LUTON -8

[compton3bravo]

The last time I flew with Monarch into Luton earlier in the year the flight deck were complaining bitterly about the service(?) the airline was getting from Menzies but with only two handling agents at the airport the airlines havenīt got a lot of choice.

[LTNman]

I am sure a couple of years ago there were three.


Swissport Handling Agents for:

Astraeus
AtlasGlobal
El Al
First Choice
La Compagnie
Onur Air
Ryanair
Sunexpress
Thomson
VLM
Wizz Air
All cargo flights

Menzies Handling Agents for:

Blue Air
easyJet
Jet2
Monarch
TAROM

I guess that is around 50% each for passengers

[VickersVicount]

Glasgow has been underserved on LON routes (since loss of BMI and limited BA expansion) with EDI have too much LON overcapacity (VS, BE etc) and low loads on many flights. That explains the higher totals specifically for LTN-GLA. These flights tend to be mostly full despite only 3 per day now. Fares can be high too.

[wallp]

That being the case, I'm surprised that if GLA flights operate with higher loads than EDI why more flights don't operate to GLA? Today there were 3x GLA and 4x EDI. Myabe its time for an extra rotation to GLA too?

[compton3bravo]

Yes, youīre right there were three donīt you remember Servisair or as it was affectionately called by some Circusair!

[LTNman]

Its all come back to me!

The third company was Reed Aviation, which was taken over by Aviance UK, which in turn was sold to Servisair in 2010. Servisair was sold to Swissport in 2013. If you remember the TV programe Airline the ground staff including Jane Boulton wore Reed uniforms with red hats.

Menzies was actually the last company to arrive at Luton when they won the Easyjet contract from Aviance UK. So at one point there was Aviance UK, Servisair and Menzies all operating at Luton at the same time.

[StevieW]

Anybody who operates into an airport in the UK know Swissport and Menzies are about as useful as a chocolate tea pot. The amount of times I've had to taxi in without a marshaller, put the chocks in myself so passengers could disembark, connect the ground power myself and hang out the window just to wake them up for push and start is embarrassing.

They hire idiots who don't care about the job on seasonal contracts. Operating on a Saturday afternoon is a nightmare. Strangely, everybody is off sick then.

All my humble opinion of course.

[boeing_eng]

Also according to a baggage handler Wizz are not at all happy with Swissport but with only two handling agents at Luton are stuck with them. Again according to this baggage handler Wizz have threatened to pull services out of Luton.

The situation with Swissport at LTN is serious and Wizz are certainly not the only airline handled by them who are having huge issues!

The Dispatchers are generally now no more than a point of contact and have almost zero training! As for the baggage and ground handling staff.....apart from a few decent guys who've been around a while, most are kids who treat the job as a joke and should not be allowed anywhere near aircraft! Unfortunately, as with many aspects of aviation these days, due to the ongoing race to the bottom the minimum wage pay is hardly likely to attract higher quality applicants!

[SWBKCB]

They hire idiots who don't care about the job on seasonal contracts.

Sure, its the handlers fault. Nothing to do with the rates airlines want to pay, of course - pay peanuts, get monkeys.

[StevieW]

But that's nothing to do with us poor folk who have to deal with them on the front line. I don't get paid to go down and put the chocks in either.

[TBSC]

pay peanuts, get monkeys.

Fair enough but could the said monkeys be there on arrival with the chokes, please (if one of their bosses decided in his right mind to sign a contract about the finances)?

[TBSC]

Wizz Air will be paying rock bottom prices to their handling agent.

And it does not request rocket science on return but chokes, steps, fuel, baggage to be tossed on board and at least a half-decent loadsheet with the same reg on it and the side of the aircraft. No business pax, no first pax, no dangerous goods, no cargo, no mail, no containers, no pallets, no catering, no load planning, no high-loader, no live animals, nothing fancy but the very basics.

[compton3bravo]

If Wizzair did decide to up sticks - highly unlikely in my opinion - and go to another airport guess who would be the ground handliers - Iīll leave that one for you to work that one out!

[AirportPlanner1]

I don't think Wizz would leave LTN either as much as anything because a fair chunk of their network is replicated at STN by FR and I can't see them getting the slots they would need at LGW. But, what I think is plausible is that they move a few services over to one of those airports (most likely STN) as a warning shot/bargaining tool. Routes such as Debrecen, Belgrade and Bourgas where there is no competition, and Chisinau, Split and Ljubljana where they would be less afraid of the competition.

[LTNman]

The swissport guy said Wizz were looking at Southend. Unlikely as it seems I suppose a few flights could move there to take the stain off of Swissport.

The airport might be spending Ģ100 million but not one penny is going to improve the handling agents.

[wallp]

Presumably, Wizz are bargaining to get a better deal. Threats can sometimes help to focus minds. We should never taken it as a given that Wizz will always remain loyal to Luton. They could move some of them operations elsewhere and whilst unlikely it's not impossible. That said, I think it's unlikely that they'd upset a winning formula. Wizz + Luton is a great combination. They have major clout at the airport so are presumably using it to negotiate wit Swissport.

[TBSC]

Moving flights from LTN partially would mean killing off the whole plan (the reason of the 12-14 aircraft being on ground the same time every morning): aircraft swaps to cover small bases with limited maintenance. It's all or nothing/very few.

[BHX5DME]

Birmingham please !

[toledoashley]

With the transition to 321's I could see Wizz drop a frequency or two into Luton from the major markets (Budapest, Warsaw - maybe Katowice) and put a 3 or 4 times a week service into Southend, without losing anything at Luton.

[wallp]

Wizz had a great arrangement with Luton. If their issue is with Swissport it can doubtless be resolved and I'd have thought the airport would do all it can to keep the Wizz operation in tact at Luton. If anything, the arrival of A321's will surely mean more growth rather than service reductions?