London Luton Airport Guide

London Luton Airport is located 2.7 km east of Luton town centre and around 50 km north of central London. It is the fourth-busiest airport serving the London area, behind Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted. The airport handled 16.7 million passengers in 2024, recording 131,972 aircraft movements across its single runway.

The airport is owned by Luton Borough Council through London Luton Airport Limited, and operated by London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL), which is majority-owned (51%) by Spanish airports operator Aena, with the remaining 49% held by Australian investment fund AMP Capital. The site first opened on 16 July 1938 as Luton Municipal Airport.

Low-cost carriers dominate the traffic mix: Wizz Air, easyJet, and Ryanair together account for the vast majority of scheduled seats. The Luton DART rail link, opened in March 2023, connects the terminal directly to Luton Airport Parkway station in under four minutes, replacing the previous shuttle bus service. A major expansion approved in 2025 will add a second terminal and increase annual capacity to 32 million passengers.