JLA celebrates 10 years of the ‘new’ terminal

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the official opening of the current passenger terminal at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

It was 10 years to the day that Her Majesty The Queen visited the Airport to unveil a plaque and to declare the new multi-million pound passenger terminal officially open, meeting a number of invited guests including Yoko Ono, wife of the former Beatle after whom the Airport had been renamed in March of the same year. Since opening 10 years ago, over 45 million passengers have passed through the terminal.

The Queen visited the Airport as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002 and on the day met a number of a local community groups who worked closely with the Airport including a group of children from nearby schools along with members of staff employed at the Airport. Yoko Ono returned to the Airport, flying in especially for the official opening having visited earlier that year when she unveiled the famous John Lennon statue. Tom Murphy, the local sculptor who produced the statue was also present.

The new terminal had cost £32.5 million to complete and in that year over 2.8 million passengers travelled through the airport. However the continued growth of the airport over the past 10 years has meant that a number of further major developments have since been carried out, with the airport recently completing a £12 million programme of passenger improvements with passenger numbers reaching over 5.3 million passengers.

Craig Richmond, CEO Peel Airports commented, "The airport has clearly made significant progress over the past 10 years giving the region’s passengers the opportunity to fly to more destinations, all with the added convenience of starting their journey from their local airport.

"The recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations brought back a lot of memories for staff present during the last Jubilee celebrations and the Queen’s visit here."