[7] From November 1944, the airfield took over from Bristol's Whitchurch airport[8] as the main operating base for British Overseas Airways Corporation until Heathrow fully opened in 1948.

)[10] In January 1946 Pan Am opened a scheduled New York (La Guardia) to London (Hurn) service, five days a week, using the new DC-4; the journey time was 17 hours 40 minutes.

[citation needed] The first Palmair charter from the airport took place in 1958, using a single 36-seat Viking aircraft destined for Palma de Mallorca.

Vickers-Armstrongs took over some ex-BOAC hangars at Hurn in 1951 and started production of Varsities, then Viscounts and eventually, as the British Aircraft Corporation, the BAC One-Eleven.

[citation needed] Some of the development of the ill-fated TSR-2 was also done here (although assembly and flight testing was carried out at Warton, Lancs), as well as the production of Jet Provost wings; other components were manufactured here for Concorde, the Panavia Tornado and Short Skyvan.

[citation needed] The closure of the British Aerospace site in 1984 ended Bournemouth's role as a significant player in the aircraft manufacturing industry.

Usefully situated at an operational airfield, for a considerable period training in approach radar control was facilitated by the airport ATC unit.

[12] Yvonne Pope Sintes was the first British woman air traffic controller and worked at Bournemouth Airport when first qualified, before graduating to Gatwick and later becoming Britain's first female commercial airline captain.

[citation needed] In 1993, the airport received its first regular passenger flights when Palmair wet leased its first aircraft and European Aviation Air Charter (EAC) started operations.

In 2005, Thomsonfly became the first major low-cost airline to establish a hub at Bournemouth, allocating two Boeing 737-300 aircraft for scheduled services to Europe and (in 2008) to the Caribbean.

[citation needed] In 2007, Ryanair began to rapidly increase the number of services from the airport, initially starting routes to Marseille, Alicante, and Milan which brought the total to eight.

[citation needed] In 2008, Palmair introduced a new series of charter flights to Tunisia, Fuerteventura, Naples, Amalfi Coast, and Rhodes.

In May the same year, Bergamo and Beauvais routes were announced to commence in October plus a new weekly ski flight to Turin for the winter season.

Another Boeing 737-800 was based at the airport and the airline projected to fly 650,000 passengers per annum at Bournemouth,[19] however the actual figure was lower.

Flybe announced on 10 November 2015 that all destinations would end 27 March 2016[21] In September 2016 one of the UK's newest AOC's Scenic Air Tours started operations from the airport, offering pleasure/scenic flights along the south coast and aircraft rentals.

During the Summer of 2021, influenced by the ongoing pandemic and international travel restrictions, easyJet operated its first UK domestic services to Edinburgh, Belfast and later Liverpool.

[23] With the budget increased to £45 million in July 2008, the plan intended to replace the arrivals terminal and upgrade the check-in and departure lounge areas.

Christchurch Council and central government backed plans for the re-building of the airport terminal, increasing its size by 62%; work started in August 2007.

[citation needed] The following airlines operate regular scheduled flights to and from Bournemouth:[25] The airport has a 200-acre (0.81 km2) industrial park, including offices and hangars.

Their Bournemouth base complemented its facilities in Southampton, Coventry, Ponte de Sor (Portugal), Hamilton (New Zealand) and Cranfield.

[citation needed] Bournemouth Commercial Flight Training and Airline Pilot Academy Operated from its main office and hangar on Aviation Park West adjacent to the National Police Air Service (NPAS) facility.

Its secondary base located at Durham Tees Valley Airport houses one of its Piper PA-28 aircraft available for sightseeing and aerial photography.

Jetfly Aviation, a fractional ownership company, uses the Bournemouth facility for its maintenance needs and has aircraft and crew based at the airport.