has meant that an increasing number of larger jets are now using Exeter International Airport. Current operators include First Choice, Air Malta, Spanair, Britannia and Air Transat. The first Boeing 747 to land at Exeter International Airport arrived on 14th October 2004.

On 5th January 2007 Devon County Council sold Exeter International Airport to Regional and City Airports (Exeter) Ltd for £60 million in a deal that was described as being good news for the airport's future and the county's economy.