page_title: Aberdeen Airport
section_title: Post RAF use
hierarchical_section_title: Aberdeen Airport / History / Post RAF use
caption_attribution_description: A line-up of 4 CHC Airbus Helicopters H225 Super Puma 2 at Aberdeen Airport, waiting for commencement of the day's work. Aberdeen is the world's busiest heliport.
context_page_description: Aberdeen International Airport is an international airport, located in the Dyce suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, approximately 5 nautical miles northwest of Aberdeen city centre. A total of just under 3.1 million passengers used the airport in 2017, an increase of 4.6% compared with 2016.
  The airport is owned and operated by AGS Airports which also owns and operates Glasgow and Southampton airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings. Aberdeen Airport is a base for Eastern Airways and Loganair. The airport also serves as the main heliport for offshore North Sea oil and gas industry. With the utilisation of newer aircraft, helicopters can reach northernmost platforms on both the east and west of Shetland.
  The airport has one main passenger terminal, serving all scheduled and charter holiday flights. In addition, there are four terminals dedicated to North Sea helicopter operations, used by Bristow Helicopters, CHC Helicopter, NHV and Babcock Mission Critical Services Offshore.
context_section_description: Virtually nothing remains from the war era at the airport due to expansion and development of the industrial estates around it. The original airport terminal was located at the east side where the Bond Offshore Helicopters Terminal 2 is located, a new terminal was built along with a new control tower to handle the increase in air traffic. The airport was nationalised in 1947 and was transferred to the control of the British Airports Authority (BAA) in 1975. From 1967 and 1970 there were regular flights to Moscow and Toronto; these were later stopped due to cost related problems.
  With the discovery of North Sea oil, helicopter operations began in 1967, linking the growing number of oil platforms to the mainland. As Aberdeen became the largest oil-related centre in Europe, the airport became the world's largest commercial heliport. Today, Aberdeen Airport handles more than 37,000 rotary wing movements carrying around 468,000 passengers annually. Helicopters account for almost half of all aircraft movements at the airport.
caption: The airport is the world's busiest heliport. Here four helicopters are lined up in the morning waiting to begin the day's operations.
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