LUTON - 7

[gilesdavies]

This is the worst possible kind of deal for LTN, adding three million extra capacity to an airport on its door step, who are both very much trying to attract the same markets...

There will be no deal with LTN to add extra capacity until the airport pulls its finger out and gets adding additional capacity to the terminal and apron space! Seeing as no plans have been submitted for expansion and this could face public scrutiny, we are unlikely to see any expansion completed before 2016, I would predict.

easyJet has publicly stated in the last year or two they were not happy with LTN and the general passenger experience at the airport, compared to what was offered at their other London airports... Nothing has really changed to the way passengers are handled in that time.

Other than Luton loosing out to this expansion by easyJet, the news could get worse, where they could end up shifting capacity from the likes of Luton and Southend to Stansted and I think there is a strong chance this might happen... The airline currently only has fifteen A320's awaiting to be delivered, with no other orders due to be fufilled. These aircraft need to distributed across the whole network, and also the Gatwick operation is due to be expanded, to fill the runway slots they have purchased from FlyBE.

(However I think Southend loosing out is unlikely, as the airline has been singing its praises recently. With it having the highest passenger rating for the experience of using the airport, of any of its bases and the airline has probably signed up for a 5-10 year deal to fly from the airport and bring a minimum number of passengers to the airport.)

I think the airport needs to realistic and brace itself for some bad news, from the likes of easyJet when it comes to the Summer 2014 timetable and going forward.

As I have always predicted, with MAG paying a hefty price to purchase STN, they would always be eager to get a return on their investment and would pull out all the stops to attract airlines to the airport. I would guess they have offered easyJet an offer they could not refuse, if the airline was willing to commit for the long term.

I just hope this doesn't go the way of Liverpool Airport, which was a large easyJet operation and is now a shadow of what it was 4-5 years ago, after they opened the Manchester base, which is now one of their largest bases outside of London.