Originally Posted by
Sotonsean
I totally agree with you on all counts as you have made some good points.
MAG could come to a deal and persuade Singapore Airlines to operate from London Stansted. My personal opinion would be for Singapore Airlines to operate Singapore to Houston via London Stansted rather than via Manchester. London Stansted would have two major carriers with Emirates and Singapore Airlines and this could persuade other long haul airlines to consider London Stansted for future expansion possibilities.
The US carrier Frontier Airlines are receiving the first of a fleet of Airbus A321neoXLR in 2024 and have recently stated on various aviation and travel outlets that they are considering flying transatlantic routes, initially from their Philadelphia hub. With London Stansted currently lacking any transatlantic connections then Frontier Airlines could be a possibility. Frontier Airlines might prefer to have the market to themselves rather than try and fight it out with other carriers at London Gatwick.
I wouldn't totally overlook American Airlines in resuming London Stansted again some time in the future, for a third attempt I may add. I can easily forsee a possible New York JFK flight with their incoming fleet of A321neoLXR.
Hopefully London Stansted can be successful in regaining service from El Al again at some point in the future. The Israeli airline Israir are looking to expand their European presence, perhaps they could be a future possibility.
With the success of Emirates at STN and the ever expanding Qatar Airways perhaps they might consider a DOH-STN service sometime in the future to compliment it's current freighter operation at the airport. Both airlines could then claim that they offer flights to Dubai and Doha from all of London's three major airports.
Turkish Airlines are hopeful of spinning of it's short haul brand Anadolujet as a stand alone company. If and when this occurs it would be good to see Turkish Airlines operate their own flights to London Stansted from IST to compliment it's current freighter operation at the airport.
In recent weeks we have seen the recent expansion from Saudia to the UK. The airline is expanding service to London Heathrow as well as opening up service to Birmingham and London Gatwick.
With the new national carrier for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia commencing operations within the next two years there might be an opportunity for the Saudi low cost operator Flynas to resume operations to London.
Flynas previously served JED-LGW and a very brief RUH-LGW service several years ago. With a modern fleet of a mix of A320neo and A321neoXLR on order and with the airline recently expanding operations further into Europe perhaps Flynas could be a future possibility for London Stansted.
The privately owned Tajikistan airline Somon Air have previously ordered and cancelled wide body orders for Boeing 767 (2016) and Boeing 787 (2019). The airline has recently announced that they are again considering ordering wide body aircraft with a potential order for three Boeing 787 aircraft. Somon Air have expansion plans and have recently expanded into Europe with a connection between the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe and Munich in Germany.
With Turkmenistan Airlines recently commencing flights to London Stansted from the region, flying from the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat, perhaps there could be a possibility that Somon Air could announce a Dushanbe to London Stansted route at some point in the future.
Before the pandemic Air Senegal announced a Daker to London Stansted route. This never occurred for obvious reasons but perhaps they might take another look at the airport if they do eventually decide in serving London. Although I suspect that if Air Senegal do finally get around to announce Dakar to London again it'll more than likely be to Gatwick rather than to Stansted.
I'm sure at some point TUI will resume long haul leisure flights again from London Stansted. A huge market that is now totally overlooked from the airport. The most obvious destination being Melbourne (Orlando), possibly Cancun and a long shot a return to Las Vegas and Montego Bay. As well as a winter series of flights to Barbados in connection with P&O Cruises fly cruise operations based in the region.
If TUI don't resume long haul from London Stansted in the coming years I'm sure that Jet2 will probably announce something similar in the future.
I would love to see the airport secure more long haul airlines destinations and most importantly regain a transatlantic link to North America. But in the short term I can't think of how long haul could really expand at London Stansted other than from what I have mentioned above.
Although I'm not local to London Stansted but I've always had a very close affection for the airport along with London Gatwick. It's for that reason that I want both to be successful airports especially when it comes to gaining long haul airlines.
Not that I am disagreeing with you at all my friend, as I too had previously had an affection for, and use STN occasionally, but what makes you think that SIA, of all full service airlines would be tempted to relocate the SIN-MAN-IAH route to Stansted? Granted, MAN and STN are now under the same ownership (MAG), but as amazing as it would be for STN, I find it difficult to see Singapore Airlines wanting to operate from an airport that has become over-dominated by Ryanair. Plus, there is the question of lounges to consider. MAG have so far only invested into one lounge (Escape) in the main terminal, which is often subject to over-crowding and long queues to get in. SIA would probably request and expect access to a higher quality lounge for its business class customers, which would presumably need to be subsidised by MAG and would go into satellite 1. A big investment; would MAG be willing to spend this money? Believe me, I would love something like this to come to fruition for the airport, as STN has long been too overly dominated by FR, which has gradually pushed other airlines, both full service and low cost away to other rival airports, such as LGW - but I think it would be unlikely to see an SIA A350 at STN any time soon sadly
Looking into the transatlantic side, I still believe that there exists some scope for STN-US services, particularly now with the emergence of new, smaller long-ranged aircraft that simply did not exist when American Airlines, EOS and MaxJet were here during 2005-2008, namely the A321-NEO. I see potential in JetBlue branching out to STN once they have suitably covered both LHR and LGW as far as slots are concerned, perhaps with a daily STN-JFK service, but sadly I think this is some way off yet. If and when they were to enter STN, no doubt American would watch closely and may decide to make a 3rd attempt at STN. What worries me is that they may be quick to jump ship yet again if it didn't work out (a la the 2008 exit). Back then, I remember AA were seemingly interested in sticking it out at STN for the long run, and were even readying for their own, purpose built executive lounge in satellite 2 (I think where Weatherspoons Express is now?).
Qatar Airways - they have 193 new aircraft on the books now, so may seek to imitate the EK strategy by opening up a third London airport (STN) with either the 787-8 or A350-900. Again, I believe QR will only consider STN in the event that no further long-term slots are available at both LHR and LGW.