For those of us who are positive thinking, I personally believe the airport will regain its popularity far quicker than expected. All those who are negative are in my personal view members of the anti airport growth brigade! Growth equals much needed jobs for today’s children tomorrow and negative views equates to selfishness because they already have achieved their goals. London Luton Airport represents prosperity not just for individuals but the local cities and towns and villages and hamlets that encompass the airport
Lee Baker Street - Your "expand at any cost" views are well known on this forum but to describe those with opposing views as selfish is just plain bonkers! I'm all for a well managed local airport that is a responsible employer and also takes the important environmental issues seriously. I've been continuously employed at the airport for 35 years as an aircraft engineer and as LTNman mentions, the decline of this decent type of job is well underway with dust gathering in the ex Monarch hangars and Gulfstream re-locating to Farnborough. Most of those who do earn decent money (Pilots, Engineers, ATC etc) don't actually live in Luton (so the local economy is supported in a much more limited way by those who are working long hours for very low wages)
The crux of the issue is that much of the recent pre-covid growth at Luton has been driven by price sensitive very low cost flying. The airlines have been incentivised to cram more and more passengers into a facility designed for far fewer passengers. As long as the fares stay at a certain level the punters will still keep flying and tolerate the sub-standard conditions endured. However, these fares cannot translate into well paid jobs for the bulk of employees at the airport. So, most don't hang around and certainly don't plan a career at the place!
Last edited by boeing_eng; 5th Aug 2021 at 15:23.