LUTON

[Buster the Bear]

Rumour has it that a VERY senior manager within London Luton Airport has resigned! Is the Spanish influence beinging to tell?

[nickmanl]

As in Paul Kehoe?

[King Pong]

Also, looking at the FR website, it appears that Dinard stops on 29.10.05. After transferring this route from STN in January, a new STN-Dinard flight was started a few months later. It now seems to have reverted to STN.

Maybe LTN’s new facilities are too posh for the likes of Ryanair.

Maybe Ryanair has realised that LTN is a convenient airport to get to which goes against Ryanair policy of sending its passengers to out of the way airports like Stansted

Maybe BAA has done a deal with Ryanair which blocks Ryanair expansion at LTN.

[nickmanl]

If thats the case, then that must be illegal?

[King Pong]

I see that Swefly’s 767 was at LTN this afternoon.

I see that the airport is going to have another go sorting out the drop off zone if the local rag is to be believed. This will be attempt number 5 since the new terminal opened.

[PAXboy]

If thats the case, then that must be illegal?

Not sure. If both parties agree to it and they do not restrict the rights of any third party?

Such as, 'You base all new flights here for NN months and we give you ££ discount'. If such a deal is done, then it would only be similar to deals done every day of the year right across the globe. It is attempting to restrict trade in third parties or outside your jurisdiction that is problematical.

[Buster the Bear]

nickmanl I believe you are correct in naming the departing senior manager?

[King Pong]

yep confirmed, he goes next month.

So we were all expecting more Ryanair aircraft to be based at LTN now it looks like it might be less despite great loads. So has anyone worked out from their winter timetable how many aircraft will be based at LTN come November?

I would have thought with only 3 or 4 spare stands available for new aircraft to be based at Luton either easyjet or Ryanair would be snapping them up but no. I wonder why?

[LGS6753]

Swe Fly 767 operating WV441/2 again today.
Rumour has it that they will be chartering smaller aircraft for the LTN-Skavsta sector, and using the 767 for the Lahore sector, which has feeds from other airports.

[pwalhx]

If you read the Leeds/Bradford posts they all expect the 767 to operate from there, so maybe the smaller a/c from LTN will be feeding into a LBA originating flight in Sweden.

Oh and they also seem to expect the frequency to step up.

[King Pong]

Was at LTN around 1pm today and was expecting to see some examples of heightened security but didn’t see a thing. Couldn’t find a single policeman inside the terminal or outside it which is unusual even in normal times but it was lunchtime so maybe they had gone to put their feet up. The drop off area was its normal self with unattended cars attracting no attention from airport staff.

[CAP670]

It appears that Dinard stops on 29.10.05. It now seems to have reverted to STN. From 30.10.05 the Esbjerg transfers back to STN

Ah well - this only represents four flights/day. Almost certainly, this is due to MoL having 'kissed and made up' with BAA at Stansted although why (if as we are led to believe) the loads were achieving +/- 80% a move back to STN is considered as being a commercially wise move, goodness knows!

Ditto Esjberg.

Seems like RYR and MoL are not the most reliable of business partners....

Still, x 1 RYR B737 less at Luton frees up a stand and capacity for the other new operators that LLAO are allegedly negotiating with and who it is hoped, will be attracted by the new terminal facilities at Luton.

[ebenezer]

The (Luton) drop off area was its normal self with unattended cars attracting no attention from airport staff.

The situation concerning abandoned cars at Luton is nothing short of disgraceful but the fault is as much with the idiot drivers that leave them all over the place (including on the roundabout, on double yellow lines, and on pavements) as with the airport's management who appear unwilling or unable (or maybe both) to deal with the situation.

After this week's dreadful events, you would have thought that Luton's security staff would have been on the ball.

But instead, they're as usual, obviously busy with more important tasks than security!

[LGS6753]

Update on Ryanair

Girona flights now re-appeared.

Net loss of two flights per day (Esbjerg and Dinard). One of the LTN based aircraft will now be used on SNN, leaving one 'gap' in the schedule. Will that be used to add a destination, add to frequency or allow some slack?

[PAXboy]

After this week's dreadful events, you would have thought that Luton's security staff would have been on the ball.

Warning, a politically incorrect view now follows: I might have expected them to be but there was no need.

After the great success of 9/11, the low tech approach (Madrid) has worked very well for them. Also, a photograph of Luton Airport has no value to these people. They want the 'postcard' targets, which is why central London got done. Whilst LHR might be a target, LTN is much safer.

Of course, there may be some wild cards who will try their luck but, I doubt it. If they wanted an airport other than LHR? Gatwick is well known internationally but they would probably want an airport that is closer to a city that is understood by people in the middle of the desert.

I have said since 9/11 that flying continues to be the safest way to travel - for many reasons.

[CAP670]

King Pong, ebenezer & PAXboy - suggest that this is neither an appropriate topic for discussion nor is this thread or forum an appropriate place to gossip and speculate about terrorist targets or security.

I'm surprised that the moderators haven't deleted your three posts.

'Open' comments about the security or otherwise at any airport is just not sensible or acceptable, therefore, please cease.

Thanks.

[King Pong]

Don’t think any comments made here are going to influence madmen. Every passenger and taxi driver in Luton can see what is going on outside the terminal so comments here will make no difference. In fact comments here might shame the airport into doing something as the only people who haven’t a clue what is going on are the people running airport security

[PAXboy]

By that thinking, the speculation by the authorities of London and their preparation for an attack encouraged the events of last Thursday?

The things that I have said in this (and other threads) are no more than is being said in conversations the length and breadth of the land. They are observations made by one who lives and works in this country. I was half a mile from an IRA bomb that killed several people including police officers. I do not believe that it was possible to prevent the IRA bombs any more than we encouraged them.

These folks are no different. They are trying to make us stop what we are doing in the middle east, as much as the IRA was against what we do in Ireland. They are so much further ahead in their thinking, as the agressor always will be.

KP, if I got all semantic, I would point out that they may have behaviour that we do not like but they are not 'mad'. That is, according to the dictionary for they know exactly what they are doing and consider it to be valid. In the same way that Blair and Bush consider that their actions in Afghanistan and Irag are valid.

[ebenezer]

Returning to the theme of this thread...anybody got information on how SweFly is doing on its Luton/Lahore via Skavsta service?

Rumour is that the loads both ways are averaging around 130 which given that there's no intention to fill the aircraft at Luton, seems reasonable.

And any more news about Tara Airlines Luton/Mumbai??

[King Pong]

Didn’t think you could squeeze 130 onto a 146 which is the normal aircraft used for the hop to Sweden