Apologies all round. Luton is clearly in the second division compared to the likes of Gatwick and Stansted but Luton Council was prevented by the Conservative Government from borrowing money to fund airport expansion thus the agreement to lease the airport to Barclays. For all the criticism of Barclays by easyjet they have pumped £80 million into Luton transforming it from a small time player into the middle league in only 2 years. Luton Airport has also suffered from the fact that easyjet will not reveal their future plans for Luton so the airport authority can’t plan for future growth.
easyJet will stay at Luton despite what they say to the press. easyJet know very well that the airlines appeal to many passengers is that they are based at Luton which has excellent public transport links not only to London but down to the South Coast and up into the Midlands. Many of their business passengers would not follow them to Stansted or Gatwick as Luton is the closest and most convenient airport for their travel needs. Whether they like it or not they are stuck with each other. In fact despite their ranting the airline continues to recruit full time staff to the airport as they now do their own handling.
The council charges the Airport Authority £1.50 per passenger which was the sum that easyjet paid in fees so in reality easyJet was paying the Airport nothing. Last year easyJet moaned about the vast amounts of money being spent at the Airport as they claimed that their passengers wanted cheap fares and not flashy terminals. This year they are ranting that not enough money has been spent. They are now paying the airport £3 per passenger as the other £1.50 still goes to the council.
Transforming an airport takes time, look how much Stansted has changed over the last ten years. Luton will never become another Stansted as they don’t have the land but give them another 5 years and Luton will become an airport that is in the first division and a major London player.