Legacy airlines rely on premium passengers.

MAG are very busy constructing two premium lounges in pier 1 in addition to the Aspire Lounge in ther terminal.

Premium passengers demand premium lounges. Not something Sou can currently provide

Did SAS not historically have a fairly notable operation from STN? Norwegian also used to use it as their main focus point for London-Nordic routes so I guess there is a quite strong demand there, hopefully enough to sustain FR and SAS.

Interesting that they consider going up against Ryanair at STN to be preferable to going up against Norwegian at LGW, can't help thinking that it won't end well for them either way but time will tell. Didn't SAS operate at STN as part of the STAR Alliance "experiment" many years ago?.

Saying that the STN flights appear to be just placeholders in their booking website and not actually bookable as yet - but that could be just a work in progress.

Or maybe it's a typo and they meant LTN not STN..??!:E

Back in those days it was Nordic inbound charter flights where passengers would book a holiday to London and would let the airline pick the airport to get them there.

No LTNman, adfly is correct.

Between around 1997 and 9/11, SK had 3x daily CPH, 2x daily ARN and 2x daily OSL. Towards the end 2x daily LHR-SVG was also moved over. Additionally, BGO was also served daily through subsidiary Braathens, moving in from LGW. But, 9/11 happened and along with LH a hasty retreat was made with ops consolidated back at LHR.

Aside from the charters, STN had always been first choice for Scandinavian carriers until very recently. Norwegian as mentioned had a sizeable operation, but also just about every start-up has passed through (Color Air, Goodjet, Flying Finn and more besides). FR and EZY also had a Goidelic few routes between them, and CPH was of course an original Go destination.

OK I stand corrected but I was going back to the 70's, but much has changed since then.

AirportPlanner1, Braathens SAFE was not a subsidiary of SAS the period you mentioned. The merger with SAS started in June 2002 and BU ceased to operate under the BU/BRA AOC two year later. You can still find a number of the original BU routes and they are shown as SK4xxx in the SAS timetable.

LTNman - i think your negative comment on SEN poor track record on keeping routes is made with a tongue in cheek. You are well aware that EZY withdrew the 4 th aircraft which led to a reduction in destinations and frequencies as well as others being withdrawn for un-explained commercial reasons. Also that FLYBE completely decimated the DUB service when they took it over late last year. It carried 60000 + throughout 2014. The loss of these services can not in any way be due to poor service at SEN as you will know from reading this site for a few years

SAS considered SEN and were aware that for the last 2 years it has been voted the best UK airport by Which! readers.

Angels15 -you may not be aware that SEN has a First Class lounge which is due to be extended into the original Laker Bar following the opening of a larger Lakers Restaurant / Bar in the terminal. It has all of the facilities that most other lounges offer.

I have no particular interest in SEN but feel corrections should be made when necessary

Maybe SAS brass read the Telegraph

I've landed where? Misleading airport names - Telegraph

Well luton shows as 32 miles out, Stansted airport is 35 miles, and Southend is 42 miles out, so yes Southend is the furthest away from London

Really depends where you are measuring from. From Canary Wharf for instance LGW is 10 miles further than SEN, and 13 further than STN. SEN is only 10 miles further than LHR

I never said it was due to poor service and acknowledge that SEN is the passengers favorite airport while STN and LTN sit at the other end of the table.

It would seem that this fact was not enough to sway SAS away from Stansted.

Wethersfield is right they did consider SEN along with STN & LTN - and they made their choice, whether it is the right choice (or even if there is a right choice) only time will tell.

Nice to see the "post BAA" competition dynamic appears to be working with all these airports announcing new carriers over recent months.

May Traffic
 

2,049,613 - 2015
1,819,622 - 2014
+12.6%

Can see the growth has declined from mid 20%'s to just over 10%'s guess as FR will not be up massively in summer it will continue lower as they will have nothing grounded!

I see that LGW have bagged Westjet, which is presumably just the sort of customer MAG would have been fighting for

..and Luton has bagged Atlantic Star on the South Atlantic run. Are MAG asleep or are they talking too much rather than chasing the business?

LTNman
 

LTNman, or should that be LTNfan?

I thought you'd grown out of this need to play 'My airport is better than yours' no?

Who is this well established airline 'Atlantic Star' that you speak of? I thought they had some records in the 80's (debatable), but an airline? Sorry never heard of them. As for the 'South Atlantic run' you speak of, sounds so glamorous, like some 1950's Comet route. I'd give it... A season at max. That's if it even materialises to be honest.

You seem to have forgotten very quickly how Stansted have bagged SAS the Scandinavian legacy airline, FlyBe - Europe's largest independent regional airline. Not to mention TUI/Thomson - The largest leisure travel company choosing Stansted over Luton (their home soil) to launch longhaul routes to Cancun and Sanford next summer. Then we also have the number 2 leisure and travel company launching routes to Vegas as well as Orlando and Cancun this summer.

I reckon MAG are chuckling to themselves that 'LA Cantrunanairline' chose Luton as their boutique airport of choice over Stansted. I think MAG have bigger and better aspirations on their horizon than some 'two bob airline' that no one has ever heard of to be fair. :ok:

How are the good old folk of Southend btw? Bored perhaps? :zzz:

Please do check my previous posts. I think you will find that I am a Stansted fan as well as someone who frequently has a pop at what is going on at Luton:ok: I even said that SAS was better off at Stansted if you care to read the Luton thread.

Think it might have something to do with my PPRUNE name rather than my posts. Seems to have got you worked up a real treat!:E:}:E

Not worked up in the slightest LTNman. Just trying to point out to you that you're a much nicer poster when you play ball nicely rather than having multiple personalities when you post.

Sometimes LTNman is a bit provocative/childish, but I have to say this was not one of those occasions and the response was unjustified.


While I have said in the past that STN is better off without La Compagnie and I continue to stand by that, Atlantic Star is a slightly different beast because of the unique market it will be serving so a bit more respect should be shown.


That said, missing out on an operator with 26 (?) rotations per year that are likely to be flying under capacity isn't the end of the world for STN and won't add a great deal to LTN's figures either. The principle of LTNman's post is valid though (or at least what I think he is getting at) in that it is another potential customer that has gone elsewhere and there have been quite a few of those.