During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe moved the airfield of Ostend-Stene to a site in the territory of the municipality of Middelkerke, five kilometres southwest of Ostend. It played a major role in the air battle with Britain. After the war, the airport of Raversijde-Middelkerke was turned into an international airport by the Department of Airways which had been established by that time. Somewhere before the second world war, they had build a grass strip and made it runway 14-32 (627x45 meters). however this has since been closed, very little information is known about it but it is visible from the air as a small strip that extends inland and doesn't match the colour of the surrounding fields. In 1971, Pomair (Formerly known as Transpomair) opened out of the airport operating flights to the Caribbean, Asia and South America. The airline ceased operations in 1974 with a fleet of 3. In 1992, the ownership of the regional Flemish airport was transferred from the Belgian State to the Flemish Region and the airport was given a new name: "Ostend–Bruges International Airport". On 23 May 2003, Gino Vanspauwen was appointed CEO/Managing Director of Ostend–Bruges International Airport by the Flemish government. He effectively took up his duties on 1 June 2003. The airport was operated by the Department of Mobility and Public Works of the Flemish government. They made an agreement with Egis Group to operate it starting 2014 for a duration of 25 years. Between May and December 2003, Ryanair operated a route between Ostend and London-Stansted. In 2006, MK airlines opened a hub in Ostend. With this came the expansion of a 4000 square meter hanger to service MK airlines. In 2010, MK airlines ended up going bankrupt and hence left Ostend. For 2015, Jetairfly began service to a number of new destinations from Ostend. In the summer season of 2015, Jetairfly operated services to a total 20 destinations. As of summer 2017, these services are operated under the new name of TUI fly Belgium, with 21 destinations. In March 2019, Russian airline Pobeda opened a route between Ostend and Moscow Vnukovo. In July Pobeda scrapped the route. While there were talks about re-opening in early 2020 however, this never materialized.