The longest airport runway in Britain where Concorde took its first flight is to close, it was announced today.
Filton Airport in Bristol is owned BAE Systems and is used to transport aeroplane parts to its engineering warehouses on the site.
But it has become commercially unviable and will be closed on New Year’s Eve 2012 with the loss of 20 jobs.
The 8,000ft runway hosted Concorde’s first ever test flight in February 1969 and also hosted the arrival of injured American soldiers from D-Day in June 1944.
Jack Lopresti, the Conservative MP for the area, said: ”It effectively means the end to over 100 years of Filton’s use as an aerodrome, a huge part of our aviation history.
”We must of course respect and honour the past but always keep looking to the future, which Filton has always done and thrived.”