LUTON -8

[LTNman]

Well I don't conciser that to be good news. You can have too much of a good thing and next year is not a good year for more passengers to be passing through Luton if this year is anything to go by unless all the extra traffic avoids the busy periods.

The problems next year will centre around the short term car park. It will be soon reduced in size and the multistory car park won't have been finished.

Got to say though that the new security area is performing really well. Makes me wonder if they will delay expanding it until the terminal extension is built. If they do then the food outlets in the check-in area can remain open until they move into the new building.

[nigel osborne]

Thanks for the insight LTNMAN.

Nigel

[LGS6753]

I have noticed that during this summer Wizz Air have stabilized their first wave arrivals at 12 most days. Previously it was up to 14. They are now adding more second (early afternoon) and third wave (mid evening) arrivals, thus starting to even out their operation throughout the day.

That must be good news for passengers, the airport and the handling agents.

[TBSC]

That must be good news for passengers, the airport and the handling agents.

It is because of the crap handling agents.

[LTNman]

I think the main issue with the handling agents is that they can't access the belts to drop the luggage, as even though many passengers complain about delays of an hour for collecting luggage departures don't really seem to be affected so the holds must be empty for the new luggage to be loaded.

At the moment the biggest bottle neck in the terminal is international baggage reclaim with a capacity of 1,370 passengers per hour and that won't be fixed for a couple of years. This equates to just 6 Wizzair A321's but the airport allows for a proportion of passengers to have no hold luggage.

This is what a report commissioned by the airport said in 2012 based on 2011 passenger figures before the big rise in Luton's passengers.

Baggage Reclaim
As with check-in above the stated capacity relates to the capacity of the reclaim infrastructure and excludes the proportion of passengers without hold luggage. Based upon the observed proportion, the effective capacities of the reclaim facilities increase to 1,960 for international arrivals and 700 for domestic.
The analysis of the available length of carousels indicates that capacity is likely to be adequate (2012). It should be noted however that this is achieved from relatively few, reasonably long carousels. An individual carousel therefore handles a number of simultaneous flights.

[Falcon666]

Aug Stats
Looking at the figures for August there are some that really stand out.
Budapest 50204 - this figure is almost double any other UK airport including LHR
Bucharest 42409
Tel Aviv 39757
Copenhagen 36260

New seasonal routes did well including Izmir and Vigo
Waterford L/F 72 so still going in the right direction

[gilesdavies]

Stats for August

If you are having a boring Sunday, here is some stats for you to mull over...

August Luton handled 1,366,850 passengers, if this sort of number was to be flying through the airport every month, the airport wold be handling more than 16 million passengers a year!

Below is a break down of all the routes, how many passengers used that route and percentage breakdown.
(There were some adhoc charters with less that a two hundreds passengers for the month, which have been removed from the list.)

Source:
UK Airport Provisional Statistics: 2015 - 08 | Aviation Intelligence | About the CAA

BUDAPEST - 50204 3.69%
PALMA DE MALLORCA - 46608 3.42%
BUCHAREST (OTOPENI) - 42409 3.11%
TEL AVIV - 39757 2.92%
COPENHAGEN - 36260 2.66%
WARSAW (CHOPIN) - 34075 2.50%
FARO - 33623 2.47%
AMSTERDAM - 32884 2.41%
MALAGA - 32546 2.39%
DUBLIN - 31828 2.34%
KATOWICE - 31621 2.32%
GDANSK - 31151 2.29%
BELFAST INTERNATIONAL - 29809 2.19%
ALICANTE - 28295 2.08%
SOFIA - 26580 1.95%
VILNIUS - 24524 1.80%
EDINBURGH - 23852 1.75%
PARIS (CHARLES DE GAULLE) - 21440 1.57%
NICE - 20924 1.54%
CLUJ NAPOCA - 20425 1.50%
BARCELONA - 18644 1.37%
LISBON - 18629 1.37%
BERLIN (SCHONEFELD) - 18068 1.33%
MAHON - 18040 1.32%
RIGA - 17646 1.30%
POZNAN - 17600 1.29%
GENEVA - 17002 1.25%
GLASGOW - 16908 1.24%
BURGAS - 16509 1.21%
KOSICE - 14964 1.10%
IRELAND WEST(KNOCK) - 14096 1.03%
SPLIT - 13852 1.02%
ROME (FIUMICINO) - 13191 0.97%
MILAN (MALPENSA) - 13045 0.96%
MALTA - 12836 0.94%
TENERIFE (SURREINA SOFIA) - 12753 0.94%
SHARM EL SHEIKH (OPHIRA) - 12234 0.90%
PRAGUE - 12210 0.90%
IBIZA - 11305 0.83%
ARRECIFE - 11285 0.83%
MURCIA SAN JAVIER - 11166 0.82%
KAUNAS - 11115 0.82%
KERRY COUNTY - 10889 0.80%
BORDEAUX - 10842 0.80%
WROCLAW - 10594 0.78%
LUBLIN (PORT LOTNICZY) - 10588 0.78%
DEBRECEN - 10562 0.78%
PISA - 10533 0.77%
VARNA - 10478 0.77%
PAPHOS - 10471 0.77%
DALAMAN - 10045 0.74%
BALE MULHOUSE - 10023 0.74%
GIRONA - 9839 0.72%
ISTANBUL - 9827 0.72%
NAPLES - 9660 0.71%
NIMES - 9332 0.68%
MADRID - 9217 0.68%
CORFU - 9081 0.67%
ZURICH - 8861 0.65%
INVERNESS - 8601 0.63%
HAMBURG - 7978 0.59%
LARNACA - 7912 0.58%
BEZIERS - 7868 0.58%
DORTMUND - 7533 0.55%
TIMISOARA - 7278 0.53%
BACAU - 7238 0.53%
SKOPJE - 7130 0.52%
TIRGU MURES - 7107 0.52%
LYON - 6623 0.49%
BRATISLAVA - 6518 0.48%
GIBRALTAR - 6499 0.48%
MARRAKESH - 6465 0.47%
TATRY-POPRAD - 6052 0.44%
ABERDEEN - 5952 0.44%
LJUBLJANA - 5813 0.43%
MONTPELLIER - 5434 0.40%
KEFLAVIK - 5333 0.39%
VENICE - 5287 0.39%
FUERTEVENTURA - 4985 0.37%
LAS PALMAS - 4983 0.37%
HERAKLION - 4959 0.36%
MUNICH - 4953 0.36%
RZESZOW - 4766 0.35%
ANTALYA - 4501 0.33%
BELGRADE - 4374 0.32%
BRNO (TURANY) - 4366 0.32%
SZCZECIN (GOLENOW) - 4340 0.32%
ZAKINTHOS - 4325 0.32%
BODRUM (MILAS) - 4246 0.31%
CATANIA (FONTANAROSSA) - 4069 0.30%
SIBIU - 4007 0.29%
OPORTO (PORTUGAL) - 3943 0.29%
WATERFORD - 3748 0.28%
REUS - 3326 0.24%
RHODES - 3323 0.24%
OLBIA - 2939 0.22%
CONSTANTA - 2883 0.21%
KIEV (ZHULYANY) - 2869 0.21%
IZMIR (ADNAN MENDERES) - 2765 0.20%
OHRID - 2712 0.20%
MIKONOS - 2561 0.19%
ESSAOUIRA - 2426 0.18%
IASI - 2161 0.16%
FUNCHAL - 1856 0.14%
SKIATHOS - 1691 0.12%
KEFALLINIA - 1511 0.11%
VIGO - 1399 0.10%

TOTAL 1362363

The below link is in spreadsheet format (Google Docs) and might be easier to view. If you want me to add any other stats to the sheet let me know and could possibly continue this on a monthly basis if helpful.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

[LGS6753]

Giles,

Certainly an interesting document. I note from the linked spreadsheet that there were generally decreases on Turkish and Domestic routes, whilst many of the bigger increases were Eastern European.

[Lee Baker Street]

Stats

@gilesdavies,

I love stats so many thanks for the submission.

I myself worked out that LTN can achieve 16 million plus passengers a year if they maintained an August month of schedules etc throughout the year.

I am sure like me you are snitching to find out the uplifts for New York are doing?

Well I am and it occurred to me that just maybe by adding up the total passengers for all destinations in a month handled at LTN does it match the figure for Luton's 'actual passenger level for each month?

I honestly do not know but as you like figures can you work it out?

That leads me to wonder, if the New York service is not included in the 'final total' for each month then LTN carries more pax than declared?

[LTNman]

As I have said before if and when we get stats for NY it will be impossible to work out accurate loads as they have the occasional pre-planned non flying days for aircraft maintenance.

[wallp]

Interesting to see CPH right up there. Clearly it will be at the very top performing destinations for the year too.

Interesting also that BFS is now the most popular domestic route. I do think more could be made of EDI and especially GLA both of which have seen schedules reduce over time.

[Freq El Al Passenger]

Nearly 40,000 on TLV! Crikey! And El Al took the bulk of that - the only reason the figure isn't higher was their lack of aircraft!

I wonder if Luton airport management has designs on enticing El Al's two daily LHR flights to LTN? Maintaining two bases is a pain, pax seem generally satisfied with LTN and as far as I can deduce connecting traffic at LHR is now nil.

I doubt it would happen before the terminal refurbishment is completed at the very earliest, but El Al might be starting to take delivery of their 787s around that time. They might be inclined to use those to provide a more frequent service from LTN than they can provide with only two slot pairs at LHR.

Bucharest also looking good. I wonder if TAROM is another candidate for "El Al-ization" to LTN - being another airline banished to LHR T4 with the rest of the Billy no-mates airlines. It too has minimal connections via LHR (most of their T/A connections route via CDG), and LTN has substantial "mind share" amongst Romanian pax. Would they be inclined to go head-to-head against Wizz at the same airport? How are the loads to Iasi?

[robbie1973]

Iasi loads were 2161, which would have all flown Tarom, now Wizz have started twice weekly services on this route and they are soon to be joined by Blue Air. Hopefully we will see numbers pick up now there are the extra flights.

[davidjohnson6]

Using FreqElAl's argument, I wonder if any of the following airlines might decide to take a look at Luton, Gatwick, or Stansted for more slots, and possibly go as far as to sell some of their Heathrow slots if there is a need to raise a bit of cash ?

Air Serbia
Bulgaria Air
Croatia Airlines
Middle East Airlines

[LTNman]

With many airlines fighting to get new or extra slots into Heathrow, I am not sure how Freq El Al Passenger comes to the conclusion that as far as he can deduce connecting traffic at LHR is now nil from Israel.

Speculation about other airlines heading for possibly Luton and vacating Heathrow reminds me of the heady days on the Southend thread when the airport was showing good rates of early days growth when it seemed that almost every European airport was listed as a possible new route. If most of these airlines came to Luton then they would be up against Wizz and Wizz would win on fares. By staying at Heathrow they will attract a different sort of passenger who has more money to spend.

Even when Luton is upgraded I would think that most of the growth will come from low cost airlines as passengers are traditionally not so fussy which airport they use and full fare passengers will not be so keen on being crammed into a potentially half sized shuttle bus and dispatched to a station that is a mile away.

[LTNman]

Hangar 63

Back in August I published photos of hangar 102 just before its destruction which can be viewed here. http://www.pprune.org/9070183-post2542.html

The older and more historic of Signatures twin hangars, which goes back to the days of McAlpine, was hangar 63. This hangar was the background of a 1000 apron photos but the inside of the hangar was a mystery to most people. As this hangar is being demolished right now and to mark its end I took some photos in its dying days some of which I would like to share here.











This is what will replace the hangars and existing FBO http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...herts-21067615

[Skipness One Echo]

Using FreqElAl's argument, I wonder if any of the following airlines might decide to take a look at Luton, Gatwick, or Stansted for more slots, and possibly go as far as to sell some of their Heathrow slots if there is a need to raise a bit of cash ?
Air Serbia
Bulgaria Air
Croatia Airlines
Middle East Airlines

If it was a wholly comemrcial decision yes, but MEA would lose a load of customers to BA if they upped sticks to Luton Airport, let's be honest. Airlines who do this tend to go bust soon afterwards, Pan Am, TWA, Malev etc spring to mind.

I wonder if Luton airport management has designs on enticing El Al's two daily LHR flights to LTN? Maintaining two bases is a pain, pax seem generally satisfied with LTN and as far as I can deduce connecting traffic at LHR is now nil.

Yup a twice daily B744 / B777 combo sounds like a great addition to the wait at Intl Arrivals !!!

[78Whiskey]

http://www.flywaterford.com

VLM & Wizz.

On one of the banners that slide across, hopefully more will be announced on the subject soon.

[Freq El Al Passenger]

Hey, I'm a mere passenger, not an industry insider, so I can merely deduce things, not know them for sure. I travelled twice via LHR this summer (the fares were actually LESS than ex-LTN on those days!) and there was a dearth of the usual "American accents" that usually imply connecting passengers this time around.

It was well reported that AA cancelled their codeshare with El Al a while back. But I did a quick dummy booking on AA and apparently El Al does still carry AA pax via LHR, but it's hidden down the "Well, I suppose we could route you via LHR if you insist" end of the booking page. BA also carries El Al pax to/from DUB, MAN, NCL, etc. etc., so I guess that puts paid to my "connecting passengers is nil" claim as there must be at least some connections.

Whether that connecting traffic justifies the expense of running two bases, or the tens of millions they could raise selling off their slot pairs is another matter.

El Al is primarily an O&D airline and doesn't really "do" connections, plus it has a very loyal customer base that will follow the airline wherever it chooses to fly to, within reason. As I said, pax seem happy with LTN in general, despite that airport's obvious failings, and if any airline can get away with abandoning LHR without shedding too many pax it would be El Al.

Yup a twice daily B744 / B777 combo sounds like a great addition to the wait at Intl Arrivals !!!

Very funny! I did suggest that none of this would happen until the terminal redevelopment was completed. As an optimist, I had imagined that this would ultimately fix the grottiness of the terminal, eliminate the shambles of security and immigration and magically solve all of the traffic and parking problems within the CTA!

[wallp]

The flexibility which LTN affords airlines and which El Al have taken full advantage of is something which hopefully can prove a draw to other airlines in the future.

Wasn't there talk of El Al potentially flying to New York, a TLV-LTN-JFK routing?