History of Belfast Airport - Airport Guides Network

Aldergrove was selected to be the Royal Flying Corps training establishment during the First World War.
After the war Aldergrove remained open for Royal Air Force aircraft and for the fledgling civil traffic to and from Northern Ireland.
In 1921 King George V and Queen Mary visited Northern Ireland. Aircraft landed at Aldergrove with cameramen and reporters and returned to London with newsreel films and photographs of the event.
1925 saw Northern Ireland's own Special Reserve unit No 502 (Ulster) Squadron RAF formed at Aldergrove.
By 1934 Aldergrove was Northern Ireland's civil airport
1934 saw the first London service begin to Nutts Corner. The flight flew from Croyden, via Birmingham and Manchester to Belfast and was operated by Railway Air Services.
During the second World War, Aldergrove remained an airbase.
After the war civil flights were moved back to Aldergrove due to less variable weather conditions than at Nutts Corner.
In 1963 operations were transferred to Aldergrove and the first passenger flight to land was a BEA Viscount from Manchester.
In October 1963 HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother reopened Aldergrove as a civil airport and introduced the terminal building
The first regular jet service began in 1966 with a British United BAC 1-11 to Gatwick
By 1969 annual passengers at the airport had reached 1 million
30 years on Belfast airport is the principal gateway to the north of Ireland and sees over 4 million passengers through the terminal each year.