Airport Information Radio (AIR) was a short-lived British AM radio station which provided airport information for London

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

and

Gatwick Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwick was the second-bu ...

airports. It broadcast on medium-wave frequency 1584 kHz and was owned by

Radio Mercury Mercury FM was an Independent Local Radio station in the Surrey and Sussex area of the United Kingdom that was founded on 20 October 1984 and closed on 25 July 2010. The station broadcast on FM 97.5 MHz in Horsham and 102.7 MHz in ...

, eventually under the aegis of

Allied Radio plc Allied Radio plc was a publicly listed radio company that operated, or held an interest in, several Independent Local Radio contractors in the UK during the 1990s. History Allied Radio plc was created when the Crawley-based Independent Local ...

History

In July 1989,

beat out four other bidders at the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

for the right to establish a radio service for Heathrow and Gatwick airports as part of the final batch of incremental radio licences. Radio Mercury's chairman, John Aumonier, got the idea while visiting

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

, which had a similar facility for visitors. Airport Information Radio started broadcasting on 25 July 1990. The Heathrow service was originally a separate operation in

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

before its merger with the Gatwick service. The transmitters were separate at each site. An attempt to site the Gatwick transmitter at Povey Cross Road in

Horley Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town. It has its own econ ...

was rebuffed by local residents; the company eventually secured a location behind the Gatwick Penta Hotel. The station broadcast live between 5 am and 11 pm daily, featuring departures and arrivals information, travel news and weather information. Outside of these times, a pre-recorded service with basic airport information was broadcast. Flight news, road news, terminal information and currency exchange rates were broadcast in 10-minute cycles. This was later updated and a complete hour clock was introduced, which would provide more information and lighter subjects such as in-flight entertainment reviews. The only airline to buy airtime was

South African Airways South African Airways (SAA) is the flag carrier of South Africa. Founded in 1929 as Union Airways it later rebranded to South African Airways in 1934, the airline is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannes ...

. Mercury later awarded the contract to sell the station's advertising to the Radio Sales Company, a subsidiary of

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

. From 18 November 1991, live travel and news updates were discontinued in favour of a taped service of general airport information. The

Radio Authority Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

, successor to the Independent Broadcasting Authority, allowed the station to remain on the air through 31 January 1992 in spite of breaching its promise of performance conditions in order to give its owner, Allied Radio, time "to take decisions about the future of the service". Due to continued losses which Allied attributed to a recession in the advertising market, the station closed down on 11 February 1992.{{Cite news, page=4, date=14 February 1992, title=Allied forced to take off airport radio, work=Broadcast, id={{ProQuest, 1673762958

References

Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in England 1990 establishments in England 1992 disestablishments in England Radio stations established in 1990 Radio stations disestablished in 1992 Heathrow Airport Gatwick Airport