LUTON - 6
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Airport officially shut to at least 22.30 which means the early hours.
Sorry I was way out. If it opens at 08.30 that will be a 16 hour closure
Last edited by LTNman; 22nd Dec 2009 at 05:37.
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Shame there are no flights. Got the scanner on and there is just silence on all frequencies. Easyjet have cancelled all flights until this afternoon, even Wizz have cancelled all their early flights after being told that the airport would stay closed until 08:30.
Edit:
Easyjet are operating their 07:00 Dortumd flight although it will be 45 minutes late. Wonder how many passengers followed easyjet's advice and stayed at home?
Edit:
Easyjet are operating their 07:00 Dortumd flight although it will be 45 minutes late. Wonder how many passengers followed easyjet's advice and stayed at home?
Last edited by LTNman; 22nd Dec 2009 at 06:22.
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They sure are, just follow the link Traffic England - Motorway Traffic Flow
Select the motorway and the section of motorway you want, put a tick in the box for traffic cameras and away you go.
Select the motorway and the section of motorway you want, put a tick in the box for traffic cameras and away you go.
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Xmas Day
I think you will find the airport has been open on Christmas Day for a few years now, I think Monarch and Thomson usually have a flight and not sure if El Al will have one also this year. A number of executive flights are operated as practically all other business airports e.g. Farnborough, Biggin, etc are closed.
Regarding the snow problem - can we get some reality here, Luton Airport is over 500 ft agl so it is bound to get its fair share of snow. The problem is that the United Kingdom over the last 20-30 years has got itself into a sense of false security regarding winter weather. The country is in Northern Europe it is winter and surprise, surprise it gets cold, sometimes snows, has ice and fog. If people of my age remember this was a regular occurrence way back in the 1950-60s you expected it to be cold and snowy during the December-March period. You just got on with it - and do not get me on that global warming rubbish!
Regarding the snow problem - can we get some reality here, Luton Airport is over 500 ft agl so it is bound to get its fair share of snow. The problem is that the United Kingdom over the last 20-30 years has got itself into a sense of false security regarding winter weather. The country is in Northern Europe it is winter and surprise, surprise it gets cold, sometimes snows, has ice and fog. If people of my age remember this was a regular occurrence way back in the 1950-60s you expected it to be cold and snowy during the December-March period. You just got on with it - and do not get me on that global warming rubbish!
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Regarding the snow problem - can we get some reality here, Luton Airport is over 500 ft agl so it is bound to get its fair share of snow. The problem is that the United Kingdom over the last 20-30 years has got itself into a sense of false security regarding winter weather. The country is in Northern Europe it is winter and surprise, surprise it gets cold, sometimes snows, has ice and fog. If people of my age remember this was a regular occurrence way back in the 1950-60s you expected it to be cold and snowy during the December-March period. You just got on with it - and do not get me on that global warming rubbish!
The way you go on, you make it sound like the airport is on top of Mount Everest! LOL...
If it is inevitable that LTN will be effected by snow more than the other London Airport, than they should be the most prepared of any of the airports! Im sure your average passenger does not look at how high above sea level the airport is, before booking and if it will cause problems to their travel.
I really struggle to understand why LTN was closed for 16+hrs on Monday evening. The snow fell for 3-4 hours, there was no wind for snow to blow onto the runway, once it stopped. Other London airports clear their runway in 2-3 hours and they are upto twice the length of LTN's runway.
Once the snow stops the runway and taxiways should take no more than a few hours to clear. Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted all managed this. But hey LTN is the "3rd world airport" for London, so what can we expect! My confidence in my local airport has hit rock bottom, and doing everything I can to avoid it in future!
Im not the only one, my company here in Milton Keynes has now changed their policy after this weeks incidents, and telling all staff to book air travel through Birmingham. After getting staff stranded in February, last week and this week in the snow. The reduction in frequencies to Ireland and Scotland has also been a major contributing factor, making day trips even more difficult.
The way passengers have been treated, and the experience they have had is nothing short of a shambles after hearing the reports on 3CR and BBC News.
If LTN wants to consider themselves to be one big boy airports in the UK, they can't do it with regional airport mentaility, infastructure and capabilities. It annoys me on here, how people almost resign themselves to saying, "well what can you expect, its LTN!" or consider the passenger experience and the impact this has on the airports public perception.
Passengers travelling don't know LTN is on top of a hill, most of them will also expect a reliable bus service to the car parks and railway station, not one that stops when the weather gets bad! Leaving them stranded with a 1.5mile walk up a steep hill.
--------------------------------------------
Anyway enough of my ranting...
easyJet have ruled out Xmas Day travel and as they consider it unviable... They have however chartered an additonal aircraft for today and will be doing three additional rotations. Not sure of the aircraft/airline doing the charters and routes being flown.
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Delays today due the queue for the de-icing rigs and the fact that they are using the wrong type of fluid. Bad news for the exec jets as they are last in the pecking order. Can't blame the airport for that. Isn't it about time that FBO's bought their own rig?
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New Monarch Summer Routes
Just noticed twice weekly Dalaman and Bodrum flights on the Monarch website. Also showing 3 x weekly BHX - Dalaman and twice weekly MAN - Antalya 
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Extra Flights
I see Wizz are operating an extra four return services tomorrow the 24th probably to clear the backlog of recent days. Hve not heard of anybody else putting on extra flights from Luton though.
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SNOW...
Reading this lot, I've now come up with the title for my next film screenplay:
"The Attack of the Armchair Airport Operations Managers"...
FYI - it actually snowed intermittantly (basically continually, varying intensity, with a brief respite of about an hour just after midnight) for in excess of 7-8 hours on Sunday going into Monday.
IMHO the LTN Ops guys did a great job.
So there.
Fast Eddie XXX
"The Attack of the Armchair Airport Operations Managers"...
FYI - it actually snowed intermittantly (basically continually, varying intensity, with a brief respite of about an hour just after midnight) for in excess of 7-8 hours on Sunday going into Monday.
IMHO the LTN Ops guys did a great job.
So there.
Fast Eddie XXX
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I see Wizz are operating an extra four return services tomorrow the 24th probably to clear the backlog of recent days. Hve not heard of anybody else putting on extra flights from Luton though.
