Billund Airport
Billund Airport in Billund, Denmark, is a facility which serves as one of Denmark's busiest air cargo centres, as well as a charter airline destination, although some regular airlines also offer flights there.The proximity of the airport to the Legoland theme park in Billund arguably makes it easier for the airport to attract passengers, and to lure more airlines into operating to the airport.
Directors at Billund already envisioned non-stop, regular passenger flights to international destinations. But the European Economic Community provided a rather unlikely obstacle, preferring to have only one international airport in Denmark instead. By 1984, however, the EEC officials changed their minds, and Billund airport was finally allowed to have its first regular, non-stop airline service to another country. Maersk Air provided with the first such service, when the airline began a weekly service to Southend, England. Soon after, the famous Concorde, flown by British Airways, made a stop at the airport.
Billund became a hub airport for Maersk Air. Since then, however, the airline was bought and made a part of Sterling Airways which now accounts for the most important European destinations from Billund.
With the growth of the city of Billund as a favorite destination among charter passengers, a new terminal became a necessity, and, in 2002, the airport's terminal two was opened, which allowed officials to close terminal one to passengers and turn it into a cargo-only terminal.
The airport handles an average of almost two million passengers a year, and millions of pounds of cargo.
The airport's main runway can handle airliners as large as the aforementioned Boeing 747, although most passengers arrive on smaller airplanes, such as ATR-42s, Boeing 737s and Boeing 757s. Boeing 747 activity at this airport is almost exclusively limited to cargo flights.
| Address: | Billund Lufthavn A/S Postboks 10 7190 Billund |
| Website: | http://www.billund-airport.dk/ |