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Old 12th Sep 2018, 10:52
  #1704 (permalink)  
gilesdavies
 
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Originally Posted by Lee Baker Street
I anticipate between 16.2 and 16.3 million passengers will have used Luton Airport this year. Next year could grow to 16.9 million by December 31st! I further think that both Thomas Cook and Jet2 will base a/c at LTN and EasyJet will base a further 5 to 6 a/c. What’s your views?
I think you might be feeling a tad too optimistic, I think the current growth of around 3% is likely to be more realistic for the for seeable future and this could slow slight more to 2%.

Ryanair swooped in a few weeks ago and swallowed up the final two overnight parking spaces on the apron if you're to believe what people are saying on here.
(Which I don't doubt, as they are more in the know than me.)

The airport is getting back to how it was before the expansion, and growth will soon be limited to visiting airlines to the airport, who don't want to base aircraft here overnight, as there is no room left at the inn and all rooms are booked!

Are the south stands adacent to the taxiway now fully occupied overnight? As when I fly through during the day, they are usually empty.

The airport likes to be resourceful, maybe they could start using the engine testing bay to park 2-3 aircraft and potentially open this area up and expand.

Being serious, I would suspect now the large capital investment/expansion is coming to the final stages, the exisiting airport operator will be keen to cream as much as they can off of the newly upgrded facilities before having to pump more money in for future expansion. They currently say the terminal has been expanded to handle up to 18 million passengers a years, but once that figure is exceeded they will probably say the terminal is designed to handle 20-22million, and there is no need to expand further!

They did something similar when the terminal before the current expansion was designed to handle 10 million, but in the latter years, quotes came out saying it was designed to handle 12 million.

I think we'll also see potential disagreements between the council and the operator AENA in the not too distant future. As the council are making it very clear they want press ahead and expand the airport further, but I would guess AENA will be happy with the current expansion and want to get some money back from this before expanding further. Maybe they could be persauded if they get a further extension to operating the airport and some favourable terms.

On a slightly different note, but airport expansion related. Isn't the runway more or less at capacity already in the morning and at other peak hours? So if further aircraft could be based at the airport, wouldn't they be restricted to departing before 6am or after 8.30am in the morning?
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