Airport marks 20th anniversary of terminal building

Guernsey Airport recently marked the 20th anniversary of the new terminal building, with a lookback through our photo archives showing how much the airport has changed over the years.

Around 16 million passengers have passed through the airport terminal building since it was opened on 19 April 2024.

The development began in 1999, when the then Board of Administration invited a shortlist of architects to provide a design for a terminal “sufficient in size and facilities to serve the growth of air travel over the next 25 years”.

The brief was to provide a statement building that would become a memorable gateway to Guernsey. Over the next two years, the terminal design was finalised, and construction began in 2002. Once it was completed, work began on demolishing the old terminal, parts of which dated back to when the original airfield opened in the late 1930s.

Many of you will no doubt remember the old terminal. Parts of the building dated back to the very earliest days of aviation in Guernsey, when the airport still had grass runways! It probably wouldn’t win any design awards today, or comply with modern aviation requirements. But at the time it was the Guernsey’s gateway to the outside world. And who can forget the carpet!