The airport was opened as the "Leeds and Bradford Municipal Aerodrome" (Yeadon Aerodrome) on 17 October 1931 and was operated by the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club on behalf of Leeds and Bradford Corporations. In 1935 the aerodrome was expanded by 35 acres (140,000 m2) and scheduled flights began on 8 April 1935 with a service by North Eastern Airways from London (Heston Aerodrome) to Newcastle upon Tyne (Cramlington). The service was soon extended to Edinburgh (Turnhouse). In June 1935 Blackpool and West Coast Air Services started a service to the Isle of Man. By 1936 the London/Yeadon/Newcastle/Edinburgh service was flying three times a week and also stopped at Doncaster and carried on to Aberdeen (Dyce).
In 1936, No.609 (West Riding) Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF), Royal Air Force (RAF) formed at Yeadon, and seasonal flights between Yeadon and Liverpool commenced. Work also began on a terminal building, but progress was halted after only one section had been completed.
Wartime use
Civil aviation at Yeadon was halted in 1939, with the outbreak of World War II. Avro built a new shadow factory, to produce military aircraft, just to the north of the aerodrome; a taxiway connected the factory to the aerodrome and many of the aircraft first flew from Yeadon. The aircraft manufactured included the Bristol Blenheim (250), the Lancaster bomber (695), the Anson (over 4,500), the York (45) and the Lincoln (25).
Significant developments were made to the aerodrome; the addition of two runways, taxiways and extra hangarage led to Yeadon becoming an important site for military aircraft testing.
1947 to 1969
Civil flights recommenced at the airport in 1947, after Geoff Rennard fought for Leeds and Bradford to have an aerodrome, and eventually gained permission for an Aero Club. He was then appointed Airport Manager and stayed at the post for 5 years. Subsequently Yeadon Aviation Ltd was formed in 1953 to run the Airport and Aero Club. Two years later in 1955 flights to Belfast, Jersey, Ostend, Southend, the Isle of Wight and Düsseldorf were added to Yeadon's destination list.
Although during this period of time, Yeadon still had military activity from 1946-1960.
• 609 (West Riding) Squadron 1936-1946, 1946–1952
• 23 Gliding School 1946-1950
• Leeds University Air Squadron 1955-1960
• 1970 Flight AAC 1952-1957
Scheduled flights to London began in 1960, and Dublin was added shortly after. A new runway was opened in 1965, and in that year the terminal building was destroyed by a fire, with a replacement terminal opened by 1968.

1970 to 1994
By the mid 1970s the package holiday had become popular in the UK and in 1976 the first holiday charter flight to the Iberian Peninsula departed Leeds Bradford.
In 1978, it was decided that, with runway extensions, the airport could be upgraded to regional airport status. Work began in 1982, and was completed in November 1984. This included a significant extension to the main runway, including the construction of a tunnel to take the A658 Bradford to Harrogate road beneath the runway. The airport also underwent significant extensions and redevelopments to the Terminal building, the first phase of which was opened in 1985.
On 4 November 1984, the day the runway extension was officially opened, Wardair commenced transatlantic flights from Leeds Bradford to Toronto, using Boeing 747s, though these flights were later discontinued.
In August 1986, an Air France Concorde charter flight from Paris landed at Leeds Bradford for the first time, and an estimated 60,000 people were there to see it. Occasional Concorde charter flights, all of which used British Airways aircraft, continued until June 2000, just one month before the Concorde disaster in Paris.
Initially the airport had restricted operating hours, and this deterred many charter airlines, whose cheap fares depended on 'round-the-clock' use of their aircraft. In 1994, these restrictions were removed and flights could use the airport 24 hours a day,[6] so more airlines were attracted to Leeds Bradford.
1995 to date
Work on the airport terminal has been ongoing since 1996, and the result of this has been significant growth in terminal size and passenger facilities. In 2007 nearly 2.9 million passengers passed through the airport, an 88% increase in just seven years and more than twice as many compared with 1997 (1.2 million). Much of the growth in passenger numbers since 2003 has been due to the introduction of scheduled flights by the based low-cost airline Jet2.com.
Since 2000 the airport has been home to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
The original runway (09/27) was closed on 6 October 2005, to be redeveloped as a taxiway and to provide additional apron space.
In 2006 Isle of Man based airline Manx2 re-opened the airport's oldest air route, to the Isle of Man.
2008 saw the introduction of long-haul scheduled flights to Islamabad with Shaheen Air International. This service was introduced in February but ceased after only four months due to a shortage of aircraft.[8] The route was reinstated by Pakistan International Airlines in July 2008, this too however was due to be suspended from June 2011 but it has been decided to continue the twice weekly service with an Airbus A310 aircraft, with the possibility of introducing a Boeing 777 in the near future. In November 2008 the early stages of the airport masterplan were clarified, with in-depth detailed plans for the expansion of the airport terminal being published, at an estimated cost of £28 million.
The airport lost its direct link with London in March 2009 when BMI ceased its route to London Heathrow. Flybe revived the link with a route to London Gatwick on 29 June 2009, but it only lasted until 31 March 2011, meaning the airport is without an air link to London for the second time in two years.
On 11 August 2009 Ryanair announced it would set up a new base at Leeds Bradford, initially basing two aircraft at the airport offering 17 routes from March 2010. Ryanair also said they would be interested in starting flights to Eastern Europe in the near future.
On 16 June 2011, Ryanair announced that they would start two new routes to Eastern Europe, meeting the pledge they made two years previously. The first route, Riga in Latvia is to commence from 2 November 2011 as is Kaunas, Lithuania.