A trip down memory lane as dublin airport celebrates 75th birthday

Did you know that Dublin Airport was originally called Collinstown Airport?

Well these are just a few of some interesting facts coming out this week on Dublin Airport which celebrated its 75th birthday yesterday, Monday, January 19.

The airport opened for business on Friday, January 19, 1940 with a single flight to Liverpool’s Speke Airport. Shortly after 9am, an Aer Lingus Lockheed 14 aircraft took off from the grass runway close to the original passenger terminal, which was still being built at that time.

With war raging throughout Europe, the airport was effectively mothballed for the next five years. Dublin Airport’s only service was to Liverpool or occasionally to Manchester’s Barton Aerodrome. 

Dublin Airport’s first scheduled service to London commenced in November 1945, with a two and a half hour direct flight to Croydon Airport and air mail services were added in 1946.

Connections to other British cities and continental European destinations were added and in April 1958, Dublin Airport got its first scheduled transatlantic service to New York.

Dublin Airport’s route network has grown substantially in recent years and now offers customers direct services to Britain, North America, Continental Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In the 1950s and 1960s the airport was a destination in its own right, as people travelled out to Collinstown to see the planes and to dine in its restaurant, which was said to be one of the best in the country. Guided tours of the airport were popular and Dublin Airport featured regularly in postcards of the time.