Luton-9

[dvc]

Originally Posted by Buster the Bear

There is no such thing as a fuel emergency, you either PAN or MAYDAY. The problem with Heathrow is that one of the diversion airports, is the other runway at the Heathrow. If there is a total closure, NATS has a contingency plan and airports close by have to take traffic in an emergency due low fuel. After all, if they didn't, there would be no other options.

FYI


The pilot-in-command shall declare a situation of fuel emergency ”MAYDAY FUEL”, when the calculated usable fuel predicted to be available upon landing at the nearest aerodrome where a safe landing can be made is less than the planned final reserve fuel. Declaration of a fuel emergency is an explicit statement that priority handling by ATC is both required and expected.

[dvc]

Originally Posted by gilesdavies

So many delayed flights tonight, many in-excess of an hour...
Whats the reason?

Today around 1200-1500 there was high congestion in the TMA. London was releasing very little aircraft. Some had to come back for fuel after spending too much time waiting for release. At one point counted about 8 aircraft waiting for takeoff and another 5 or so held on stand waiting to be pushed. That caused inbound aircraft to be parked on remote stands which mean pax had to be coached (and you can almost certainly expect some delay when that happens during mid vawe)

[BOB 727]

Passed in front of my house in North Luton quite low, loved the sound of those engines. Watched him on FR 24 head down to London and circle around the city at 1500 ft, then head back north and he passed the back of the house about the same height. Special day for a special plane. In answer to 22/04 about the DC 6B

[compton3bravo]

With the closure of Gatwick last night two aircraft diverted to Luton apparently with two more going to Stansted and four to Birmingham. It looks like the night ban seems to be in name only. Comments please.

[Captain_Caveman]

The ban is still in place. Overnight both Luton and Stansted will only accept diversions if a pan or mayday is declared which is what happened with several aircraft last night.

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by 22/04

Anyone get a pic of the DC6B flyby this afternoon?

Funnily enough.....it's not very good as it was practically overhead. Nice surprise, though, didn't know it was coming, just managed to grab the camera in time. FR24 reported it at Blackbushe and Farnborough last week (13th). Probably for the History and Nostalgia section really, but OE-LDM visited the airport many times 1976-early 1980's when it was an Austrian DC-9-51.

[LTNman]

Don't know if you have to be a facebook member to view this but this short video was taken inside the DC 6 as it beat up the runway at Luton ( Edit no the link does not work as a cut and paste even for me but for members it is on this facebook groupLuton Airport Photographers, Spotters and Aviation Group

[LTNman]

I Laws


Must be a good reason why it could not land airside.

[Plane.Silly]

Maybe the casualty wasn't airside yet?

[LTNman]

Yes probably a land side casualty but the helicopter could maybe have landed on the south stand which has a crash gate with the paramedics being taken landslide. The bus station would have been closed for the duration of the visit bring chaos to the coach operations.

Also those National Express bays are usually full of coaches so they must have been cleared first.

[Dannyboy39]

Does anyone know the full story behind this? It looked like something had happened on a bus. I was actually just being driven into the drop off zone for a flight, when I saw the chopper landing.

It was indeed causing chaos for the taxi rank and coach station - they were both completely closed to all traffic.

[horatio_b]

From "Luton Today"

Luton Airport has been revealed as the most expensive place to park your car, a new survey has uncovered.

Car insurance specialist Admiral compared parking prices at 30 airports across the UK, and found the cost of a two week stay at Luton Airport’s car parks could set you back £255, up £64 from last year.Ranking second was London Gatwick airport at £175 to park for two weeks and third was London City airport at £163.The most expensive drop off zone at the terminal was found to be Stansted airport, where 15 minutes costs drivers £8.50 - equivalent to 57p a minute, followed by Luton again at £8 for 15 minutes.Admiral found that the ‘average’ prices for pre-booked stays, on the day stays and drop off zones were all higher at UK airports than for European counterpartsIt’s the second year in a row that Luton airport has topped the list. Last year’s cheapest airport Exeter, cost £14 more this year, whilst Belfast International was £12 cheaper than in 2017 and the cheapest of 2018.

[LTNman]

The airport controls capacity by charging high fees. Last year the airport had a short term car park that was rammed. Now it has gone yet the multi-storey still has spare capacity.

[A4]

.....and so they’re building.....another one......?

A4

[LTNman]

Yes and they will have no problems filling them either as the price point will be changed to stimulate demand.

Expect one multi-storey to be short term while the other to be premium meet and greet that used to use the top two floors of the multi-story. A private company takes most of that market which the airport will claim back once they have the spaces.

[Buster the Bear]

I wonder what LBC are doing with the £19m they made from the airport last financial year? Mind you, going to take a lot of £19m to pay for the DART!

[LTNman]

That is small change compared to the council borrowings required for basically a new airport connected to the existing runway.

Much of Luton’s growth has come from Eastern Europe so they would have to find new markets to keep on growing. With its 2160m runway Luton would be excluded from many airlines potential long haul plans and Luton’s traditional bottom end market would not suit most national flag carriers running overflow services out of Luton.

Think we could expect another low rent terminal with a split easyjet Wizz operation but I am not sure where other growth would come when Stansted will offer a better product using its longer runway.

[gilesdavies]

Originally Posted by LTNman

With its 2160m runway Luton would be excluded from many airlines potential long haul plans and Luton’s traditional bottom end market would not suit most national flag carriers running overflow services out of Luton.

The 787-8/9 should have no issues operating out of Luton on long haul routes,... Look at Bristol with non-stop ops to Cancun and Orlando with TUI.

The bigger question is, does TUI or any other airlines really want to operate these flights from the airport?

All previous long haul routes from the airport, have a pretty disasterous track record and as the market for low cost long haul gets more and more saturated, the chances of Luton securing any of the services is becoming rarer.

[pabely]

Originally Posted by gilesdavies

The 787-8/9 should have no issues operating out of Luton on long haul routes,... Look at Bristol with non-stop ops to Cancun and Orlando with TUI.

The bigger question is, does TUI or any other airlines really want to operate these flights from the airport?

All previous long haul routes from the airport, have a pretty disasterous track record and as the market for low cost long haul gets more and more saturated, the chances of Luton securing any of the services is becoming rarer.

Not saying it will happen but the likes at JetBlue have large numbers of 321NEOs on order which could be changed to LR, even WZZ the option to move into long haul themselves or with a link to say JB, that would shake things up!

[LGS6753]

This year sees the largest number of airlines operating regular services for many years. I think there are currently 16:

EasyJet (& EasyJet Europe)
Wizzair (& Wizzair UK)
Ryanair
Blue Air
El Al
Vueling
TUI
Thomas Cook
Sun Express
AlbaStar
Travel Service
Freebird
Air Nostrum
Tarom
DHL/EAS
MNG