The History of Lydd Airport formerly known as Ferryfield
Duke Of Edinburgh Visits Ferryfield Airport (1956)
Lydd Airport, opened in 1954, was the first airport to be built in the UK following the end of the Second World War.It was built for Silver City Airways as an all-weather replacement operating base to that of nearby Lympne Airport, whose grass runway was often waterlogged in rainy weather. The new Lydd Ferryfield was, like Lympne, used initially for car carrying air ferry services using Bristol Freighters, operating principally to Le Touquet in France. Within 5 years of opening, it was handling over 250,000 passengers annually, making it one of the busiest airports in the UK.
In the early 1970s the advent of the Hovercraft and roll-on-roll-off ferries led to a decline of the air ferry services from Lydd although other passenger and freight operations continued.
During the 1980s the airport was bought by Hards Travel from Solihull, who used the airport as its base for its holiday operations to Spain, Italy and Austria, using Dart Herald and Viscount aircraft flying to Beauvais in France, where customers were transferred to coaches for the remainder of the journey. During this time Hards operated 14 flights a day from the airport, and used the large fields surrounding the airport for car parking.
Lydd was the first post-war airport to be built in Britain, and was used for air ferry services to destinations in France
Today the Airport, which has benefited from substantial investment by the new owner, sees a healthy mix of private and training general aviation, corporate jets and air taxis, cargo, maintenance as well as scheduled services to Le Touquet.