Originally Posted by
OzzyOzBorn
I have seen reports that the artificial cap imposed on daily pax numbers using LHR has resulted in some demand being displaced to alternative departure airports nearby. The Emirates departures from STN and LGW (amongst others) would be temporarily boosted by this. But the question becomes what load factors will be sustainable once LHR is again permitted to accommodate "normal" levels of demand? What is the underlying load factor from STN on a long-term view? That is the number which will determine capacity planning for the route going forward.
Well like I said from my memory the load factor prior service suspension on the double daily flights was 83%. There wouldn’t be talk of resuming the second flight if Stansted was only succeeding due to Heathrow’s passenger cap.
Stansted was a stand alone operation before and succeeded very well to the level Emirates wanted to add more than the double daily flights. Yes the loads might be slightly higher due to the Heathrow capacity limit but it’s not making a huge impact.
In fact prior to Heathrow having the cap, Stansted already had flights sold out for certain days.