LUTON -8

[Captain_Caveman]

It's not just a case of whether there an airport is full or not... When you have advance notice and time to prepare then There is no point sending the aircraft somewhere if there is not enough handling staff to deal with the diversions or enough coaches to transport the passengers (if the crew are then out of hours) or in some cases hotels. Another factor can be engineering cover, if the aircraft is flying with something inop under the MEL. Also another factor to throw in the pot is availability for replacement crew to then reposition the aircraft for its next revenue flight. At easyJet and most airlines we have designated diversion airports that are flight plan preferred and also company preferred (for the above reasons) some situations such as missing a night curfew means that the aircraft would pretty much always go to the number one preferred alternate as there are contracts and procedures in place to deal with the diversion. With events such as mass diversions ( Gatwick is a pretty big airport) it sometimes just comes down to where ATC tell you to go or as people have said where there is room to get the plane safely down on the ground.

[Buster the Bear]

Following the snow of 2010, airports and NATS co-ordinate how many diversions and the generic types each airport can take, thus flights disperse all over the UK to ensure passenger and aircraft safety.

[LTNman]

I have it on good authority that there way over 15 biz jet movements on Christmas Day as well as the scheduled passenger flights.

The airport must have had minimum ATC cover as there were random spells of 45 minutes and an hour when the airport was shut as well as longer spells where the airport was shut for a few hours due to a lack of scheduled services.

[wallp]

So, 2015, what might we reasonably expect to see in the coming year at Luton in terms of new routes, airlines, passenger growth, airport development etc?

With the 10 million mark passed in 2014, I wonder what numbers might be seen this year?

We know about growth by easyJet and Wizz in particular but perhaps there will be more to come in addition?

[runway08]

Hmmm

Easyjet/Wizz/Atlas growth.

Elal to continue the success..

Pick up a few random airlines here and there but nothing major until redevelopment is finished.

Watch Monarchs Hangars become Executive Jet Hangar/Operations by the end of the year.

Be blown away by the amount of G650's that will be parked alongside each other as they become more prevalent in the sky.

[pabely]

Executive Jet Hangar/Operations

Are you meaning Executive Jet Management, where did you hear this?

[LTNman]

I would have thought that exec jet movements will have already peaked due to the fact that at some point stands 16 and 17 will revert back to airline use this year and the south stands will no longer act as an overflow apron.

[runway08]

Oh I didn't hear it anywhere. I was chiming in with possibilities.

Using a bit of logic and assumption.

The executive jet company was generic, It is just what the airport do best and what I think would likely fill abandoned hangars.

I am of course running with the assumption that either Monarch will not see out the year and the hangars become someone elses property or Monarch consolidate their engineering operations to the NEW improved Huge ass facility an hour or so away in Birmingham.

Of course it could all stay as it is but..

Thats a nice shot, It isnt a line up of 650's though. Give it towards the end of the year when more people own them. It will look fantastic.

I doubt executive jet movements have peaked, Maybe parking them all up for days has.. but the movements themself I dont think so.

[LTNman]

Well I can't see many aircraft being flown out just to park them at another airfield. The new apron that is being created now after the removal of hangar 62 will soon be finished, but it is physically smaller than stands 16 and 17 plus the fact that the old hangar that was removed was in use as a Signature hangar and so was already used for aircraft parking. There is also the loss at some point of the overflow southern apron to be considered.

[pabely]

But on the flip side, VVIP traffic does not pay anything to LBC whereas a fee has to been paid for other passengers - an income the airport operator will not want to reduce. Don't rule out another side plan to the master plan to accommodate this income.

[runway08]

Hmm there are actually sites you can go to book yourself on an empty leg of an Executive flight. You might be (or not) surprised how many of them fly empty even to/from airports 10 minutes away for various reasons.

The amount of positioning flights to/from the likes of Farnborough for example or Stansted are quite ridiculous.

[wallp]

easyJet

Having recently added Split, is easyJet's summer schedule from Luton now complete or is their still room for more routes to be added?

[Chidken Sangwich]

Pabley - where do the landing and parking fees go then?

[Buster the Bear]

The orginal concession agreement meant that AGI and LBC made plenty of profit from executive operations.

Has this now changed?

[pabely]

As far as I'm aware the agreement was a payment to LBC on Passengers & Cargo throughput and VVIP were not part of that figure. i.e. the operator charges the FBOs (apron leases inc) and does not have to pass this onto LBC.

[Level bust]

I also suspect the main carriers, Easy, Monarch etc, don't pay much in the way of landing fees, they probably do a deal for a total price.

[runway08]

Exec jets will make up a large amount of LTN movements for a long time to come. You don't allow the building of new fbo, hangars etc to multiple companies if you want to push that kind of stuff out of the field. Not to mention Gulfstream go from strength to strength at LTN.

[LTNman]

If anyone was wondering where the soil is going to come from when the airport extends the parallel taxiway there is masses of fresh earth that has been bulldozed close to where the cement plant sits near the corner of the long term car park. The land there has been raised by several feet.

I can only assume it must have come from the construction work at Junction 10a.

[gilesdavies]

Looking at the timeline of the plans of what has been stated in the past, my guess is the parallel taxis are over five years away.

The airport is going to be a building site for many years to come! The extension to the terminals, road layout, short term multi-storey car park and extended apron will happen first.

It seems it is not all going to be complete until 2025!

I get the impression expansion will occur as and when demand requires it to happen.

[LTNman]

I think most of it will be in the next 3 year with the airside being done last.