LUTON

[busters brother]

I am late with the start of this thread due to computer problems. Surely some of the new development plans go back to the Snow report of the late sixties, when a new runway and terminal were to be built to the south of the the existing runway and a rail link from Chilten Green station (near East Hyde). Surely thats progress. Also at the same time a north/south runway was proposed, if I am not mistaken this would have gone over Ltn Mans house, what he be saying then.
With respect to the runway repairs they are long overdew. The last time I was on the runway (about a year ago) it looked like a patch-work quilt. When they change the runway lighting I hope they do something with the centre line lighting cables so they do not keep coming out. Does anybody knows if
the relic ( Lagan 47) is doing the R/T work for the contractors.
My brother, Buster the Bear mentioned a few threads ago that the handling agents were going to do there own marshalling that would be a great shame to see the Rovers go, but a night-mare it will be for the Air Traffic Controllers, it was bad enough when airport lost Apron Control.
If Luton is to move forward it has to have a proper Airfield Operations Section and to bring back the information desk.
.

[King Pong]

Now given that the 24.00 closure is down to the airport's work programme and not due to noise restrictions, is allowing an aircraft 1 or 2 minutes leeway going to cause the work programme to slip that much ... I think not.

Is this attitude with absolutely no flexibility also going to endear Luton to airlines that the airport wish to attract .. particularly Ryanair where the airport wants to see more aircraft based.

Maybe someone at Luton has received the Ryanair treatment at check-in and got to the front of the queue at a minute past closing time.

Anyway this time next year the airport will be Cat 1. If the repairs where being done this year nothing would have got in for much of the evening and looking out of the window now nor the following morning. Oh there will be some fun and games next year!

Does anybody knows if the relic ( Lagan 47) is doing the R/T work for the contractors

I hear he has woman troubles in Spain and might be returning to the UK as he needs some vortex wake separation

[Powerjet1]

Noticed in the FT re report on easy's profit yesterday, that expansion was slowing from 21% last year, to 15% in the current year.

Three aircraft to be based at the new Malpensa base, with an additional single based aircraft at LTN, LGW, DTM, BSL, SXF, & GVA during the current financial year, with growth being more concentrated in europe than the uk.

[nickmanl]

Does anyone know anything more about the proposed Tara airlines? Are they still around or have they fallen away?

[airportman]

Now given that the 24.00 closure is down to the airport's work programme and not due

yet again rumour without substance.

The airport allowed the Ryanair to land in line with talks with base operators which had taken place months before the works commenced. An aircraft on finals would always be allowed to land.

It was nothing to do with contractors no being ready.

[Buster the Bear]

airportman, having consulted with a' man in the know', OLNEY 1 BRAVO VERY accurately describes the events.

It looks like a possible change of course since Mr RAC arrived in easyLand? Good news though! We will see if it happens unlike the promise made by the outgoing boss!

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

Thank you Buster for that stout defence!

airportman - what I reported was not a rumour ... I heard it with my own ears. Despite the late hour I can assure you I was not dreaming!!

Interestingly, a little more flexibility was shown to the same flight last night with no pressure put on the crew to land as soon as possible.

[Buster the Bear]

I am a poor orphaned brown bear, who purports to be my brother?

BMI's web site still says the Brussels route starts March 27th.

[LTNman]

It might say that but BMI are still not committed to the service yet although a decision is imminent.

On the positive side easyjet are to base another aircraft at Luton next year bringing their total to I think 16 and it is looking likely that Styrian Spirit will stay at Luton next summer.

I see that the arrivals area is nearly finished. A new café, which has been under construction for weeks is going to be opened for waiting meeters and greeters before Christmas and the waiting area is about to get a little bigger

[CAP493]

It's worth pointing out that runway closures/openings for any reason incl. maintenance work, de-icing, snow clearance and emergency repairs are nothing whatsoever to do with ATC i.e. NATS but (as at any BAA airport) entirely a matter for LLAO. The LLAO Duty Airport Manager is the responsible authority and if any delay to a runway closure is requested by an operator it's most definitely not within ATC's "gift" to approve or decline that request which would merely be relayed to LLAO.

That said, LLAO is usually as flexible as it can be and normally, +/- 5 minutes isn't a major problem.

As regards the 'extended final' for an aircraft landing in LVP i.e. undertaking a Cat 3 approach, this is a safety requirement for ATC to ensure that the aircraft flies a stable approach and any responsible airline/flight crew would not IMHO wish to fly anything less than an 8 to 10 mile final if carrying out an autoland in LVPs (assuming that the airline's Ops Manual would allow this anyway...).

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

Thanks for the clarification CAP493.

I think I did point out in my original post that I was aware that all decisions as to when to close etc. were down to LLAO and not down to ATC.

If I failed to make that clear, then many apologies.

My criticism/concerns were aimed directly at LLAO.

[Powerjet1]

On the positive side easyjet are to base another aircraft at Luton next year bringing their total to I think 16 and it is looking likely that Styrian Spirit will stay at Luton next summer.

Easy - 16 based. Wasn't that the number LTN should have had about a year ago, except easy management seemed to have a change of heart. Looking much more likely now though.

Be good if Styrian Spirit do stay at LTN for SO6, but I have my doubts.

Noticed the daily BA to the IOM is down now to 5 weekly, with the Tue/Thur services not operating. Is this anything to do with the twice daily Aer Arran from the IOM starting today, or was it the same last winter ?. Maybe just for the winter.

[Buster the Bear]

Staff redundancies expected soon within easyJet, I understand that there will be a lot of rationalisation in order to cut costs and boost revenues. I was told that Ryanair currently make over 3 times as much profit per seat than easyJet!

Looks like the man from the RAC came equipped with a hatchet!

Good luck to all staff likely to be involved.

[CAP493]

Did I hear correctly - that easyJet makes an average profit per seat of around £35??

If so, maybe some of the less profitable EZY routes subsidise the money-spinners? This of course, was precisely the position in which BA and it pre-privatised predecessors found themselves, and what led to the first major rationalisation and retrenchment at BA.

Where to now, one wonders...



Let's hope it doesn't all end in

[veryEZYboy]

£35 profit per seat!!!!???? No where near, according to the email that was sent to us by the big man (Ray Webster) himself, it's more like £1.70 per seat. Ryanair are said to make a profit of £5.80 per seat a year.

And the redundancies are not expected to be anything major. Up to 50 with most of those being absorbed back into other areas of the company.

[ebenezer]

£1.70 per seat doesn't sound much (nor does £5.80) but it explains the supermarket "pile 'em high - sell 'em cheap" airline ethos that both easyJet and Ryanair have pioneered in Europe. And it clearly works (you only have to look at Tesco!) .

easyJet in particular is to be commended for the effect it's had on Luton where it almost single-handedly, proved that the Airport is a viable London terminal for a particular niche market.

The airline should also be commended for sticking with Luton despite some crass management decisions, policies and blind alleys taken by the previous LLAO management in the late 1990s.

The new owners of LLAO are clearly, far more experienced, shrewd and airline industry-orientated people than the previous lacklustre shower that initially won the Concession, and easyJet has undoubtedly played a part in raising Luton's profile and moving the Airport into League Division 2 - so much so that Ryanair (which of course, earlier effectively abandoned Luton) has acknowledged the potential for new business there by returning.

Barring global catastrophies, it looks as though Luton is now moving into a win-win situation because even if easyJet's financial situation forced it to retrench, the likelihood is that other low-cost operators would move in to fill the gaps created.

[Buster the Bear]

£1.70 is what I was told although I do not know if this takes into account the additional revenue easyJet receive from thier non flying activities, like hotels, insurance etc?

TBI, the airport operator acquired earlier this year by a Spanish consortium controlled by Abertis Infraestructuras SA, said passenger numbers rose 11.2 pct in the third quarter.

The company, which operates four airports in the UK -- London Luton, Belfast International, Cardiff International, and Stockholm Skavsta -- as well as airports in the US and Bolivia -- had 6.6 mln passengers in the three months to Sept 30 2005, up from 5.9 mln in the same period last year.

[Buster the Bear]

If anyone has the ear of Styrian Spirit, they might like to suggest an english language booking engine?

[King Pong]

According to the local rag, the government which approved in principle the building of the new duel carriageway into the airport four years ago, then withdrew the funding only to announce a new proposal and funding has now postponed confirmation of that approval and now jeopardises the whole project.

[Buster the Bear]

I assume then that the BAA paid for all the major road upgrades around Stansted?

But I thought that the money came from us tax payers, via the elected government?

So no road upgrade funding for Luton, then Stansted gets runway 2, due to accessibility factors?