LUTON -8
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I wouldn't be surprised to see a return to flights to Jersey and Isle of Man, with easyJet at the airport.
But on a far greatly reduced scale than when the likes of Aer Arann and FlyBE... Maybe like 3-4 times a week.
Jersey is currently flown 3 times a day and IOM 11 times a week from Gatwick... These are eating into some pretty valuable slots at the airport for the airline and I would not be surprised if a small number of these were transferred up the road to Luton.
This could also be applied to other routes, from LGW, where they possibly want to expand similar routes to another London Airport.. Or possibly under-performing routes, which they don't want to scrap, but want to use that slot at Gatwick for another route and move to another nearby airport.
But on a far greatly reduced scale than when the likes of Aer Arann and FlyBE... Maybe like 3-4 times a week.
Jersey is currently flown 3 times a day and IOM 11 times a week from Gatwick... These are eating into some pretty valuable slots at the airport for the airline and I would not be surprised if a small number of these were transferred up the road to Luton.
This could also be applied to other routes, from LGW, where they possibly want to expand similar routes to another London Airport.. Or possibly under-performing routes, which they don't want to scrap, but want to use that slot at Gatwick for another route and move to another nearby airport.
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Redevelopment weekly update
This week has seen the start of the kerbing being laid for the new roundabout. The thicker straight edged kerbing on the left marks the start of the station shuttle bus stop.
The shape of the old CTA roundabout can be seen by the layout of the red barriers. When all the new roads in the CTA are complete members of the public won't be able to access this roundabout as this will be a restricted area open only to buses, black cabs and service vehicles.
The 9 bus bays so far completed were all concreted this week. Also tarmac has been laid in the maneuvering area with the level raised by at least 2 feet in places but there is still plenty of tarmacking to be done including the top layer.
Tarmacking of the exit route has now reached what was the entrance to the staff car park. The road will be widened at this point for the 11 exit barriers and the entrance to the multistory car park.
The shape of the old CTA roundabout can be seen by the layout of the red barriers. When all the new roads in the CTA are complete members of the public won't be able to access this roundabout as this will be a restricted area open only to buses, black cabs and service vehicles.
The 9 bus bays so far completed were all concreted this week. Also tarmac has been laid in the maneuvering area with the level raised by at least 2 feet in places but there is still plenty of tarmacking to be done including the top layer.
Tarmacking of the exit route has now reached what was the entrance to the staff car park. The road will be widened at this point for the 11 exit barriers and the entrance to the multistory car park.
Last edited by LTNman; 30th Oct 2015 at 18:22.
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The rumour of the bus lanes may well be true, it reminds me of when ABP Southampton built the new OCEAN TERMINAL in the Port of Southampton where I work, all 25 coach bays were too narrow and none of the coaches fitted them especially when it was known the disabled lifts could not be used, they ALL had to be quickly reconfigured at a great inconvenience to everyone involved so I can thouroughly believe this rumour!
Sean
Sean
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The spacing between bays is shown on plans as being 2m although in this photo taken a couple of weeks ago it does look smaller than that. Can't help but feel if two coaches both had their luggage compartment doors open I would struggle to get past and I am able bodied.
Another concern is the actual size of the maneuvering area as some of the reversing spaces behind the bays are not much bigger than the actual coaches. Also as many of the bays are angled reversing coaches are heading for the same spot. What I find strange is that the paved area in front of the bus station and to its side is massive and much bigger than the actual maneuvering area.
As for lifts the pedestrian link bridges that cross the drop off area and road will comprise of 3 sets of lifts. Core 1 is located at the terminal side of the drop off area and will have 3 lifts, core 2 links to the multistory car park and has a pair of lifts and core 3 is accessed from the surface
spaces in the short term car park and again will have pair of lifts.
As can be seen in the plan the dotted lines shows the 3 lift cores linked together via the two bridges.
Another concern is the actual size of the maneuvering area as some of the reversing spaces behind the bays are not much bigger than the actual coaches. Also as many of the bays are angled reversing coaches are heading for the same spot. What I find strange is that the paved area in front of the bus station and to its side is massive and much bigger than the actual maneuvering area.
As for lifts the pedestrian link bridges that cross the drop off area and road will comprise of 3 sets of lifts. Core 1 is located at the terminal side of the drop off area and will have 3 lifts, core 2 links to the multistory car park and has a pair of lifts and core 3 is accessed from the surface
spaces in the short term car park and again will have pair of lifts.
As can be seen in the plan the dotted lines shows the 3 lift cores linked together via the two bridges.
Last edited by LTNman; 1st Nov 2015 at 05:05.
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The first Wizz Air A321 coming off the Airbus Hamburg production line...
Were going to be seeing a lot of these in the coming months and hopefully for the forseeable future at Luton!
Were going to be seeing a lot of these in the coming months and hopefully for the forseeable future at Luton!
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Luton multi story carpark.
As someone who only visits Luton once or twice a year, I'm following the progress via this forum so thanks for the detailed reports. Although I work at everyone's favourite airport, EGNM, I'm also an enthusiast who enjoys photographing your Bizjets. Now with that in mind can anyone advise me how many levels will this multi story carpark have, I'm hoping we may be able to use it as a platform. I'm sick of all those lamp posts and fences.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Thanking you in anticipation.
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Five including the ground floor and roof. The original plan was for a closed roof but as the airport could not squeeze 1500 spaces into four floors they had to go back to the council and apply for a taller car park with roof parking.
One interesting point to note is that while the short term car park and multistory car park will have similar number of spaces the multistory car park has two exists with barriers while the short term car park has four so I can only conclude that twice as many cars are expected to use the short term rather than the multistory car park.
The next question is what will the multistory car park be used for? Certainly I can see priority parking going in there with cars parked for longer stays but then that raises the question of open access to all floors. Will priority parking take over say the top two floors and if they do will Joe Public be able to get up there as they didn't like people wondering around their old parking area that was fenced off in the short term car park.
Also there is nothing in any of the plans that shows a reception area for priority parking so maybe the airport won't have one with users just paying a premium to stay longer in the multi story car park. If that is the case then maybe all the floors will be open.
The latest dates is that the multistory will open for September.
One interesting point to note is that while the short term car park and multistory car park will have similar number of spaces the multistory car park has two exists with barriers while the short term car park has four so I can only conclude that twice as many cars are expected to use the short term rather than the multistory car park.
The next question is what will the multistory car park be used for? Certainly I can see priority parking going in there with cars parked for longer stays but then that raises the question of open access to all floors. Will priority parking take over say the top two floors and if they do will Joe Public be able to get up there as they didn't like people wondering around their old parking area that was fenced off in the short term car park.
Also there is nothing in any of the plans that shows a reception area for priority parking so maybe the airport won't have one with users just paying a premium to stay longer in the multi story car park. If that is the case then maybe all the floors will be open.
The latest dates is that the multistory will open for September.
Last edited by LTNman; 2nd Nov 2015 at 06:15.
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Yes, well spotted, I didn't see that one. It will probably be the case that all taxi's, buses and visitors to Easyjet HQ will have to follow the same route.
There is an exit route off the restricted access roundabout that crosses the approach road and misses the long route out and the pay barriers but there will be a control barrier on the island between the entry and exit road that would stop any traffic heading into the airport if a coach tried to use it when exiting the bus station. I would guess that looking at the road markings this will be an emergency exit route only. In effect the CTA becomes a toll road. It is starting to become clear why the airport needs 11 pay barriers to exit the airport.
There is an exit route off the restricted access roundabout that crosses the approach road and misses the long route out and the pay barriers but there will be a control barrier on the island between the entry and exit road that would stop any traffic heading into the airport if a coach tried to use it when exiting the bus station. I would guess that looking at the road markings this will be an emergency exit route only. In effect the CTA becomes a toll road. It is starting to become clear why the airport needs 11 pay barriers to exit the airport.
Last edited by LTNman; 2nd Nov 2015 at 18:00.
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I have no idea how much the exit charge will be, but it has to encourage folk to use public transport which is a good thing (assuming the buses have room to reverse out)!
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Also all those drivers who drop their passengers off before the drop off zone will still pick up an exit charge.
I still see many passengers being dropped off and picked up right be the side of the camera car on the roundabout. Nice little earner for the airport at the moment.
I still see many passengers being dropped off and picked up right be the side of the camera car on the roundabout. Nice little earner for the airport at the moment.
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I have just watched again the animated LLA video called Transforming your airport that has been linked here before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afZIJxLaPAE and it does indeed show buses taking the short route out of the bus station with buses crossing the approach road to leave the airport. Taxi's have to go the long way round.
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On Thameslink there will be additional overnight Monday to Saturday services between London and Bedford in December 2015 which will make it much easier to travel to Luton Airport by train for early morning flight check-in.
These will create a twice hourly service in place of the current 60 minute frequency. These additional services are speedier than the existing all-stations trains, running fast between St Albans and West Hampstead.
These will create a twice hourly service in place of the current 60 minute frequency. These additional services are speedier than the existing all-stations trains, running fast between St Albans and West Hampstead.
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The minimum 2 trains an hour through the night was set by the government as part of the renewed franchise requirement that went out to tender last year. Glad to see that the government recognises the importance of Luton as a gateway airport.
Last edited by LTNman; 5th Nov 2015 at 10:08.