STN accepts 3 LHR diversions this AM...VIR A333 from IAD... EWG A320 from HAM...& BAW/Shuttle A320...

Was there weather issues at LHR earlier? Fog?

Fog was 100 metres as well as a American 767 having to go straight back in cause of technical issues

BAW adds a weekly Summer flight to Berlin from STN,to accompany those destinations already announced of Faro,Malaga,Palma & Ibiza all by ERJ190...

BA to Berlin
 

This route surprises me.

I'd have expected to see another sun route, if anything. MAH, ALC, CFU would have been higher up the list of possible destinations if you ask me. A once weekly route to Berlin seems odd as most folk go for the weekend or at maximum a few days, but a week?

Do we have a schedule for this? I'm going to guess it'll be a weekend like the others?

Or are the waters being tested sun routes vs city destinations?

It's purely to get the jet to Stansted for the summer routes. This way it can be done on a revenue flight rather than just burning fuel getting it from LCY empty.

BA's website confirming it as '6 times a week'.

We will see once it goes on sale. Link to this below...

New flight routes and destinations from British Airways

That link says daily from LCY and once a week from STN? Both from 19 June

It has been updated as it quite clearly stated earlier today '6x weekly'. Obviously in error.

Anyhow it's interesting and will make a handy connection for folk travelling from Berlin to London for a short weekend break, or vise versa for UK travellers wanting a slightly longer break. However for more flexibility people will choose Ryanair. What will be interesting will be whether they offer any routes for the winter 16/17 season. Ski routes could be a clear winner.

BA's Summer weekend schedule now looks like this

Berlin

BA2299 STN 13:05 TXL 15:55 7 E90
BA2298 TXL 21:40 STN 22:30 5 E90

Faro

BA2297 STN 05:40 FAO 08:30 7 E90
BA2296 FAO 09:05 STN 12:00 7 E90

Ibiza

BA2291 STN 06:45 IBZ 10:15 6 E90
BA2290 IBZ 11:00 STN 12:30 6 E90

Malaga

BA2293 STN 13:15 AGP 17:15 6 E90
BA2292 AGP 18:00 STN 19:50 6 E90

Palma

BA2295 STN 20:45 PMI 00:15 6 E90
BA2294 PMI 01:00 STN 02:30 7 E90

For all these scheduled BA marketed flights, what will be the lounge facilities at STN for all the Avios'rs ?

BA CE and eligible exec card holders will be able to use the Escape Lounge at STN

The escape lounge is quite pleasant. It's no T5 Galleries but then what is?

Certainly on par with BA destination lounge son the continent

Capacity just up between 5-6% for summer 2016 (1,043,354)

http://www.acl-uk.org/UserFiles/File...S%20Report.pdf

New drop off charges. £3 for 10 minutes and £50 for 11 minutes.

Stansted Airport drop-off charge increase 'an absolute disgrace' - BBC News

I guess they'll keep upping the charges until people stop using it.

The queue in the mornings is huge so the £2.50 charge wasn't putting many off.

No doubt AENA managers at Luton and other airports will be watching closely. I'm sure if they think they can eek another 50p per car out they will

The word disgusting is often used to describe drop off charges and is often a hot topic on the airport's facebook page. If the charge was hidden in the price of the airline ticket no one would say a word.

Passenger expectations is that airports should be charities and charge for nothing.

If an airport is dominated by players such as Ryanair and Easyjet who don't believe that an airline should pay for services they get from the airport operator, then someone else has to. That someone else is the passenger.

So as you say, either the air fare goes up, people wind up paying for drop off, trolleys, fast lane security, or any other wheezes that the airport can dream up to replace revenue they are not getting from the airline customers.

This I think is why a domination of low cost (no frills - call them what you will) airlines is not necessarily a good thing for the passenger experience.

Thomas Cook - Summer 2017
 

MT's full Summer 2017 schedule for STN is now as follows...

ALC - 2x weekly
LEI - 1x weekly
AYT - 2x weekly
BOJ - 1x weekly
CUN - 3x weekly
CFU - 2x weekly
DLM - 4x weekly
FUE - 2x weekly
LPA - 1x weekly
IBZ - 1x weekly
EFL - 1x weekly
ACE - 4x weekly
LCA - 1x weekly
LAS - 2x weekly
PMI - 3x weekly
MAH - 5x weekly
MCO - 6x weekly
REU - 1x weekly
RHO - 2x weekly
JSI - 1x weekly
TFS - 6x weekly
ZTH - 3x weekly

Volume wise is fairly similar to this summer, however perhaps unsurprisingly a drop in Turkish flights in favor of predominantly the Canaries. Once again looks like 3x fully utilised A321's during the summer peak.

In terms of long-haul, it's a much better mix with LAS increasing from 1x to 2x weekly and CUN from 1x to 3x weekly. However MCO drops from 10x to 6x weekly for Summer 2017, therefore a reduction of 1 flight per week as the schedule currently stands.

Maximum total fleet based at STN will again be...
3x A321
2x A330

Thomson launching weekly Montego Bay Jamaica for summer 2017 on Thursdays.

Cancun not showing in brochures for Summer 2017 however it is bookable flying on a Wednesday.

Orlando showing in brochures for summer 2017 as a Wednesday departure, however this is not showing any availability on website and would overlap with the Cancun departure.

Early days still I suppose.