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Luton-9

Old 11th Sep 2018, 18:05
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Year end

I anticipate between 16.2 and 16.3 million passengers will have used Luton Airport this year. Next year could grow to 16.9 million by December 31st! I further think that both Thomas Cook and Jet2 will base a/c at LTN and EasyJet will base a further 5 to 6 a/c. What’s your views?
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Old 11th Sep 2018, 18:20
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Originally Posted by Lee Baker Street
I anticipate between 16.2 and 16.3 million passengers will have used Luton Airport this year. Next year could grow to 16.9 million by December 31st! I further think that both Thomas Cook and Jet2 will base a/c at LTN and EasyJet will base a further 5 to 6 a/c. What’s your views?
Well as it stands there will be no Thomas Cook a/c visiting next summer. they are using Sunexpress for the Antalya flights (2x wkly) and Easy for Dalaman and Bodrum.
Interestingly the Sunexpress flights start early May according to the Thomas Cook web site which could mean they will be doing a full summer schedule next year .( Sunexpress that is)
Only way Jet2 could get into Luton is by doing w flights from say STN which could make sense to give them another departure airport but this seems very unlikely at present and they have evidently ruled out Luton due to Terminal constraints!!

Apart from that where are you getting the stands from?
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Old 12th Sep 2018, 08:27
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The airport has published a publicity photo of their new canopy for bus passengers. In the last of the planning application amendments where they seek retrospective planning permission the justification given for not building the full canopy is that it was too high to offer weather protection to passengers. The fact that the dirty white awnings that cover just the entrances only now offers protection to smokers and then it ends only to start again once passengers reach the walkway to the multistory or the bus canopy has been conveniently ignored.

I had great expectations in 2012 when plans were first announced that Luton would end up with a terminal it could be proud of but the airport has relied solely on the shops, bars and food outlets to add a bit of class. The contribution by the airport has been truly shocking with its choice of fixtures and fittings to keep costs to a minimum while offering nothing worthwhile for the customer experience.

Anyone familiar with the terminal on a daily basis will know the airport has a very long history of never fixing broken floor tiles. Even on brand new sections floor layers never go back to fix their work and this is also happening now on the new terminal infill which only opened in April. The result of this is that the flooring looks truly awful and is a patchwork of grey.

The low ceilings with all the services exposed like ducting, pipes and electrical services prominently stand out in silver as they were never spayed black to hide them. With random amounts of large gap planking fitted to the ceilings, which often lay in line with the direction passengers walk hide little and seems to have been fitted with little thought.

Sorry just my rant for the day .

Last edited by LTNman; 12th Sep 2018 at 12:56.
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Old 12th Sep 2018, 10:52
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Originally Posted by Lee Baker Street
I anticipate between 16.2 and 16.3 million passengers will have used Luton Airport this year. Next year could grow to 16.9 million by December 31st! I further think that both Thomas Cook and Jet2 will base a/c at LTN and EasyJet will base a further 5 to 6 a/c. What’s your views?
I think you might be feeling a tad too optimistic, I think the current growth of around 3% is likely to be more realistic for the for seeable future and this could slow slight more to 2%.

Ryanair swooped in a few weeks ago and swallowed up the final two overnight parking spaces on the apron if you're to believe what people are saying on here.
(Which I don't doubt, as they are more in the know than me.)

The airport is getting back to how it was before the expansion, and growth will soon be limited to visiting airlines to the airport, who don't want to base aircraft here overnight, as there is no room left at the inn and all rooms are booked!

Are the south stands adacent to the taxiway now fully occupied overnight? As when I fly through during the day, they are usually empty.

The airport likes to be resourceful, maybe they could start using the engine testing bay to park 2-3 aircraft and potentially open this area up and expand.

Being serious, I would suspect now the large capital investment/expansion is coming to the final stages, the exisiting airport operator will be keen to cream as much as they can off of the newly upgrded facilities before having to pump more money in for future expansion. They currently say the terminal has been expanded to handle up to 18 million passengers a years, but once that figure is exceeded they will probably say the terminal is designed to handle 20-22million, and there is no need to expand further!

They did something similar when the terminal before the current expansion was designed to handle 10 million, but in the latter years, quotes came out saying it was designed to handle 12 million.

I think we'll also see potential disagreements between the council and the operator AENA in the not too distant future. As the council are making it very clear they want press ahead and expand the airport further, but I would guess AENA will be happy with the current expansion and want to get some money back from this before expanding further. Maybe they could be persauded if they get a further extension to operating the airport and some favourable terms.

On a slightly different note, but airport expansion related. Isn't the runway more or less at capacity already in the morning and at other peak hours? So if further aircraft could be based at the airport, wouldn't they be restricted to departing before 6am or after 8.30am in the morning?
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Old 12th Sep 2018, 13:06
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Are the south stands adacent to the taxiway now fully occupied overnight? As when I fly through during the day, they are usually empty.
Yes they usually are.

They currently say the terminal has been expanded to handle up to 18 million passengers a years, but once that figure is exceeded they will probably say the terminal is designed to handle 20-22million, and there is no need to expand further!
The airport is limited to 18 million passengers due to planning permission constraints but as LLAL is now planning for a temporary solution to increase the figure to 21 million it will only be a matter of time before it is granted. The airport will then undergo alterations to grow the figure.

Isn't the runway more or less at capacity already in the morning and at other peak hours? So if further aircraft could be based at the airport, wouldn't they be restricted to departing before 6am or after 8.30am in the morning?
The issue is with the taxiway links to the runway and ATC. The taxiway links can be fixed with more turn offs, not sure about ATC though due to issues with London airspace.
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Old 12th Sep 2018, 19:14
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The Runway itself isn't at capacity; if you have an aircraft waiting to depart and one to land continuously you'll achieve 40 movements an hour easily. The number of stands affect the capacity the most, plus taxiway restrictions and of course the outdated London airspace.
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Old 13th Sep 2018, 05:45
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So with Ryanair having 6 based, Easy with 25, Thomson 2/3, Wizz 9 that means 43 stands plus the two for cargo. Is that correct? Maybe somebody in the know could confirm p!ease.
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Old 13th Sep 2018, 11:18
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Talking of ATC in the London area, I have noticed on the Flight Radar 24 app, over the last year a far higher number of flights into Luton are completely avoiding the London area especially on their approach into LTN...

Any flights originating east of France seem to be kept away from French airspace and purposely funnelled over Belgium and the Netherlands, then over the southern North Sea and they don't seem to make landfall over the UK anywhere south of North Essex, usually around the Harwich to Ipswich area. Where Previously flights would approach from Kent and fly around the London area.

Flights to/from Spain, the Canarys and Portugal seem to be routed out towards to Oxfordshire and leave/enter UK airspace around the Isle of Wight.

Flights that do come over London from the south seem to be kept a lot higher and fly north of the airport to the likes of St Neots, Bedford and Biggleswade to around 10,000ft and then start the final decent from these areas.
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Old 13th Sep 2018, 18:12
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Originally Posted by LTNman


The airport has published a publicity photo of their new canopy for bus passengers. In the last of the planning application amendments where they seek retrospective planning permission the justification given for not building the full canopy is that it was too high to offer weather protection to passengers. The fact that the dirty white awnings that cover just the entrances only now offers protection to smokers and then it ends only to start again once passengers reach the walkway to the multistory or the bus canopy has been conveniently ignored.

I had great expectations in 2012 when plans were first announced that Luton would end up with a terminal it could be proud of but the airport has relied solely on the shops, bars and food outlets to add a bit of class. The contribution by the airport has been truly shocking with its choice of fixtures and fittings to keep costs to a minimum while offering nothing worthwhile for the customer experience.

Anyone familiar with the terminal on a daily basis will know the airport has a very long history of never fixing broken floor tiles. Even on brand new sections floor layers never go back to fix their work and this is also happening now on the new terminal infill which only opened in April. The result of this is that the flooring looks truly awful and is a patchwork of grey.

The low ceilings with all the services exposed like ducting, pipes and electrical services prominently stand out in silver as they were never spayed black to hide them. With random amounts of large gap planking fitted to the ceilings, which often lay in line with the direction passengers walk hide little and seems to have been fitted with little thought.

Sorry just my rant for the day .

I have to agree. Working over in the Hangar, I see how the works are 'progressing' on a daily basis and those appalling canopies are just the icing on the cake !
What a bloody mess it really is. I can only assume that those who have planned all of the LTN 'improvements' are all employed by GAL or HAL !
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Old 13th Sep 2018, 19:56
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Does anyone know why the Tarom flights are always operated by YR-BGD or 'E, and not YR-BGA or 'B despite all four having the same configuration?
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Old 13th Sep 2018, 20:30
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Originally Posted by LGS6753
Does anyone know why the Tarom flights are always operated by YR-BGD or 'E, and not YR-BGA or 'B despite all four having the same configuration?
Iasi has one frame out stationed currently “E” seems to be the choice
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Old 13th Sep 2018, 20:31
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Originally Posted by gilesdavies
Talking of ATC in the London area, I have noticed on the Flight Radar 24 app, over the last year a far higher number of flights into Luton are completely avoiding the London area especially on their approach into LTN...

Any flights originating east of France seem to be kept away from French airspace and purposely funnelled over Belgium and the Netherlands, then over the southern North Sea and they don't seem to make landfall over the UK anywhere south of North Essex, usually around the Harwich to Ipswich area. Where Previously flights would approach from Kent and fly around the London area.

Flights to/from Spain, the Canarys and Portugal seem to be routed out towards to Oxfordshire and leave/enter UK airspace around the Isle of Wight.

Flights that do come over London from the south seem to be kept a lot higher and fly north of the airport to the likes of St Neots, Bedford and Biggleswade to around 10,000ft and then start the final decent from these areas.
Flew MAD-LTN last night and did almost this exact routing. The airports expansion inevitably means more holding over the Letchworth area - we did two circuits of the race track yesterday, but seems to be a common occurrence in the last year or two.
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Old 14th Sep 2018, 05:19
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For anyone arriving too early to check in I can fully recommend the pastime of watching passengers with luggage queuing up like sheep to pass through the terminal fire escapes with only single doors open while standings by the side of the proper sliding door entrances that often just sit there closed, as no one is close enough to trigger the doors. Even when they are open because the airlock has two sets of doors at right angles again people just queue up to use the fire exit. The best bit is that the traffic is in both directions so people has to wait for a gap to go in the opposite direction. Signs saying fire exit only are ignored as are the large signs over the main doors saying entrance and exit.

On a more serious note my pet hate are the amount of smokers who gather around the entrance canopies puffing away while standing by no smoking signs. It just seems to be a Luton thing as I don’t seem to experience this at other airports . Maybe it is because of the lower class of people Luton attracts.
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Old 14th Sep 2018, 08:35
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Arriving into the airport recently my thoughts were that the signage to the car rental transfer bus was non existent until you reached the specific bus stop outside and that there was a lot of bottlenecks / people standing around in the way (inside and outside the airport)
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Old 14th Sep 2018, 16:57
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Another day with Essex sector restrictions (LTN and STN shared). 42 movements per hour throughout most of the afternoon.
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Old 14th Sep 2018, 18:16
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Grrr

Originally Posted by dvc
Another day with Essex sector restrictions (LTN and STN shared). 42 movements per hour throughout most of the afternoon.
Staffing issues I guess?
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Old 14th Sep 2018, 18:19
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Originally Posted by Buster the Bear
Staffing issues I guess?
No idea. I'd say airspace congestion. It's been like that for last couple of days at least.
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Old 15th Sep 2018, 13:01
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Originally Posted by compton3bravo
So with Ryanair having 6 based, Easy with 25, Thomson 2/3, Wizz 9 that means 43 stands plus the two for cargo. Is that correct? Maybe somebody in the know could confirm p!ease.
Does the TUI schedule for summer 2019 see the airline going back up to 3 based aircraft - 2 x 738, 1 x 757?
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Old 15th Sep 2018, 14:30
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Originally Posted by wallp
Does the TUI schedule for summer 2019 see the airline going back up to 3 based aircraft - 2 x 738, 1 x 757?
Tui programme at present shows only two based on all days except for Thursday when three are required.

Others.
Alba Star operating Thursday Palma
Travel Service operating Tuesday Tenerife
TBA for Enfidha on Friday and Dalaman on Saturday with away based a/c.
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Old 16th Sep 2018, 19:36
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Another new destination starts Monday - TALLINN capital of Estonia operated by Wizz.
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