Luton is almost at the point of turning business away. In fact some one off cargo flights have been turned away before the runway resurfacing work started when the airport was open 24 hours. The airport is creaking with so many issues that need addressing that it is hard to tell what will give way first. The worrying thing is that there appears to be no urgency in the airport submitting plans for phase one expansion. Even if plans were published today it could well be a year before work is started and 2 years before the fruits of any work could be felt.
Not sure if it's connected, but last week a group of AENA's senior executives were on-site at Luton taking stock of the existing facilities (airside/landside/roadside). This was a fairly short-notice visit possibly caused by the fact that (as LTNman quite rightly says) LTN is now having to turn business away during the three or four peak periods each day, not because of a lack of runway slots (although for July and September, some of the hours are now fully subscribed) but because of a lack of parking stands.
A well-placed 'source' says that the news that AENA's premier UK operation is actually turning away business did not go down awfully well in Madrid, even though local (i.e. LTN) management is under pressure from their Spanish bosses to actually cut back on capital expenditure, despite an urgent need to pour more concrete.
Rumour is that AENA might now adopt a more flexible attitude over this, but that the remaining length of the Concession is also a sticking point to be overcome.
