LUTON - 6
Join Date: Aug 2007
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If you actually read the easyJet press release carefully, it talks about "proposals to reduce the operation at Luton" and in the notes to Editors section at the bottom there is a further comment that there are no changes to the Luton program.
Personally, I read this as they actually haven't decided to do anything at LTN: this is just a warning shot to the LTN management to play ball or they will reduce capacity; announced on the same day as the EMA base closure to give it more weight. I am guessing that they fully expect LTN airport to give them what they want and there will actually NOT be any withdrawal of aircraft.
Alternatively, I can concede that it may be the case that the full LTN winter program has not yet been released for sale (would be rather odd if true) which could explain the reason why withdrawing three aircraft would not result in any changes to the current program available for public sale.
Personally, I read this as they actually haven't decided to do anything at LTN: this is just a warning shot to the LTN management to play ball or they will reduce capacity; announced on the same day as the EMA base closure to give it more weight. I am guessing that they fully expect LTN airport to give them what they want and there will actually NOT be any withdrawal of aircraft.
Alternatively, I can concede that it may be the case that the full LTN winter program has not yet been released for sale (would be rather odd if true) which could explain the reason why withdrawing three aircraft would not result in any changes to the current program available for public sale.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Maybe this reduction by easyjet is all part of the master plan by Aberits to fix the traffic queues in the morning in the CTA. They can then claim that their new traffic lights worked.
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Maybe this reduction by easyjet is all part of the master plan by Aberits to fix the traffic queues in the morning in the CTA. They can then claim that their new traffic lights worked.
When a large employer in the UK proposes a significant number of redundancies, it is normally expected to go through a consultation program with its staff - the aim is to try to find a way to redeploy existing staff in other roles, and give staff a chance to make plans as to what to do next rather than finding a surprise redundancy notice on their desk.
Easyjet are just following these procedures and making sure they cover themselves from an HR standpoint.
A similiar process happened when the Dortmund base was closed
Easyjet are just following these procedures and making sure they cover themselves from an HR standpoint.
A similiar process happened when the Dortmund base was closed
Join Date: Apr 2004
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Was anyone listening to Drive Time of 3CR this evening...
The listeners did not have a lot of love for Luton Airport and most blamed them for the reduction in flights at the airport.
People were saying things along the lines of how recent trips through the airport had not been a good experience with traffic problems, queueing in the terminal and additional charges, all summing to a lot of bad press from the average traveller. Saying the airport were greedy and didn't blame easyJet for wanting to reduce services.
Even though this may not be the whole story and 3CR were trying to give a balance argument. It just goes to show there isn't a great deal of love for our local airport!
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We may see one or two routes go with easyJet, but expect the majority of cut backs will come in the way reductions in frequencies to the busier routes... For example routes to Edinburgh and Glasgow to three times daily and Amsterdam to two times daily.
Im curious to know what will happen to routes like Tel Aviv, Sharm El Shiekh and Paphos which are (or) were due to start in November.
The listeners did not have a lot of love for Luton Airport and most blamed them for the reduction in flights at the airport.
People were saying things along the lines of how recent trips through the airport had not been a good experience with traffic problems, queueing in the terminal and additional charges, all summing to a lot of bad press from the average traveller. Saying the airport were greedy and didn't blame easyJet for wanting to reduce services.
Even though this may not be the whole story and 3CR were trying to give a balance argument. It just goes to show there isn't a great deal of love for our local airport!
--------------------------------------
We may see one or two routes go with easyJet, but expect the majority of cut backs will come in the way reductions in frequencies to the busier routes... For example routes to Edinburgh and Glasgow to three times daily and Amsterdam to two times daily.
Im curious to know what will happen to routes like Tel Aviv, Sharm El Shiekh and Paphos which are (or) were due to start in November.
Tel Aviv is a route that will perform much better for EZY if done from Luton rather than Stansted or Gatwick (but then again this has already been discussed to some degree). As to Sharm and Paphos, who knows ?
Join Date: Mar 2006
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email
Dear xxxx
Thank your for your e mail which has been forwarded to me by the London Luton Airport Consultative Committee.
Firstly please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.
We take the issue of access to the airport very seriously indeed and have conducted an exhaustive review in order to introduce a new access plan to manage traffic flow and encourage the use of public transport.
We introduced a series of measures that form the basis of this plan on Wednesday, July 1st 2009. The plan includes the following options for vehicles driving to the airport:
• Free drop off / free pick up and 60 minutes free parking in Mid Term Car Park with a free 2 minute bus transfer to the terminal every 10 minutes
• 60 minutes free parking for Blue badge holders in short term car park
• Pick up, drop off or park in the short term car park for £2.50 for up to 15 minutes and £4.50 for up to 30 minutes
• A £1.00 charge to use the priority set down area for 10 minutes for drop off although the vehicle cannot be left unattended. This is designed to encourage the use of alternative drop off in the mid term car park
• Investment in traffic light equipment to control traffic flow on the roundabout in front of the terminal building.
At the busiest times of day almost 1500 vehicles drive up to the terminal building in a 2 hour period. If we can reduce this number by 150 vehicles by offering an alternative free drop off and 60 minutes free parking in the mid term car park, congestion will be reduced by 10%.
Charges for the ‘terminal set down area’ have been primarily set in order to encourage use of the free mid term car parking in order to reduce congestion.
LondonLutonAirport suffers from congestion for similar reasons to the rest of the South East as well as an increase in passenger numbers from 7 million in 2002 to 10 million in 2008. We have implemented this access plan to deal with this problem and it will take time for passengers to become accustomed to the new system.
We are genuinely seeing an improvement in the traffic flow and congestion which on the whole is limited to between 05.30 and 07.00 in the morning, is reducing. Take up of the free car parking option is averaging between 600 and 800 cars a day and we will continue to promote this service.
I am very sorry you are unhappy with arrangements at the airport and hope my email goes some way to explaining why new measures have been introduced. If you would like to discuss the matter with someone at the airport, xxxxx our Marketing Manager will be happy go through our plans in more detail and can be contact on xxxxx xxxxx
Yours sincerely
xxxxxx
Information & Customer Services
reply
Dear Ms xxxxxx
Thank you for your detailed email but I do just want to raise a couple of points. You mention that if 150 cars use the midterm car park that traffic flows into the central area could be reduced by 10%. Lets remember that those traffic lights reduce the traffic flow by 50%, as half the time they are set to let cars out of the drop off area. By reversing the traffic flow into the drop off area the central area could handle 100% more traffic, as the traffic lights would not be needed.
Also I read in the papers that Luton is handling less passengers this year so you already have your 10% reduction and still it is chaos.
The airport authority needs to remember that passengers have a choice of airports and Luton is not passenger friendly. My family have increased your passenger movements by 16 passengers in the last 3 months as Luton is on our door step but if I lived just a few more miles away I would not use Luton. Getting to the airport in the morning is a total nightmare so we have to leave an extra 45 minutes early to make what should be a 10 minute journey.
Getting back into Luton is no better, while I understand that the airport has no control over staffing levels of the UK border agency it took 45 minutes yesterday to clear customers and this was at 11.30 in the morning when I thought it was a quite time of day. After collecting luggage we did indeed use the shuttle bus to get the mid term car park, as this was where our lift was waiting. I have to say I hated every second of having to wait 10 minutes for a bus only to be taken to a car park that hasn't been resurfaced in 20 years. The bus was not fit for purpose, as it was too small and was over crowded, also I could not place our cases into the luggage holders as they were too far off the ground.
Regards
Dear xxxx
Thank your for your e mail which has been forwarded to me by the London Luton Airport Consultative Committee.
Firstly please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.
We take the issue of access to the airport very seriously indeed and have conducted an exhaustive review in order to introduce a new access plan to manage traffic flow and encourage the use of public transport.
We introduced a series of measures that form the basis of this plan on Wednesday, July 1st 2009. The plan includes the following options for vehicles driving to the airport:
• Free drop off / free pick up and 60 minutes free parking in Mid Term Car Park with a free 2 minute bus transfer to the terminal every 10 minutes
• 60 minutes free parking for Blue badge holders in short term car park
• Pick up, drop off or park in the short term car park for £2.50 for up to 15 minutes and £4.50 for up to 30 minutes
• A £1.00 charge to use the priority set down area for 10 minutes for drop off although the vehicle cannot be left unattended. This is designed to encourage the use of alternative drop off in the mid term car park
• Investment in traffic light equipment to control traffic flow on the roundabout in front of the terminal building.
At the busiest times of day almost 1500 vehicles drive up to the terminal building in a 2 hour period. If we can reduce this number by 150 vehicles by offering an alternative free drop off and 60 minutes free parking in the mid term car park, congestion will be reduced by 10%.
Charges for the ‘terminal set down area’ have been primarily set in order to encourage use of the free mid term car parking in order to reduce congestion.
LondonLutonAirport suffers from congestion for similar reasons to the rest of the South East as well as an increase in passenger numbers from 7 million in 2002 to 10 million in 2008. We have implemented this access plan to deal with this problem and it will take time for passengers to become accustomed to the new system.
We are genuinely seeing an improvement in the traffic flow and congestion which on the whole is limited to between 05.30 and 07.00 in the morning, is reducing. Take up of the free car parking option is averaging between 600 and 800 cars a day and we will continue to promote this service.
I am very sorry you are unhappy with arrangements at the airport and hope my email goes some way to explaining why new measures have been introduced. If you would like to discuss the matter with someone at the airport, xxxxx our Marketing Manager will be happy go through our plans in more detail and can be contact on xxxxx xxxxx
Yours sincerely
xxxxxx
Information & Customer Services
reply
Dear Ms xxxxxx
Thank you for your detailed email but I do just want to raise a couple of points. You mention that if 150 cars use the midterm car park that traffic flows into the central area could be reduced by 10%. Lets remember that those traffic lights reduce the traffic flow by 50%, as half the time they are set to let cars out of the drop off area. By reversing the traffic flow into the drop off area the central area could handle 100% more traffic, as the traffic lights would not be needed.
Also I read in the papers that Luton is handling less passengers this year so you already have your 10% reduction and still it is chaos.
The airport authority needs to remember that passengers have a choice of airports and Luton is not passenger friendly. My family have increased your passenger movements by 16 passengers in the last 3 months as Luton is on our door step but if I lived just a few more miles away I would not use Luton. Getting to the airport in the morning is a total nightmare so we have to leave an extra 45 minutes early to make what should be a 10 minute journey.
Getting back into Luton is no better, while I understand that the airport has no control over staffing levels of the UK border agency it took 45 minutes yesterday to clear customers and this was at 11.30 in the morning when I thought it was a quite time of day. After collecting luggage we did indeed use the shuttle bus to get the mid term car park, as this was where our lift was waiting. I have to say I hated every second of having to wait 10 minutes for a bus only to be taken to a car park that hasn't been resurfaced in 20 years. The bus was not fit for purpose, as it was too small and was over crowded, also I could not place our cases into the luggage holders as they were too far off the ground.
Regards
Join Date: Jul 2002
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So why did the Police close the airport this afternoon? Their response to arriving passengers was go anywhere but not here. Apparently the traffic was horrendous as traffic and passengers were being turned around at the Ibis. 
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Looks like Flybe have pulled the Jersey flight from Luton for the winter.
Join Date: May 2005
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Anyone shed any light on why this would happen; presumably booked pax have been contacted once or even twice.
Has Jersey offered a subsidy of some kind..Or is it just a c***up by FlyBe
Has Jersey offered a subsidy of some kind..Or is it just a c***up by FlyBe
Join Date: Oct 2006
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Extra Prague Flights
Wizzair announced today the 9th September that from the start of the summer 2010 season the number of flights to Prague are to go up from a daily service to 11 weekly. No surprise I suppose after the demise of Sky Europe. We will have to wait and see if anybody takes over the Bratislava route and the services to Kosice and Tatry which were rather well patronised.
Join Date: Jan 2007
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So why did the Police close the airport this afternoon? Their response to arriving passengers was go anywhere but not here. Apparently the traffic was horrendous as traffic and passengers were being turned around at the Ibis.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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You couldn’t make that up and yes I have seen this before with my own eyes a few years back.
So they close the airport for better access and gridlock all the roads so the emergency services can’t get to the airport.
So they close the airport for better access and gridlock all the roads so the emergency services can’t get to the airport.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Work to renovate the M1 spur’s bridge over Newlands Road, near Luton, will start on Monday 14 September. The Highways Agency will replace the bridge parapets at the edges of the road, and also carry out some drainage and resurfacing work. Drivers using the M1 spur, especially those travelling to Luton Airport, should allow extra time for their journeys whilst the work is in progress.
During the works the M1 spur between junctions 10 and 10A will have only one lane open in each direction for 24 hours a day, seven days a week until it is completed in spring 2010. A 40 mph speed limit will also be in force between junctions 10 and 10A.
During the works the M1 spur between junctions 10 and 10A will have only one lane open in each direction for 24 hours a day, seven days a week until it is completed in spring 2010. A 40 mph speed limit will also be in force between junctions 10 and 10A.
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Windjet flights from LTN are due to finish on the 22 October and transfer to LGW. However, it seems the LGW flights for W09/10 have been withdrawn, until at least April 2010. Interestingly, between 6 Dec 09 & 10 Jan 10, Windjet will restart Luton-Forli flights to cover the Xmas & New Year period.
Join Date: Oct 2006
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easyjet reduction
I wonder if anyone else has the same kind of feeling about the spat between easyJet and the airport authorities about charges. It seems to me that every so often easyJet seems to get into an argument with the airport about something - charges, snow clearing etc. but nobody else seems to complain even Ryanair.
With Ryanair, Wizzair, Monarch, Blue Air El Al and Windjet either increasing flights or carrying on through the winter season as before has the charges issue become an excuse to try and complain just because they are the largest operator? They say they have gone up 25 per cent but from what level were they originally paying? I know the APD increase will have an effect but it will for all airlines flying from the UK especially long haul.
All comments would be welcome.
With Ryanair, Wizzair, Monarch, Blue Air El Al and Windjet either increasing flights or carrying on through the winter season as before has the charges issue become an excuse to try and complain just because they are the largest operator? They say they have gone up 25 per cent but from what level were they originally paying? I know the APD increase will have an effect but it will for all airlines flying from the UK especially long haul.
All comments would be welcome.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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All I'll say is weren’t 3 B73's planned to be phased out this winter and with the new A320's based, it's business as normal.......unless anyone knows any different....