LTN takes 5th spot
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LTN takes 5th spot
Luton has overtaken Edinburgh, Glasgow and Birmingham to become the UK’s 5th busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers for December with an increase of 26.4%
Luton 580,507
Edinburgh 578,516
Glasgow 526,289
Birmingham 492,661
Luton 580,507
Edinburgh 578,516
Glasgow 526,289
Birmingham 492,661
Last edited by LTNman; 23rd Jan 2005 at 18:32.
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Year on Year LTN is in 8th place. With lots of new services planned for Birmingham they will soon be climbing ahead but with BAA’s attitude to low cost airlines in Scotland GLA and EDI position must be under threat.
Last week saw the start of 3 new Luton based Ryanair 737-800’s operating an additional 154 movements a week taking their total to 224 movements which increases in May to 238. The 26.4% December growth is only the start.
Luton also saw a growth of around 30% in executive jet traffic maintaining Luton’s number one spot for this sort of traffic.
Last week saw the start of 3 new Luton based Ryanair 737-800’s operating an additional 154 movements a week taking their total to 224 movements which increases in May to 238. The 26.4% December growth is only the start.
Luton also saw a growth of around 30% in executive jet traffic maintaining Luton’s number one spot for this sort of traffic.
Last edited by LTNman; 23rd Jan 2005 at 18:50.
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BHX Will stay ahead
This January BMIBaby have based 3x737-300s to climb to 5 in the summer(BMIBabys biggest base.) Flybe will base its 2x737-300s in the summer plus add several routes with DH8-400/146 to France. Monarch are basing a 320 to operate AGP and TFS, Emirates are going 2X 330 Daily. New York will be 2X Daily everyday from 4.3.05 Air India look as if they are to commence service with 777-200s 3x per week. PIA are recommencing the ISB-BHX-ORD service from the end of February. Germanwings are commencing CGN Daily expt Sat from 14/4 so it looks as if BHX will maintain and consolidate its 5th position this summer.
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All this talk makes it sound like a football league. What if airports were football teams?
Premier League (20 million and above)
Heathrow - unassailable, like Chelsea this season?
Gatwick
Manchester
Stansted
Championship (7 million and above)
Birmingham
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Luton
League One (3 million and above)
Newcastle
Bristol
Belfast International
Nottingham East Midlands
Liverpool
League Two (1 million and above)
Aberdeen
Leeds/Bradford
Prestwick
Belfast City
Cardiff
Southampton
Jersey
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone with a million-plus annual pax.
Not a lot of scope for promotion and relegation although some of the Football Conference airports such as Bournemouth and D-Tees might fight their way above a million in a year or two and have to be included in an expanded League Two, and of course there is the new kid on the block at Doncaster et al - MK Dons?
Edit. I did forget one - London City which goes into a rather large League Two.
Premier League (20 million and above)
Heathrow - unassailable, like Chelsea this season?
Gatwick
Manchester
Stansted
Championship (7 million and above)
Birmingham
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Luton
League One (3 million and above)
Newcastle
Bristol
Belfast International
Nottingham East Midlands
Liverpool
League Two (1 million and above)
Aberdeen
Leeds/Bradford
Prestwick
Belfast City
Cardiff
Southampton
Jersey
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone with a million-plus annual pax.
Not a lot of scope for promotion and relegation although some of the Football Conference airports such as Bournemouth and D-Tees might fight their way above a million in a year or two and have to be included in an expanded League Two, and of course there is the new kid on the block at Doncaster et al - MK Dons?
Edit. I did forget one - London City which goes into a rather large League Two.
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Not a lot of scope for promotion and relegation although some of the Football Conference airports such as Bournemouth and D-Tees might fight their way above a million in a year or two and have to be included in an expanded League Two, and of course there is the new kid on the block at Doncaster et al - MK Dons?
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FC,
2m pax is for several years away. As you say, they've got to go through these 2 enquiries, otherwise its red card.
At least we do have our own supporters' group. Now how many airports have that - LPL, NCL???
At least the "away fans" were very quiet today!
2m pax is for several years away. As you say, they've got to go through these 2 enquiries, otherwise its red card.
At least we do have our own supporters' group. Now how many airports have that - LPL, NCL???
At least the "away fans" were very quiet today!
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It'd be great if airports were football teams, just think of how big the player's wages would be.
As for the punters going to these airports/stadiums, LCC's would certainly not pay as much if anything at all.
As for the punters going to these airports/stadiums, LCC's would certainly not pay as much if anything at all.
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The rapid growth of the "smaller" London airports is testiment to the LCC's, anyone care to guess at when growth will stop? 2040?
I think the important thing is to look at the underlying growth in our industry over a period, not what one airport achieves in a month. The past 50 years has seen an average growth of about 4% and has resulted in 100million + pax PA just through the SE England airports. This growth HAS to stop at some time, logically when the entire world's population is airborne at once. What we're asking, though, is at what point before then will demand cap off and maybe decline.
My view is that it'll be long before we run out of JatA1. Increasing demand for oil from developing countries will outstrip the ability to get it out of the ground, whether or not we have new reserves to exploit. This will be the push to put prices up. As we saw last year, a modest increase in crude prices will seriously affect demand for air travel in the short term, but we did recover eventually from the OPEC crisis in the 1070s, when prices doubled overnight. The difference now is that the driver for price increases will get stronger. I give our industry another 10 years, tops, before we're crowing over 'my airport lost less traffic than yours last month'.
What should we do about this? Well, we're being pushed by the LOCOs to build cattle sheds rather than pleasant facilities. We should resist this, because the fewer number of pax we do have in 10 yrs time will probably be paying a lot more for their flight and will demand the best. What we build today will certainly still be in use then.
Remember the South Sea Bubble (1720)
Cheers,
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The odd one - perhaps we can take the debate on about when the UK reaches market maturity. In 2004 some 200 million travellers will have gone through the UK's airports - with the majority going through those in the South East. When the DfT produced their consultation on the development of airports in the UK they projected this figure doubling to over 400 million. The question is since the population of the UK is fairly stable are we all going to travel more, or will fares drop so low that even those who can't afford to fly today will in the future or will more people visit the UK from abroad? At some point you would think that growth would slow down, but currently with Low Cost Carriers announcing new routes and bases on a regular basis it doesn't seem that it will happen soon.
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brabazon & all,
My theory (wot I have) is that Lo Cos have changed the travelling publics' habits (the 'culture' if you like) - in that 10 years ago if say someone wanted to travel to Glasgow or Edinburgh from London they would have first considered using the train or car - with flying a poor third because of the perceived cost and inconvenience involved.
Now they think of flying first and many folks feel very hard done by indeed if they have to use one of the other two methods...
Even though the costs can in real terms be anything but low cost as we all know - people also fly 'on impulse' a lot because they have become accustomed to it - so 'let's pop down to Nice for the weekend' (not Clacton) is a very common mindset now - regardless of the cost.
I think this is very unlikely to change - travellers have just become so used to flying as a mode of transport.
Eddie "Flying 'on impulse' to Nimes this week" Ginley
My theory (wot I have) is that Lo Cos have changed the travelling publics' habits (the 'culture' if you like) - in that 10 years ago if say someone wanted to travel to Glasgow or Edinburgh from London they would have first considered using the train or car - with flying a poor third because of the perceived cost and inconvenience involved.
Now they think of flying first and many folks feel very hard done by indeed if they have to use one of the other two methods...
Even though the costs can in real terms be anything but low cost as we all know - people also fly 'on impulse' a lot because they have become accustomed to it - so 'let's pop down to Nice for the weekend' (not Clacton) is a very common mindset now - regardless of the cost.
I think this is very unlikely to change - travellers have just become so used to flying as a mode of transport.
Eddie "Flying 'on impulse' to Nimes this week" Ginley
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You are correct in the change of the travelling publics habits. This is also helped by the extremely poor and unreliable rail services in this Country, combined with their poor business acumen.
Virgin Rail in particular have drastically reduced services and increased costs, making air travel particularly favourable. Even if flight connections are required, it is frequently cheaper and quicker to fly!
As an example, to travel on a Sunday morning between Glasgow and Liverpool takes 9 hours by train with 2 changes. Not bad for a 200 mile journey. If you use EZY via BFS you can do it in 3 hours point-to-point and cheaper. This will improve once flybe start direct flights later in year. (a similar situation arises LPL-BNH via DUB - it makes life interesting!)
Therefore I can see air travel booming for a good few years yet. I hope virgin keeps up the good work!
Virgin Rail in particular have drastically reduced services and increased costs, making air travel particularly favourable. Even if flight connections are required, it is frequently cheaper and quicker to fly!
As an example, to travel on a Sunday morning between Glasgow and Liverpool takes 9 hours by train with 2 changes. Not bad for a 200 mile journey. If you use EZY via BFS you can do it in 3 hours point-to-point and cheaper. This will improve once flybe start direct flights later in year. (a similar situation arises LPL-BNH via DUB - it makes life interesting!)
Therefore I can see air travel booming for a good few years yet. I hope virgin keeps up the good work!
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I agree, the lo-cos have certainly altered the travelling public's perception of flying. In this neck of the woods (Oggy-Land) many people think nothing of catching a Ryanair flight Newquay - STN for a day trip to London, or for visiting relatives/friends in the SE of England. Before FR appeared on the scene, most of these pax would have gone by train or car.
I was returning from STN to Newquay on the FR flight last night, and in a conversation with my seat-mate discovered that he commuted regularly from Cornwall to Pescara, Italy by Ryanair via Stansted. This would have been unthinkable before the advent of O'Leary Airlines. What's more, he paid less for the entire trip than the cost of a return train ticket from Cornwall to London!
The arrival of Ryanair here has also changed the perception of the business world regarding Cornwall as a place to do business with, or be based in. Tourism is now a year-round thing and not limited to summer bucket-and-spade holidays.
If FR go, or funding can't be found to keep Newquay airport open after the MOD withdraw support, it would be a serious blow to the economy down here.
If only FR would introduce a Newquay-Luton flight as well!
I was returning from STN to Newquay on the FR flight last night, and in a conversation with my seat-mate discovered that he commuted regularly from Cornwall to Pescara, Italy by Ryanair via Stansted. This would have been unthinkable before the advent of O'Leary Airlines. What's more, he paid less for the entire trip than the cost of a return train ticket from Cornwall to London!
The arrival of Ryanair here has also changed the perception of the business world regarding Cornwall as a place to do business with, or be based in. Tourism is now a year-round thing and not limited to summer bucket-and-spade holidays.
If FR go, or funding can't be found to keep Newquay airport open after the MOD withdraw support, it would be a serious blow to the economy down here.
If only FR would introduce a Newquay-Luton flight as well!
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kala 87, certainly Ryanair has made a major impact with its Newquay service, but without the MoD supporting the continued operation of St Mawgan who is going to maintain the airfield, ATC, fire service etc? Ryanair certainly don't pay enough to support the infrastructure so it will be left to either the county council, and hence residents' council tax, or some private investor may have to be sought, but would they get any return on their investment?
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TheOddOne makes an interesting and valid point about when the increase in demand for flying will come to an end. I would simply add the suffix "...in the west".
Personal choice and mobility (whether by air, rail or road) is an aspiration that most people have in the devloped world and as countries such as China and India continue to devlop and as a result, a wider population becomes more affluent, so too will the demand for flying increase there.
If a majority of sub-Sahara African countries (excluding the RSA) is ever enabled to begin to truly develop along similar lines (and what a big IF...) demand will eventually grow there as well.
Whether there will be sufficient global oil to power all those turbofans (not to mention car engines) and at a price that enables the 'man in the street' to get a slice of the action is a question which many would like answered and about which still more, argue.
Returning to the original post (Luton) one interesting observation that can be made there (also at that other centre of the lo-co airline industry, Stansted) is the age of the average lo-co traveller: predominately under-30, many probably under-25 i.e. a goodly slice of Europe's future generations.
Therefore, even if none of them have children, they'll all be globe-trotting well into the 21st Century and so one must assume that the demand will remain for at least 30 to 40 years, and where there's a demand, so is there innovation to meet it.
Just so long as it lasts long enough to pay my pension...
PS. Can't quite understand how all this accords with the younger generation's claim to have more robust environmental credentials...
Personal choice and mobility (whether by air, rail or road) is an aspiration that most people have in the devloped world and as countries such as China and India continue to devlop and as a result, a wider population becomes more affluent, so too will the demand for flying increase there.
If a majority of sub-Sahara African countries (excluding the RSA) is ever enabled to begin to truly develop along similar lines (and what a big IF...) demand will eventually grow there as well.
Whether there will be sufficient global oil to power all those turbofans (not to mention car engines) and at a price that enables the 'man in the street' to get a slice of the action is a question which many would like answered and about which still more, argue.
Returning to the original post (Luton) one interesting observation that can be made there (also at that other centre of the lo-co airline industry, Stansted) is the age of the average lo-co traveller: predominately under-30, many probably under-25 i.e. a goodly slice of Europe's future generations.
Therefore, even if none of them have children, they'll all be globe-trotting well into the 21st Century and so one must assume that the demand will remain for at least 30 to 40 years, and where there's a demand, so is there innovation to meet it.
Just so long as it lasts long enough to pay my pension...
PS. Can't quite understand how all this accords with the younger generation's claim to have more robust environmental credentials...
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Throughout 2005, Luton and Glasgow are likely to be jockying for the 7th position in terms of annual passenger throughput, whilst Edinburgh will probably settle into 6th place behind Birmingham, then Stansted, Manchester, Gatwick all following Heathrow.
Luton is on target to handle a rolling annual total of 10m passengers by the end of 2005 with additional Ryanair schedules expected to be announced in the late Spring, all starting in September/October using additional based aircraft.
Annual movements are likely to breach 100,000 of which 99% are airline and corporate aircraft operations. Not sure if Luton's annual passenger figures include those carried on corporate aircraft.
Two additional Boeing 737-800s shortly to be based at Stansted have created a major logistical problem for BAA over peak-time stand availability which is having a knock-on effect on the plans of long-haul lo-co 'Skylink' which was looking to bring x 4 Boeing 767-300s into Stansted between 0530 and 0700 daily ex. the US East Coast.
Consequently, Skylink is rumoured to also be looking at Luton and would even take the occasional 'hit' by refuelling in Bangor if due to weather conditions & load, aircraft were sometimes unable to fly non-stop because of Luton's shorter runway.
However, Luton is in a similar predicament to Stansted and the former is desperately looking for additional areas on which to construct more aprons.
The irony for Luton is that for the first time arguably in 30 years, Luton's new airport operator has the vision, will and the finance to rapidly expand the infrastructure and attract significant new business, but any new-build facilities that would take annual passengers over 10m requires planning permission from the local council.
This - if refused because of opposition from the local NIMBYs and NOPEs - might act as an artificial constraint on Luton's continued growth beyond 10m annual passengers.
Luton is on target to handle a rolling annual total of 10m passengers by the end of 2005 with additional Ryanair schedules expected to be announced in the late Spring, all starting in September/October using additional based aircraft.
Annual movements are likely to breach 100,000 of which 99% are airline and corporate aircraft operations. Not sure if Luton's annual passenger figures include those carried on corporate aircraft.
Two additional Boeing 737-800s shortly to be based at Stansted have created a major logistical problem for BAA over peak-time stand availability which is having a knock-on effect on the plans of long-haul lo-co 'Skylink' which was looking to bring x 4 Boeing 767-300s into Stansted between 0530 and 0700 daily ex. the US East Coast.
Consequently, Skylink is rumoured to also be looking at Luton and would even take the occasional 'hit' by refuelling in Bangor if due to weather conditions & load, aircraft were sometimes unable to fly non-stop because of Luton's shorter runway.
However, Luton is in a similar predicament to Stansted and the former is desperately looking for additional areas on which to construct more aprons.
The irony for Luton is that for the first time arguably in 30 years, Luton's new airport operator has the vision, will and the finance to rapidly expand the infrastructure and attract significant new business, but any new-build facilities that would take annual passengers over 10m requires planning permission from the local council.
This - if refused because of opposition from the local NIMBYs and NOPEs - might act as an artificial constraint on Luton's continued growth beyond 10m annual passengers.
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Extract from East of England Regional Assembly Paper (Para 5.163 – 5.167 Page
EERA has accepted the principle of expansion of the airport up to the maximum passenger capacity of the airport’s existing single runway (18 mppa) and has prepared draft RSS on this basis. It will be for the local planning authority to consider any planning application and associated conditions to apply.
The Government announced in December 2003 its support for an extension of the existing runway or a new parallel runway increasing its potential passenger capacity to about 31 mppa. This may mean potential usage by 2021 of 24-28 mppa and 25-29 mppa by 2030 (see also policies E14 and T5)
Increase in the airport’s passenger and freight capacity will generate demand for new employment development. There is limited land available within the airport site to accommodate operational and other directly associated airport employment uses. In so far as it is feasible to do so land within the airport perimeter should be safeguarded and used for this purpose.
--------------------------------------------
I read somewhere that the airport operator has stated that the new capacity for the airport will be around 12 million once the current building work finishes.
Ryanair and BAA are certainly at each others throats at the moment but BAA know that Ryanair are trapped at Stansted. Ryanair might be introducing new routes from LTN but they are still introducing new routes from Stansted despite claims a few months back that all London expansion would be from Luton.
This piece from the FT
BAA, the UK airports operator, has doubled its provision against
Ryanair's unpaid airport charges at London Stansted airport from £7m
to £14m.
BAA claims that the Irish low-cost carrier has repudiated its
previous low-cost deal by its failure to pay all of its landing
charges, and since last summer, it has been charging Ryanair at
Stansted's full landing charge rate, excluding any discounts.
The provision has been set at £7m a quarter.
Stansted is Ryanair's most important operating base in Europe, and
tensions between the two groups are expected to intensify as BAA
seeks to increase charges generally at Stansted in coming years in
order to finance the ambitious expansion of the airport.
The expansion plans include building a second runway.
They have been locked in litigation since last summer and have
issued counter-writs, with BAA claiming that Ryanair has failed to
pay its full charges, while the airline claims that the fuel levy
charged by BAA at Stansted is excessive and unlawful.
BAA said that it was confident of winning the dispute, but, given
the court action, it had established the provision.
EERA has accepted the principle of expansion of the airport up to the maximum passenger capacity of the airport’s existing single runway (18 mppa) and has prepared draft RSS on this basis. It will be for the local planning authority to consider any planning application and associated conditions to apply.
The Government announced in December 2003 its support for an extension of the existing runway or a new parallel runway increasing its potential passenger capacity to about 31 mppa. This may mean potential usage by 2021 of 24-28 mppa and 25-29 mppa by 2030 (see also policies E14 and T5)
Increase in the airport’s passenger and freight capacity will generate demand for new employment development. There is limited land available within the airport site to accommodate operational and other directly associated airport employment uses. In so far as it is feasible to do so land within the airport perimeter should be safeguarded and used for this purpose.
--------------------------------------------
I read somewhere that the airport operator has stated that the new capacity for the airport will be around 12 million once the current building work finishes.
Ryanair and BAA are certainly at each others throats at the moment but BAA know that Ryanair are trapped at Stansted. Ryanair might be introducing new routes from LTN but they are still introducing new routes from Stansted despite claims a few months back that all London expansion would be from Luton.
This piece from the FT
BAA, the UK airports operator, has doubled its provision against
Ryanair's unpaid airport charges at London Stansted airport from £7m
to £14m.
BAA claims that the Irish low-cost carrier has repudiated its
previous low-cost deal by its failure to pay all of its landing
charges, and since last summer, it has been charging Ryanair at
Stansted's full landing charge rate, excluding any discounts.
The provision has been set at £7m a quarter.
Stansted is Ryanair's most important operating base in Europe, and
tensions between the two groups are expected to intensify as BAA
seeks to increase charges generally at Stansted in coming years in
order to finance the ambitious expansion of the airport.
The expansion plans include building a second runway.
They have been locked in litigation since last summer and have
issued counter-writs, with BAA claiming that Ryanair has failed to
pay its full charges, while the airline claims that the fuel levy
charged by BAA at Stansted is excessive and unlawful.
BAA said that it was confident of winning the dispute, but, given
the court action, it had established the provision.
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I understand that the 'so called expansion' stated by LTNman by Ryanair at Stansted is not actual expansion. Realignment of their timetable, eliminating destinations and reducing frequencies to others enables Ryanair to announce new routes.
Ryanair currently has a base of 37 B737-800's, rising to 39 later this year at Stansted. The BAA have squeezed the additional airframes in to prevent them going elsewhere.
The BAA have made a £14 million provision if they lose the legal battle over fuel. Expect to see further expansion from Luton over and above other commentators predictions above, should Ryanair lose this legal dispute.
Ryanair currently has a base of 37 B737-800's, rising to 39 later this year at Stansted. The BAA have squeezed the additional airframes in to prevent them going elsewhere.
The BAA have made a £14 million provision if they lose the legal battle over fuel. Expect to see further expansion from Luton over and above other commentators predictions above, should Ryanair lose this legal dispute.
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Expect to see further expansion from Luton over and above other commentators predictions above, should Ryanair lose this legal dispute.