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Bournemouth International Airport is an airport about 8 km north east of Bournemouth , England . The Airport is mostly used by Charter Airlines , and sometimes it serves as an alternative to London's major airports. Flights from the airport serve Italy , France , Spain , Holland , Greece , Turkey , Egypt , the United States and a number of other countries. HISTORY Bournemouth International Airport's facilities were first built when the British Aircraft Corporation began to operate from what was then known as Hurn Airport. The company also built the airport's first runway, to perform flight tests on their aircraft. With the creation of the BAC-111 , the company's test runways had to be expanded. Nearly all Vickers Viscount s & 1-11 s were built at this site and it is to be remembered that the Viscount was so common in the 1950s that it has been described as the 'tramp steamer of the skies'. Some of the development of the ill-fated TSR-2 was also done here as well of the production of parts of Concorde . The political closure of the BAC site in the 1980s saw an end to Bournemouth's role as a significant player in the aviation industry. The site of the BAC works now form one of Dorset's largest industrial sites including pioneers in flight-refueling FRA (Flight Refueling Aviation). BAC closed its doors after some years operating there, and the Borough of Bournemouth decided to use the facility as an airport. By 1980 , the airport began to become a major site for charter airlines, as European Aviation began services from there, carrying company executives and other passengers on their newly bought BAC-111s which had returned to the same place where they had been built. In 1993 , the airport received its first flow of regular passengers, when European Aviation changed its name to European Air Charter. The airport had to undergo a runway expansion in the 1990's to enable it to handle long range flights from the airport as well as Concord which officially opened the runway extension. In 2003 European Air Charter brought 6 Boeing 747-200's from British Airways with the intention to operate long haul holidays from the airport however with the companies sale to local travel firm bath travel due to financial difficulties these aircraft were subsequently scrapped in 2005 however bath travel still operates city brakes to New York as well as Fly Cruise operations in the Caribbean in conjunction with P&O cruises. Apart from European Air Charter, Palmair also makes this airport its hub. Palmair is part of a large airport tenant, Bath Travel . In , EasyJet along with the already established Ryanair services. The Airport also has daily services to the nearby channel islands provided by the Alderney based Blue Island Airways. Within 2006 more expansion is expected to take place with the majority of the large charter airlines offering sun holidays to the Mediterranean and the Canaries from the airport as well as Ryanair’s new Pisa service. Shortly after 1700 on Saturday 11th February 2006 , millionaire adventurer Steve Fosset made an emergency landing at Bournemouth International airport after completing the longest non-stop flight in history, having covered 26,389.3 miles in 76 hours and 45 minutes. Fosset had originally planned to end his flight 144 miles even further away at Kent International Airport , but the failure of an electrical generator onboard the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer forced him to issue a Mayday call and land in limited visibility, bursting two tires as he touched down. CAPACITY The airport, as aforementioned is capable of handling Boeing 747 aircraft, although Boeing 737 s are much more common there. SCHEDULED AIRLINES AND DESTINATIONS
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