Helios is a Luton success but the only one I can think of. Maybe it is down to Stansted sniffing out the airlines that are going to fail leaving Luton to pick up the business or is it just bad luck?
Easyjet has shown that there is strong demand for services from Luton in fact they have just dropped their Zurich service from Gatwick as they can’t make any money from it while their service from Luton continues to make a profit.
Luton will pick up business as slots become scarce at Stansted but the challenge will be to hang onto business when the second runway at Stansted opens. Ryanair and TNT were established Luton based airlines when the might of BAA looked to Luton for business for their “new” Stansted airport. I don’t seem to remember them poaching airlines out of Gatwick.
While the government has given the green light for expansion at Stansted and Luton, TBI are a company that hasn’t got any money and now can’t even fund the new pier to the north apron in this financial year. Work starts on the new dual carriageway into Luton Airport in the New Year but that is government funded.
It will only be a matter of time before TBI sell their Luton asset now that permission for some serious growth has been given. Lets hope it is to a company with vision and money.
