British Caledonian in the 1970s 31 March 1973 - with the BR airline designator it had inherited from BUA at the time of its formation. This resulted in exclusive use of the BR designator as a prefix for all BCal flight numbers. In 1973, BCal also inaugurated its fourth scheduled domestic trunk route between London Gatwick and Manchester. The new service was contracted to British Island Airways (BIA), BUIA's successor, which operated two daily return trips using its Handley Page Dart Herald turboprops. On 20 March 1974, BCal switched its Gatwick—Paris services to the then brand-new Charles de Gaulle Airport in the northern Paris suburb
Sendai Airport 1994, which was followed by services to Shanghai and Changchun. In 1992, Runway 09/27 was extended further to and 5 years later, in 1997, a new terminal was opened. The Sendai Airport Line rail link was completed on 18 March 2007 and began service between and Sendai Airport Station. The "Smile Terrace" observation deck opened on 19 March 2010. On 11 March 2011, the airport was first damaged by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and then badly flooded by the subsequent tsunami. In addition to submerging the tarmac, taxiways and runway, the floodwaters reached up to parts of the 2nd level