LUTON - 4

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

Buster - XL only operated 2 ex A-Jet flights and one of those diverted to Essex!

Therefore ebenezer is quite right in citing A-Jet as a contributory factor in the decline in passenger numbers/movements. Mind you, has the move of Eagle Flight Training to Duxford in the last couple of weeks also had an impact on movements???

[Buster the Bear]

I was told that XL are taking the route on permanently, obviously duff info then?

Eagle Flight Training moving to Duxford, how will ACDL cope with this lost revenue stream?

[Powerjet1]

I was told that XL are taking the route on permanently, obviously duff info then?

Would have thought that someone would have jumped in to take on the Cyprus flights. LTN-LCA was averaging about 5500 pax per month in winter(with reduced sch) and about 8500/9000 in the summer with Helios/Ajet.

XL would be a good choice but since LTN does not currently feature on their radar, it might be a longshot. MON Sch or Thomsonfly maybe?.

[ebenezer]

Eagle Flight Training moving to Duxford, how will ACDL cope with this lost revenue stream?

Doubt that ACDL will miss the £1.75p he paid for each landing...

I had a look at the gutting of the old terminal today for the new Silverjet terminal.

Rumour is that there could be a massive influx of helicopter flights ferrying Silverjet's pax mainly to/from London, so much so that Luton's management is working with the CAA to set up some new helicopter routes south of the airport that will avoid NIMBY-towns like St. Albans and also allow for one-way routes to and from the airport.

[Buster the Bear]

Setting up designated helicopter routes sounds like a very good idea, if the CAA are involved they should open just in time....for the Olympic Games

Surely previous Ajet/Helios routes out of Cyprus could support for instance, a based XL airframe on the island? As Flyjet are now (will shortly be) Luton based..........Give crews a change from flying the Atlantic as a dual rating on B757/B767 is achievable?

I would concur that Monarch and Britanniatuiflythomson would appear the most logical, but that would be down to airframe and crew availability for 2007.

Many East Europeans working in Cyprus?

[LTNman]

This week marks the end of the second and final phase of overnight runway closures. I thought that the contractors were expected to finish early seeing that they were ahead of the game in phase one but it looks like they will go to the wire on phase two.

While work continues on the gutting of the old terminal for Silverjet the clock is ticking for the completion of the refit, which has yet to be started. With a two week Christmas break in the building trade will the work be finished in time?

[Buster the Bear]

What a terrible situation the airport potentially finds itself in? Luton Borough Council will only ever be interested in the short term, such is the political life span of a local councillor.

The airport really needs to be sold off completely or ‘let out’ long term. The value of the airport if sold must be huge if you consider London City went for £3/4 Billion. ACDL are in a bit of a predicament. If they push the council too hard, the place might be sold, & ACDL might not be the successful bidder. I doubt legally if a sale could take place until the concession lapses without paying huge compensation. If they request a longer concession, that also might have to go out to tender. The Town Hall simply would not have the financial resources to fund its airport into the next level of development. ACDL might like to play Russian Roulette and chance their arm, but then run the risk of losing everything?

I still maintain that little will happen until after the local elections next May and if that is the case, the airport can only expand piecemeal.

If runway 2 at Stansted fails to open, the 'push' to the regions by the low cost airlines might well continue, but in a stronger fashion due to a lack of capacity within the London area?

Stagnation could be damaging for the local Luton economy long term?

If the airport was sold off, would the local council be able to spend this windfall locally?

[compton3bravo]

only1bravo

I agree with only1bravo and others about the slight decline in passenger numbers and movements, but one must remember that there has been a slight downturn in passenger numbers at other airports since August. Ryanair have stopped the Brest service now until February and have cancelled a number of other services out of Luton presumably for their crews to have the required number of hours left for the Christmas rush.
Regarding the Cyprus situation Thomsonfly are due to operate twice-weekly flights to Paphos next summer so one would think they would be the favourite to add additional services.

As to passenger numbers it will be interesting to see the passenger numbers for November from our “friends” in Essex with the large number of flights cancelled by Ryanair this month – over 20 on one day alone!

[ClearLand08]

easyJet adding Luton - Ibiza for Summer 2007
With Monarch also adding a 4x weekly rotation to Ibiza using late evening departures and early hours arrivals, it will be interesting to see how easy schedule their times. Does anyone know if easy are planning to base an additional airframe at Luton for Summer 2007 - is there even any room? Perhaps the Ibiza route will be a W rotation from somewhere another base.

[Vim Fuego]

Can anyone please tell me if easyJet plan on operating the Luton - Krakow flight past March '07, or where to find out (their website only has FAQs and I see no email/'contact us' option).

Many thanks.

[Powerjet1]

Vim Fuego

Easy S07 flights for LTN due to be released 2 December. Should remain as a daily flight.

[Buster the Bear]

easyJet Luton flights for summer 07 will go on sale during December.

[Vim Fuego]

Thanks to both of you for your rapid responses. Exactly the news I was hoping to hear. The easyJet 12.55 dept from Luton is far preferable to the FR 0610 dept from STN that was my plan B! And cheaper!

Thanks again.

Vim

[LTNman]

As reported by someone from Silverjet cabin crew who is on a Silverjet training course:

Looking at reaching 4 destinations with 6 aircraft within 14 months. No mention though where Silverjet think they will park them.

[Powerjet1]

Looking at reaching 4 destinations with 6 aircraft within 14 months. No mention though where Silverjet think they will park them.

True. Additional stands are urgently required but since most of Silverjet's aircraft are likely to be in the air during the hours of darkness, overnight parking is likely to be less of an issue. When they do arrive back at LTN, many of the first wave of european departures will have left and space will be available. However, whilst at LTN, they have to park somewhere, and you can't have them tying up a gate for three or four hours before their next departure.

[compton3bravo]

LTNman and Powerjet1

Regarding aircraft stands, don’t forget Stands 18, 19 and 20 will become available to commercial aircraft as soon as new Harrods complex comes into operation plus Stand 21 which, I believe – is a 50/50 commercial/private stand at the moment will be able to be used solely for commercial use.
Monarch will be basing an extra A320/A321 to operate its increase in scheduled services to Almeria, Ibiza and Palma next summer. With this extra bit of room available one wonders if Ryanair will base another aircraft next year but rumour has it that at the beginning of the year an extra two aircraft could have been based at Luton but the airline wanted concessions on prices which the airport refused to accept as it had already given them an earlier deal when the number of aircraft based was increased from one to four, so they would now have to pay the going rate.
I see that the Thomson Jersey schedule is a W pattern with the aircraft arriving/departing in the midle of the morning, which, I think is good thinking. Also the Flybe service on a Saturday has been rescheduled for the middle of Saturday afternoon which again is good planning by all concerned as last summer you will recall it often got caught up in the lunchtime rush.

[phnuff]

Rumour is that there could be a massive influx of helicopter flights ferrying Silverjet's pax mainly to/from London, so much so that Luton's management is working with the CAA to set up some new helicopter routes south of the airport that will avoid NIMBY-towns like St. Albans and also allow for one-way routes to and from the airport.

That doesn't quite add up to me. Prudent businessmen use what is in business class cost terms, the equivalent of Ryanair, and then they are going to take the non prudent approach of paying for helicopter shuttles into London? It sounds more like Luton Airport management "blue sky thinking"

[25check]

Originally Posted by phnuff

Rumour is that there could be a massive influx of helicopter flights ferrying Silverjet's pax mainly to/from London, so much so that Luton's management is working with the CAA to set up some new helicopter routes south of the airport that will avoid NIMBY-towns like St. Albans and also allow for one-way routes to and from the airport.
That doesn't quite add up to me. Prudent businessmen use what is in business class cost terms, the equivalent of Ryanair, and then they are going to take the non prudent approach of paying for helicopter shuttles into London? It sounds more like Luton Airport management "blue sky thinking"

Do Maxjet and Eos produce massive numbers of helicopters at Stansted?!!!

I don't think so.....

[Powerjet1]

Originally Posted by LTNman

As reported by someone from Silverjet cabin crew who is on a Silverjet training course:
Looking at reaching 4 destinations with 6 aircraft within 14 months. No mention though where Silverjet think they will park them.

Believed to be EWR, DXB, JNB & ORD

[Buster the Bear]

When booking via the Silverjet web site, you have an option to register your interest in a helicopter transfer. I understand that there has been significant interest in this at both ends of their operation.