Luton-9
Join Date: Jul 2017
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Remember that many passengers will be travelling for Easter to see family which actually makes a complete mockery of government advice not to see family members as it tries to contain the Coronavirus. Walking through arrivals into landside this morning I could see no evidence of social distancing as family members who clearly had not seen each other for a long while greeted each other with kisses and cuddles.
El-Al has effectively closed down as the Israeli authorities has a 2 week quarantine for ALL arriving passengers at Tel-Aviv for the foreseeable future.
Only guest workers from Eastern Europe and Ireland are likely to travel to be honest .
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As I said most of the flying fleet are freighting at the moment and they are after all a life line for Hungary effectively the national carrier !
Fares on Luton-Bucharest do indeed seem to be significantly higher than Bucharest-Luton in the days up to and including Orthodox Easter on 19 April, although fares diminish a bit between Western Easter (12 April) and Orthodox Easter
Fares for Bucharest-Luton do not seem to show any kind of peak at all in the 2nd half of April which seems a little odd for people who are seeing family just for Easter.
I can think of a number of reasons for this
1 - People are returning to the UK over a prolonged period after Easter - e.g. some people planning to spend 2 weeks with their families so the demand for returning is spread over an extended period of time (possible but doubt this would cover everyone)
2 - Wizz's fare system doesn't show peaks that are 3 weeks away (possible at 2 months in advance, very dubious just 3 weeks in advance)
3 - Many people have seen shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, hotels all shutting down and are not planning to come back to the UK until the economy revives and paid work is available again
4 - People have decided that it's best to get back to their families while they still can before flights are completely shut down
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Using Bucharest as an example (you can use other cities as well, but LON-OTP has most pax so least prone to things like one-offs causing a spike in demand)...
Fares on Luton-Bucharest do indeed seem to be significantly higher than Bucharest-Luton in the days up to and including Orthodox Easter on 19 April, although fares diminish a bit between Western Easter (12 April) and Orthodox Easter
Fares for Bucharest-Luton do not seem to show any kind of peak at all in the 2nd half of April which seems a little odd for people who are seeing family just for Easter.
I can think of a number of reasons for this
1 - People are returning to the UK over a prolonged period after Easter - e.g. some people planning to spend 2 weeks with their families so the demand for returning is spread over an extended period of time (possible but doubt this would cover everyone)
2 - Wizz's fare system doesn't show peaks that are 3 weeks away (possible at 2 months in advance, very dubious just 3 weeks in advance)
3 - Many people have seen shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, hotels all shutting down and are not planning to come back to the UK until the economy revives and paid work is available again
4 - People have decided that it's best to get back to their families while they still can before flights are completely shut down
Fares on Luton-Bucharest do indeed seem to be significantly higher than Bucharest-Luton in the days up to and including Orthodox Easter on 19 April, although fares diminish a bit between Western Easter (12 April) and Orthodox Easter
Fares for Bucharest-Luton do not seem to show any kind of peak at all in the 2nd half of April which seems a little odd for people who are seeing family just for Easter.
I can think of a number of reasons for this
1 - People are returning to the UK over a prolonged period after Easter - e.g. some people planning to spend 2 weeks with their families so the demand for returning is spread over an extended period of time (possible but doubt this would cover everyone)
2 - Wizz's fare system doesn't show peaks that are 3 weeks away (possible at 2 months in advance, very dubious just 3 weeks in advance)
3 - Many people have seen shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, hotels all shutting down and are not planning to come back to the UK until the economy revives and paid work is available again
4 - People have decided that it's best to get back to their families while they still can before flights are completely shut down
Still LTNman usually has an agenda !
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That’s because it’s usually operating for the Home office and reason for normally going to Stansted; Certainly taking peop’s back to Tirana however most won’t be making the journey voluntarily that’s for sure .
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Say goodbye to eastern European black economy workers who are laid off, and have no social welfare to wait around for. There is no peak after Easter as they ain't coming back.
A lot of crops will rot this year.
A lot of crops will rot this year.
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Many passengers would have booked their flights months ago to secure the cheapest tickets to spend time with friends and family. If they didn’t travel they would be out of pocket which is a powerful reason to travel if they can only afford to travel once a year. There might still be a perception that most passengers are young but the passenger mix I am seeing covers all age groups right up to the elderly.
While these passengers are helping to keep me in a job I would doubt that a good proportion of Luton’s passengers would be classed as essential travellers when we are all being told to stay at home. The government’s message though only covers domestic travel so no one is doing anything wrong apart from driving to and from the airport.
There is definitely more people leaving than arriving at the moment so a lot of repatriation is still taking place. My local car wash has now shut down so I doubt the casual workers there will be getting 80% of their wages paid by the government.
While these passengers are helping to keep me in a job I would doubt that a good proportion of Luton’s passengers would be classed as essential travellers when we are all being told to stay at home. The government’s message though only covers domestic travel so no one is doing anything wrong apart from driving to and from the airport.
There is definitely more people leaving than arriving at the moment so a lot of repatriation is still taking place. My local car wash has now shut down so I doubt the casual workers there will be getting 80% of their wages paid by the government.
Last edited by Spanish eyes; 4th Apr 2020 at 05:51.
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Did you actually read what I wrote? Not sure why you have decided to bring up the rest of the Wizz network when I didn’t mentioned it. I said that the individual flights operating out of a Luton should still be making a profit as they are full or near full. Would you say that statement is inaccurate?
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Did you actually read what I wrote? Not sure why you have decided to bring up the rest of the Wizz network when I didn’t mentioned it. I said that the individual flights operating out of a Luton should still be making a profit as they are full or near full. Would you say that statement is inaccurate?
Romanians are flocking home for sure either they have been furloughed or more seriously lost their casual employment possibly and permanently.They have little money in reserve have no access to the safety net ( contrary to popular DM myth ) families at home worried so what would you do ?
Think your methodology through a bit more !
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Lionel Messi G5 was in the news for diverting to Paris in the week but turned up at Luton yesterday on a first visit. Not that he is moving from Barcelona FC to LTFC but maybe work at Gulfstream?
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Luton is showing the first 4 departures for tomorrow. 3 of them are cancelled.
Bucharest showing no flights until 19th April
Budapest showing all flight from Thursday onwards priced at £16.99
Bucharest showing no flights until 19th April
Budapest showing all flight from Thursday onwards priced at £16.99
Last edited by LTNman; 5th Apr 2020 at 17:17.
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Well, with millions being unemployed legitimately in the U.K, the only reason crops will rot is continued rain.
You’d rather black market labour then? Sad, very sad.
You’d rather black market labour then? Sad, very sad.
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Extraordinary and dark times for both the airport, country and the world. With just 5 departures today and for at least the next 2 weeks the airport must be down to daily passenger figures not seen since the early 60’s.
For the airport authorities they must have preferred that Wizz had suspended all operations so they could close the terminal down.
I have noticed that cement deliveries for the DART stopped a couple of weeks ago and that the workforce is lighter now.
It has been mentioned that National Express has suspended all services from the airport but no one has mentioned the taxi drivers who are all self employed. With the taxi rank also empty it won’t be long before we start to see the tumbleweed as the airport is starting to get that abandoned feeling for much of the day where the few remaining staff outnumber the passengers.
For the airport authorities they must have preferred that Wizz had suspended all operations so they could close the terminal down.
I have noticed that cement deliveries for the DART stopped a couple of weeks ago and that the workforce is lighter now.
It has been mentioned that National Express has suspended all services from the airport but no one has mentioned the taxi drivers who are all self employed. With the taxi rank also empty it won’t be long before we start to see the tumbleweed as the airport is starting to get that abandoned feeling for much of the day where the few remaining staff outnumber the passengers.
Last edited by Spanish eyes; 6th Apr 2020 at 05:39.
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Every year the airport brings out a press release about expected passenger numbers for Easter. I think this year they will be saying nothing.
This from last year
https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/artic...-easter-travel
As for crops being left in the ground there will be many English and migrants who have stayed that will be without work when this is all over. Even if the English won’t do it the remaining migrants who have a reputation for grafting will save the day.
This from last year
https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/artic...-easter-travel
As for crops being left in the ground there will be many English and migrants who have stayed that will be without work when this is all over. Even if the English won’t do it the remaining migrants who have a reputation for grafting will save the day.
As for crops being left in the ground there will be many English and migrants who have stayed that will be without work when this is all over. Even if the English won’t do it the remaining migrants who have a reputation for grafting will save the day.