Originally Posted by
compton3bravo
Regarding the catchment areas for the new Jet2 flights out of Stansted. Having recently moved my UK base from Bedfordshire to East Sussex I would personally not even contemplate flying from Stansted (nothing against the airport by the way) just the logistics (road/rail) and cost (still cannot understand the cost of petrol/diesel in the UK compared to Continental Europe). It would have to be Gatwick and possibly Southampton for me. The airport's which should be worried in my opinion would be Luton of course followed by Birmingham, Southend and East Midlands. Far easier for people north of Stansted to drive there. I was told some years ago that a considerable amount of Luton's traffic lived north of Nottingham, whether this is relative today is open to question. Do not forget Thomas Cook will commence flights from Luton next spring so even more competition.
Although the crappy stretch of A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge is still enough to put people in the East Midlands off Stansted, unless the departure times are very favourable of course. Maybe one day they'll finally widen this stretch, at which point STN will become immediately more accessible at least psychologically.
As someone who lives in Notts and regularly uses Jet2 wherever possible for leisure trips, I wouldn't fly Ryanair from EMA even if they were slightly more expensive. They are really very well thought of here. I'd like to think their EMA base will survive BHX and STN opening without any shrinkage.
I see Jet2 doing very well out of STN. Wealthy middle England counties such as Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire will prefer the product to FR I am sure. Norwich and Southend have the most to lose.