Luton-10

[pabely]

Originally Posted by runway08

MNG A330 at 1700 and MNG A330 at 2200 today.

Same flight, just arrived early?

[compton3bravo]

Practically all those destinations being moved to Gatwick will be in direct competition with BA, easy and even Norwegian. I would suggest a big advertising campaign will be needed to let people south of the river who Wizz are. The airline are due quite a lot of new aircraft in 2022 so I think all there slots at Luton will be taken up. All this is subject of course if there are enough people who want to travel with all the extra expense at the moment plus if Brits will be allowed to travel to certain countries.

[Pain in the R's]

Air travel is discretionary spending. Shall I have a weekend aboard or do I pay the extra £500 added to my energy bill? Millions of people will be faced with the same choice next year. I foresee tough times ahead for Luton as Luton has never been able to compete head to head with Gatwick.

[gdiddy]

This is how the Gatwick schedule for Wizz looks like for next summer in June and July, and where a route overlaps at both LTN and LGW, have compared the frequencies.

Austria
Vienna - Daily *
Bulgaria
Sofia - Daily (3x Daily @LTN)
Cyprus
Larnaca - Daily (Daily @LTN)
Greece
Athens - Daily *
Chania (Crete) - 4x Weekly
Mykonos - 4x Weekly
Hungary
Budapest - Daily (3x Daily @LTN)
Israel
Tel Aviv - Daily (5x Weekly @LTN)
Italy
Bari - 2x Weekly *
Catania (Sicily) - 3x Weekly *
Milan MXP - Daily *
Naples - 4x Weekly *
Rome FCO - Daily *
Montenegro
Podgorica - 4x Weekly
Poland
Krakow - Daily (2x Daily @LTN)
Portugal
Faro - Daily *
Madeira - 2x Weekly
Romania
Bucharest OTP - Daily (3x Daily @LTN & Daily @SEN)
Spain
Malaga - 2x Daily (Daily @LTN)
Lanzorote - 3x Weekly *
Palma de Mallorca - Daily (Daily @LTN)
Tenerife - 5x Weekly (5x Weekly @LTN)

* = Routes moved from Luton

[gdiddy]

Will be interesting to see if Ryanair will continue to operate routes like Naples, Catania and Athens now Wizz has switched these to Gatwick.

The routes are still showing on the booking system with Ryanair for next summer, but we know Ryanair has been after Wizz's blood for a while, and regularly pulls routes once the competition quits. Copennhagen being a good example..

[gdiddy]

Wizz's Slots at LTN

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

Any guesses as to what Wizz will do with the free slots Luton ? Add some more frequencies on current routes to eastern Europe ? (Re-)Open routes to the likes of Kutaisi, Nis, Yerevan, Kazakhstan and the UAE ? Hand them back to ACL ? Something else ?

I don't think Wizz will be giving up any slots at LTN, people need to remember many of the routes that have moved to Gatwick, were routes that have only recently started at LTN during the Pandemic from March 2020 onwards...

Many of the routes Wizz flew before March 2020 were to cities like Warsaw, Katowice, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, etc which were operating with frequencies of around 3-4 return flights a day. Right now (and earlier on in the pandemic), many of these routes were reduced to one or two frequencies a day to reflect the demand of travel during these difficult times. Therefore operating reduced schedules to these cities and many others, freed up Wizz's slots to fly to Mediterranean destinations.

Now Wizz, is optimistically looking to ramp up the schedules to the above mentioned cities for summer 2022, back to pre-pandemic frequencies. Therefore some routes had to give and this is where the Gatwick slots came in and Wizz cherry picked which ones it wants to operate from there,

While the number of destinations is not as great, I suspect the actual number of aircraft movements and seats available for sale remains very similar.

[Lee Baker Street]

Originally Posted by gdiddy

I don't think Wizz will be giving up any slots at LTN, people need to remember many of the routes that have moved to Gatwick, were routes that have only recently started at LTN during the Pandemic from March 2020 onwards...

Many of the routes Wizz flew before March 2020 were to cities like Warsaw, Katowice, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, etc which were operating with frequencies of around 3-4 return flights a day. Right now (and earlier on in the pandemic), many of these routes were reduced to one or two frequencies a day to reflect the demand of travel during these difficult times. Therefore operating reduced schedules to these cities and many others, freed up Wizz's slots to fly to Mediterranean destinations.

Now Wizz, is optimistically looking to ramp up the schedules to the above mentioned cities for summer 2022, back to pre-pandemic frequencies. Therefore some routes had to give and this is where the Gatwick slots came in and Wizz cherry picked which ones it wants to operate from there,

While the number of destinations is not as great, I suspect the actual number of aircraft movements and seats available for sale remains very similar.

gdiddy, I agree with you. It should be remembered that to increase/maintain passenger levels Wizz increased destinations, and took into account the ever-evolving shut downs in individual countries. With regards to transferring some flights to LGW it should be noted that they will be heavily competing with the already established airlines operating many duplicated routes. There is high demand for more slots at LTN whilst LGW May never recover its glory days prior to the pandemic. Time will tell.

[Spanish eyes]

I think it is more likely that Luton will struggle to get back to the glory days if Wizz pick up more slots at Gatwick. Luton needs new markets besides Eastern Europe now the U.K. has left the EU but looking at Covid driven load sheets over the months I can see why Wizz has been disappointed with Luton’s Mediterranean routes and is switching services to where the money normally is.

The terminal is in need or a major makeover as it is starting to get really scruffy and run down in places.

[boeing_eng]

The terminal is in need or a major makeover as it is starting to get really scruffy and run down in places.

This is exactly what the airport needs to concentrate on rather than trying to cram more passengers in at any cost. LTN may have got away with the low cost, low quality experience prior to Brexit & Covid but going forward things need to change!

[davidjohnson6]

Why does Luton need to change from a cheap-and-cheerful airport to more upmarket ? It's already loaded with debt from the Dart and doesn't need any more debt until its finances become healthier.

Luton is severely constrained on space - there would need to be a new terminal for this to change substantially. The new pier gates have substantially helped but Luton is likely to have an overcrowded feel for the forseeable future. The new shopping mall a few years ago has given it a more bling feel, but places like the champagne bar did not last long.

Yes, one could put in a false ceiling to hide things like ventilation ducts at certain locations and do other cosmetic changes, but it still won't address the overcrowded feel. Compare the terminal at Stansted or Gatwick North to Luton and you will likely find significantly more square feet

It's very easy to demand capital expenditure... but I just don't see a business case for it until the core problem is solved.

[LGS6753]

Wizz have started promoting a LTN-Casablanca service Mon/Wed/Fri from 28th March.

[Spanish eyes]

Even the airport operator is ashamed of the ground floor new build which is basically the whole of the security area and the whole of the landside arrivals. I am sure some will remember when Princess Ann visited arrivals to do a bit of unveiling around 2 years after completion that the airport hurriedly put in a nice looking black false ceiling immediately above the royal head hiding the disgrace that passengers have to look at in the rest of the new build. To this date that was the only section ever put in. It seems the operator doesn’t even try to improve the feel of the building.

[boeing_eng]

Of course its going to be hard to make any significant changes in the current terminal (a sow's ear comes to mind!) but the 'cram em in mentality may not be a totally viable business model going forward!

[compton3bravo]

I see the twice weekly Wizzair service to Gibraltar seems to have been reinstated from 28 March. Looks like a change of mind with maybe further inducements from the Gibraltar authorities?
Happy new year to all.

[pabely]

Originally Posted by compton3bravo

I see the twice weekly Wizzair service to Gibraltar seems to have been reinstated from 28 March. Looks like a change of mind with maybe further inducements from the Gibraltar authorities?
Happy new year to all.

Wasn't this always reported as only a suspension until demand returned?

[compton3bravo]

Having had further thoughts about this maybe the two Luton slots which were going to be used on new services is Bari etc, as these have become available again after some routes have been transferred to Gatwick.

[LTNman]

Originally Posted by compton3bravo

I see the twice weekly Wizzair service to Gibraltar seems to have been reinstated from 28 March. Looks like a change of mind with maybe further inducements from the Gibraltar authorities?
Happy new year to all.

For many years it was Luton’s airport owner that was offering inducements. This was given to the airport operator who then passed the "brown envelopes" on to the airlines. According to the annual report from the airport operator this practice ended when the airport reached 18m but I suspect it has started again with LRT footing the bill.

[Buster the Bear]

As more Gatwick slots become available during the years ahead, I wonder if the envelopes will need a production line to send them out? Remember the plans that Gatwick have for their cheap second runway....... Not a new build, just modifications and improvements to infrastructure and procedures to facilitate the implementation.

[davidjohnson6]

I don't have personal knowledge of the matter... but one wants to be very careful about making public suggestions over possible irregular inducements of money if one doesn't have the evidence to support what one is saying. Lawyers have a habit of getting quite upset over this kind of thing
That said, if you do have evidence, it may be better to pass it to some body which has the clout to handle the matter

[LTNman]

Never said it was irregular inducements seeing the incentives were mentioned in the accounts. How the money was transferred, kept or discounted is open to speculation, as the accounts don't specify the payment method.