Luton-10

[pabely]

Does size 6 include the 777F ?
MNG & DHL currently seem to schedule things so only one A330F on the ground at once, sure there could be more slack for some more widebody ops as typically only on ground for 60-90mins.

[LTNman]

Size 6 (smaller Code E). A333, B789, B772

[commit aviation]

Originally Posted by pabely

Winter should not be a big issue for stots, it would be cargo stands which would be an issue.
DHL run a Leipzig to STN nightly.
Not sure Luton could take any FedEx MD-11s from/to US but the Dublin, Paris & Frankfurt runs should be Ok. Do Titan/West Atlantic still do Domestic Cargo/Mail at STN and I think ASL do some Europe runs?
UPS hum... are they all not US as well?
With EMA full BHX could do well as well.

UPS: I believe the US departures are before the closure time. Mainly inbounds from CGN in the early hours.
Royal Mail do still operate from there - I am sure they will be looking at alternative options along with the other cargo operators.
These jobs are never fun but they have to be done and it's usually the night time cargo ops that take the brunt of the pain

[LTNman]

With EMA full BHX could do well as well.

The word is that Birmingham is picking up overnight biz jets from Luton.

[pabely]

Originally Posted by LTNman

The word is that Birmingham is picking up overnight biz jets from Luton.

If you are a Signature Account holder then you will be offered the newly opened facility at BHX which replaced the flooded facility they used to have in the old terminal.

[compton3bravo]

Three biz jet movements in the wee small hours of Saturday 26th. Two departures and one arrival. Impeccable source. Night jet ban, really!

[Spanish eyes]

The 26th is a Sunday

[compton3bravo]

Oops sorry, it was the early hours of Sunday.

[LTNman]

Originally Posted by LTNman

LRT accounts are out for the year ending 31st March 2021.

Highlights include:

The resignation of their auditors
£133.504m losses before tax
£0 concession fees received
£45m being paid by LRT to the airport operator in phased payments as compensation.
£199m bail out by the Council. (£200m would look worse)
£184.7m impairment valuation of the Dart that is costing around £300m.

I failed to understand the last point regarding the impairment valuation of the Dart but this is what it means.

Capitalised costs at 31 March 2021 were £262m, but the carrying value in the accounts has been reduced to £77m, a write off of a staggering £185m.

[pabely]

Wasn't the whole point of the DART to get travel times from St Pancras to Airport to below 30mins and get rid of the dreadful buses, not to make money in Accounts?
The benefits will hopefully come from other areas and make the whole airport experience and image better beating travel times to Gatwick & Stansted (depending on how you measure central London).
Of course it can help to get more cars off the road, but that reduces drop off and parking income!

[SWBKCB]

The benefits will hopefully come from other areas and make the whole airport experience and image better beating travel times to Gatwick & Stansted (depending on how you measure central London).

£185m worth of benefits?

[cavokblues]

Originally Posted by pabely

Wasn't the whole point of the DART to get travel times from St Pancras to Airport to below 30mins and get rid of the dreadful buses, not to make money in Accounts?
The benefits will hopefully come from other areas and make the whole airport experience and image better beating travel times to Gatwick & Stansted (depending on how you measure central London).
Of course it can help to get more cars off the road, but that reduces drop off and parking income!

Call me a cynic but I don't think the airport operator and council really care about the airport experience. They've certainly not paid much attention to it in the way the airport has been designed and decorated.. I think DART was there to maximise pax to a future T2 and ensure more revenue for the council.

If T2 doesn't happen I suspect the airport is left with something which looks decent but fundamentally doesn't really contribute financially.

[LTNman]

Originally Posted by pabely

Wasn't the whole point of the DART to get travel times from St Pancras to Airport to below 30mins and get rid of the dreadful buses, not to make money in Accounts?
The benefits will hopefully come from other areas and make the whole airport experience and image better beating travel times to Gatwick & Stansted (depending on how you measure central London).
Of course it can help to get more cars off the road, but that reduces drop off and parking income!

I took my first trip on the newish non-stop EMR to St Pancras last Saturday and I have to say it was a shocking experience. The train was made up of 2 trains each with 4 carriages joined in the middle to form a single train making it impossible to walk from one end of the train to the other. The train was packed out with standing passengers plus the train had no luggage racks for suitcases. It was clear the train was old commuter stock that had seen better days. The old hourly service used to be formed of a dedicated long distance train that was far better and was complete with tables. By contrast the 12 car Thameslink train for the return journey was a breath of fresh air, as it was light and airy.

As for the Dart, padely needs to remember that the £268m was borrowed from the Council who have funded a project worth only £75m. While the bus service was dreadful it didn't stop the airport reaching its capacity in 2019 and didn't cost LRT or the Council a single penny. The question is why build it now when the airport doesn't have permission to expand? If the DCO is approved a new tunnel is going to have to be dug to extend the Dart at say £150m with the Dart shut down for part of that time to re-cable the Dart and move its winches. The testing of the Dart resulted in 9 months of trials due to all the twists and turns. An extension of the Dart will see the train having to turn another 90 degrees.

The Dart will always run at a loss and will be sold off without its debts leaving the council taxpayers picking up the bill.

As for more cars off the road that is another false claim. The plans for T2 shows 1000's of new car park spaces being required with road traffic expected to rise by around 50%

[LTNman]

The £268m cost of the Dart is a new figure, as the previous ones were £200m at the very start and then £225m. This was then raised to £275m. As the accounting period ended March 31st 2021 clearly the £268m is out of date and was a snapshot of the debts to that date, as another 15 months have since passed with still no trains that won’t run until October. I am expecting the final bill to be around £300m.


LLAOL won the contract to run the Dart (was there any other bidder?). The contract tender offered by Luton Rising Temperature was valued at £9m.

So what will be the operating hours of the Dart? Well it doesn’t look 24/7 unless it runs overnight with no staff.

Position: Passenger Care Assistant Location: Luton DART – London Luton Airport / Luton Parkway Station LU1 Rate of Pay: £10.50ph Hours: PT or FT Fully Flexible across weekends and bank holidays. Shift times are anywhere from 3.45am – 11pm Monday – Sunday 12 hour shifts across 4 days on 4 days on 4 days off pattern.

[cavokblues]

11pm closure?

Anything that lands 1030pm onwards will struggle to make an 11pm closure. There are 17 flights scheduled to land after 1030pm tonight. That's probably about 3000 people coming in. Will there be a bus or are taxi companies going to have to pick up the slack shuttling people down to the station?

[Spanish eyes]

Much of the underground and most railway lines don't operate overnight with Thameslink being an exception. Why should the Dart be any different? Yes I know the existing shuttle bus is 24/7 but that is part of the Thameslink franchise so there maybe a requirement to offer a 24/7 service that Luton Rising and the airport operator can disregard.

[davidjohnson6]

The transit at Gatwick between North and South terminals (ie for those travelling to or from the train station) operates all night, but is free and has no customer-facing staff
The underground in London runs until 00:30, with trains reaching their final destination about 01:15. The tube is usually pretty busy just after 23:00
Are we going to see buses running to cover the DART late at night ?

[cavokblues]

Originally Posted by Spanish eyes

Much of the underground and most railway lines don't operate overnight with Thameslink being an exception. Why should the Dart be any different? Yes I know the existing shuttle bus is 24/7 but that is part of the Thameslink franchise so there maybe a requirement to offer a 24/7 service that Luton Rising and the airport operator can disregard.

Last tube is normal about 12-1230am though? 11pm for an airport so heavily focused on low cost airlines which will always have flights arriving late at night seems very, very early.

[LTNman]

This is a publicity photo of the first batch of Customer Care Ambassadors who according to the job advert will need to have at least 2 years of experience in a customer care role. I suspect LLAOL has sacrificed experience for youth to avoid paying them £10:50 an hour.

Note the hole being dug to the left of the photo in the finished station.

[LTNman]

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/pe...lights-3747230

Only 0.6% cancelled