Originally Posted by
gilesdavies
I disagree MAG are bent over a barrel with Ryanair at Stansted, many could view it the other way...
Ryanair want a peice of the action, of the busiest airline traveller market in the world - that being London! If Ryanair decided to move out of STN, there is no way LGW, LTN and SEN could accomodate the current operations of Ryanair from London.
Back to Luton, with the exception of the Copenhagen service, I think Ryanair operate the base very differently to that of Stansted and is treated more as a smaller regional base like operated from BHX, BRS, EMA and right across Europe. Where instead of operating multiple daily services, they fly several times a week to destinations maximising the number of routes with a minimal fleet.
I also think Ryanair targets Luton more to passengers in the North West of London and the Home Counties of Herts, Beds and Bucks, instead of the whole of London, unlike Stansted where they have far more seats to fill. Also I have noticed how Luton has regularly been used to experiment with new markets for Ryanair, for example Milan-Begamo, Malta and Stockholm-Vasteraas, before being added to the Stansted route network.
With having Ryanair's largest base on Luton's doorstep, there's always going to be some vulnerability to the Luton base and routes will always be subject to change, where markets overlap and when both airports can't sustain the same routes.
Im not overly keen on the way Ryanair have driven easyJet out of town on the Copenhagen route, by flooding the market with cheap seats and undercutting them, but that's capitalism like it or lump it...
With Ryanair building up a nice portfolio of routes at Tel Aviv, I wonder how long it is until they enter the London route and will that be from Luton?!
Not in the immediate future, but give it a few years and I think there is still a chance the likes of Norwegian or Vueling could look to opening a small North London base of 4-8 units at Luton, especially with Gatwick filling up and airlines trying to avoid direct competition with Ryanair at Stansted.
There's a simple solution over Copenhagen - once Ryanair are gone (yes I know they are keeping a single service but it won't last), easyJet re-starts the route at sensible levels, probably no more than twice daily.