LUTON -8

[Nyerp]

TOM at Luton

If you look back at one time there was 1x a320 Airtours, 1x a320 JMC as it was then, 3x mon and 3x Tom and if I remember correctly they used a 763 on Fridays to Tenerife. They have also used 1x 733, 1x 752 and 1x 762, so always around 600 seats per day based on 1 sector each.

I do recall one Summer when there were 3x 752s on the ground on Saturday evenings.

I am surprised they have dropped routes such as Alicante, I'd of thought they could of made 1 a week work at least?

[mizake the mizzen]

LTN charter aircraft basings S1984-1998

For anyone who may be interested, a look back in time...

Summer1984
Britannia Airways (BY) 1x B762 (Y273) 7x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (OM) 2x B73A (Y130) 2x BAC1-11 (Y119)
Orion Airways (KG) 1x B73A (Y130)
Dan-Air (DA) 1x BAC1-11 (Y119) (Mon-Fri only)


Summer 1986
Britannia Airways (BY) 1x B762 (Y273) 5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (OM) 1x B757 (Y228) 1xB73A (Y130) 1x B733(Y148)
British Island (KD) 1x BAC1-11 (Y89)
Icarus Air (IU) (Italy) 1x DC8/50 (Y189)

Summer 1987
Britannia Airways (BY) 1x B767 (Y273) 6.5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (OM) 1x B757 (Y228) 1xB733 (Y148)
2x B73A (Y130)
British Island (KD) 1x BAC1-11 (Y119)
Mediterranean Exp (MEE) 1x BAC1-11 (Y89)

Summer 1988
Britannia Airways (BY) 1x B762 (Y273) 6x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 2x B757 (Y228) 2x B733 (Y148)
British Island (BIA) 1x BAC1-11 (Y89)

Summer 1989
Britannia Airways (BY) 1.5x B762 (Y273) 5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 3x B757 (Y228) 2X B733 (Y148)
British Island (BIA) 1x BAC1-11 (Y89)
Unifly Express (BJ) Italy 1x MD83 (Y165)

Summer 1990
Britannia Airways (BY) 1.5x B762 (Y273) 1xB733 (Y149)
4.5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 2x B757 (Y228) 2xB733 (Y148)
Ryanair Europe (UQ) 3x BAC1-11 (Y114)

Summer 1991
Britannia Airways (BY) 0.5x B762 (Y274) 1x B757 (Y232)
4.5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 2.5x B757 (Y235) 1x B733 (Y148)
British Air Ferries (VF) 1x BAC1-11 (Y79)

Summer 1992
Britannia Airways (BY) 1.5x B762 (Y274) 4xB73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 0.5x A300 (Y361) 2x B757 (Y235)
1x B733 (Y148)

Summer 1993
Britannia Airways (BY) 1x B757 (Y235) 3.5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 2x B757 (Y235) 1x A320 (Y179)

Summer 1994
Britannia Airways (BY) 2x B757 (Y235)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 0.5x A300 (Y361) 1x B757 (Y235)
1x A320 (Y180)
ItalJet (TJ) 1x BAe143 (Y100)
British World (VF) 1x BAC1-11 (Y119)

Summer 1995
Britannia Airways (BY) 2x B757 (Y235)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 1x A300 (Y361) 1x B757 (Y235)
1x A320 (Y180)
Air2000* (AMM) 1x B734 (Y174)

Summer 1996
Britannia Airways (BY) 2x B757 (Y235)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 1x A300 (Y361) 1x B757 (Y235)
1x A320 (Y180)
Air2000* (AMM) 1x B734 (Y174)
Sabre Airways (SBE) 1x B73A (Y130)
EasyJet (EZY) 2x B73A (Y130) 1xB733 (Y148)
Debonair (2G) 4x BAe142 (Y98)

Summer 1997
Britannia Airways (BY) 2x B757 (Y235)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 1x A300 (Y361) 2x A320 (Y180)
Air2000* (AMM) 1x B734 (Y174)
British Midland (BD) 1x B733 (Y148)
EasyJet (EZY) 5x B733 (Y148)
Debonair (2G) 6x BAe142 (Y98)

Summer 1998
Britannia Airways (BY) 2x B757 (Y235) 1xA320** (Y180)
Monarch Airlines (MON) 0.5x A300 (Y361) 2x A320 (Y180)
Air2000* (AMM) 1x B734 (Y174)
Airtours (AIH) 1x A320 (Y180)
British Midland (BD) 1x B733 (Y148)
EasyJet (EZY) 7x B733 (Y148)
Debonair (2G) 5x BAe142 (Y98)

*AMM734 - Summer only lease from British Midland Airways (ACMI).
**BY320 - Summer only lease from Transair (Eire) (ACMI).

I have included Easyjet and Debonair Scheduled service based units but not London European or Ryanair scheduled units).

[wallp]

Very interesting stats. Fleet mixes certainly fluctuated for most airlines from year to year.

[boeing_eng]

Didn't Thomson at Luton try a scheduled option in addition to their charter flights a few years back with routes like JER & PRG, I wonder why that didn't work out?


TLV and BFS have also been operated as schedules by BY/TOM from LTN over the years. Loads were always decent but this isn't their core market so flights to the more traditional destinations soon became the priority.

ALC is swamped by the LCC's and Thomson's program to Benidorm isn't that big these days with only a couple of flights a week from places like LGW. It seems destinations like DLM and AYT are currently more in demand and are not served as heavily by the LCC's.

[boeing_eng]

Summer 1986
Britannia Airways (BY) 1x B762 (Y273) 5x B73A (Y130)
Monarch Airlines (OM) 1x B757 (Y228) 1xB73A (Y130) 1x B733(Y148)
British Island (KD) 1x BAC1-11 (Y89)
Icarus Air (IU) (Italy) 1x DC8/50 (Y189)

I don't remember any DC-8's in 1986 being operated by Icarus Air

I can recall a small outfit called Aeral from Italy who flew a DC-8 but that was probably the late 70's or very early 80's

Gawd how time flies!......

[wallp]

Can't say I remember Icarus Air either.


If Thomson have been squeezed off routes like ALC it's perhaps only a matter of time before more routes go too as the LCC's increase their dominance which does make me wonder why Thomson/TUI don't take a "if we can't beat them, join them" attitude and focus some of their business in the LCC arena. As boeing_eng commented, when they ran services like TLV & BFS in the past, loads were pretty decent. Lee Baker Street made a comment about the feasibility of reviving the Britannia brand. Wishful thinking it may be, but Britannia would be a great name for a Thomson owned LCC

[pabely]

Landmark

Landmark Launches European FBO Expansion | Aviation International News

Didn't they look at Stansted at one point?

[boeing_eng]

TUI is making decent profits by not directly trying to take on the LCC's. Instead, a lot of money is being pumped into new all-inclusive resorts such as Sensatori which are owned by TUI (and therefore can only be booked via Thomson in the UK) Obviously, there is much more profit margin in a two week holiday to these sort of resorts than a tired two or three star Benidorm hotel. So, its more a case that TUI has simply decided to concentrate on other destinations (with Turkey now very popular) and still flies heavily to old favorites such as PMI and IBZ and AGP. Bear in mind too that a lot of LCC traffic to ALC caters for expats who own property locally.

[mizake the mizzen]

S86

RE: S86 Icarus Air DC8/50
I dont recall this outfit either but the data I have for S86 clearly shows a full 5 day program (FRI thru TUE) for a DC8/50 (Y189) in Luton July & August1986 with flight prefix IU, I did some digging but I think this carrier was a one year wonder as there is virtually no concrete information about them.
Of course it could be that it was a planned program that never actually happened or that carrier/equipment change occurred after 30Apr86 (the data source I have).

The program was chartered by Pilgrimair (the Italian seat only specialist that later became Air Travel Group).

FRI Slot1 LTN-MXP-LTN 1030/1445 IU501/ IU502 18Jul-08Aug86
FRI Slot2 LTN-MXP-LTN 1615/2030 IU503/ IU504 18Jul-08Aug86
SATSlot1 LTN-FCO-LTN 0930/1415 IU601/ IU602 19Jul-09Aug86
SATSlot2 LTN-MXP-LTN 1615/2030 IU603/ IU604 19Jul-09Aug86
SATSlot3 LTN-NAP- 2200/ IU605 19Jul-09Aug86
SUNSlot1 NAP-LTN /0900 IU606 20Jul-10Aug86
SUNSlot1 LTN-MXP-LTN 1030/1445 IU701/ IU702 13Jul-10Aug86
SUNSlot2 LTN-MXP-LTN 1615/2030 IU703/ IU704 13Jul-10Aug86
SUNSlot3 LTN-MXP- 2200/ IU705 13Jul-10Aug86
MONSlot1 MXP-LTN /0900 IU706 29Jun-04Aug86
MONSlot1 LTN-MXP-LTN 1030/1445 IU101/ IU102 30Jun-04Aug86
MONSlot2 LTN-MXP-LTN 1615/2030 IU103/ IU104 30Jun-04Aug86
MONSlot3 LTN-MXP- 2200/ IU105 30Jun-04Aug86
TUESlot1 MXP-LTN /0900 IU106 01Jul-05Aug86
TUESlot1 LTN-MXP-LTN 1030/1445 IU201/ IU202 01Jul-05Aug86
TUESlot2 LTN-MXP-LTN 1615/2030 IU203/ IU204 01Jul-29Jul86

Presumably they swapped Crews when the aircraft night stopped in Italy.
No listed flying for Wed or Thur.
The above program was supplemental to the BIA BAC1-11 (Y89) also chartered by Pilgrimair which had a full 7 day program of flights LTN-Italy for a longer season length.

THOMSON- ALICANTE
Thomson Holidays always struggled to make money with LTN-ALC even in the years before LCCs. They tried everything to make it work, even trying increased frequencies on smaller B733s ( as Thomsonfly) but it is just one of those routes that never worked financially for them (financial returns on selling seat only versus full IT package are negligible and as has been commented above, TUI UK are now fully concentrating their efforts on selling full IT packages, and using seat only sales as a 'fringe benefit' rather than being the focus of their strategy) and that policy seems to be paying dividends for them.

[boeing_eng]

I'm very sure there was no outfit flying to Italy with a DC-8 in Summer 1986 (so as mentioned the program must have been dropped)

TUI UK are now fully concentrating their efforts on selling full IT packages, and using seat only sales as a 'fringe benefit' rather than being the focus of their strategy) and that policy seems to be paying dividends for them.

Absolutely....(which is what I mentioned) When TUI either own hotels or have UK exclusives, it allows TUI much more control over the price of a package (and therefore profit margin)

The Thomsonfly operation set-up as a "knee jerk" to the LCC's at CVT, DSA and BOH was a mistake and lost money. It did however reinforce to TUI that they had to concentrate on their core markets and leave the LCC's to do their own thing!

[Lee Baker Street]

Here is a thought to consider:

If I want to fly to a city for a short trip I will consider a low cost carrier.

If I want to go on holiday, I will only consider an airline meeting my needs.

Thomas Cook will meet my needs. But both Monarch and Britannia are the 'brands' that I am confident can 'put me in that holiday spirit'!

I admit to being nostalgic and I know Monarch is still there, but a name that has always been superior to any airline in terms of a holiday, has always been the Britannia Airways brand.

I appreciate many will not understand my sentiments, but 'yesterdays' brands in my opinion of airlines was and is far superior to today's brands in which airlines did back then treat passengers 'genuinely' with a welcome on board smile!

Should I be lucky enough to win a 'major' roll over on the Euro Lottery I would buy the Britannia brand because the 'Britannia' name simply states 'holiday / vacation' to me!

Of course I appreciate today's passenger seeks low cost flying but I do not remain convinced that today's LCC are cheaper than a payment for a charter flight?

As a thought, when I purchase a can of beans in a supermarket I do not want to know or be charged for it's delivery to a store with handling costs or anything else. I simply want one price for the package! Simple!

One price and no add ones!

[whitelighter]

sounds like an excellent way to pi$$ away a lottery win to me...

[wallp]

Lee Baker Street, I do agree that the 'Britannia' brand was a strong one and the fact it was a different name to Thomson holidays didn't seem to hold it back through the 70's, 80's and beyond. I was surprised by the decision to re-brand it. However, as much as I'd like to see it return, sadly its not going to happen

[Boeing737-8]

Wizz
Belgrade has been downgraded from 4 weekly to 3 weekly

[compton3bravo]

Belgrade route

They are complaining that the Belgrade Airport charges are too high, also reducing services to other destinations.

[toledoashley]

Easyjet Winter - 14/15:

Understand Copenhagen (thought that would be moved over), but Lyon is a bit of surprise. Geneva, Grenoble & Lyon + Salzburg now provide quite a substantial ski offering.

[wallp]

easyJet

Have CPH and LYS been moved from STN? Great news to see new routes being added by easyJet & obviously these will be just the first in light of the growth commitments at LTN.


Am especially delighted that Copenhagen is being offered. Scandinavia is a key area which has been missing until now. Hopefully they'll think about further expansion in that part of Europe. Stockholm would be nice.

[Falcon666]

CPH

Looking at the web site it does appear the CPH and LYS routes have moved over from STN as at the moment they are not available after November from there.
Looking closely at the LTN departures it still looks soooo bare on Tue/Wednesdays from the second week of Jan 2015 onwards-the same as this year.Easy have obviously decided that there is no money to be made on those flights mid week but the core cities of Paris , Amsterdam are still well catered for.

Surprised that Budapest is still going given Wizz keep adding more flights on the route - must be a profitable one

[wallp]

Yes I've since discovered that both CPH & LYS are indeed dropped at STN in favour of LTN which is great news.


I guess that the Summer 2015 schedules is where we will see most of the promised new routes & frequency increases. Have there been any more hints about these?

[Level bust]

The question is though, are they moving any more aircraft in. If not then it means they are either dropping other routes or reducing the frequency.

If they increase the number of aircraft, then that would be good news. If not, then it is good Luton gets more destinations, but the number of seats available stays about the same.