I think maybe one person might have had a different view to that of yours. I think to the rest of us the fact that CUN had been dropped for Winter 17/18, we knew what was coming. Anyhow, if it makes you feel better, you were right.

But at the time of my post 3848 I wasn't assuming that TUI would be ceasing long haul operations from STN for summer 2018 it I had actually read it before hand hence my post regarding it.

With CUN being withdrawn for Winter 17/18 I wasn't actually expecting any other long haul
destinations being cut a complete opposite actually as I expected CUN to be replaced by another long haul destination. When I had previously read what I had regarding a total withdrawal of long haul from STN I was shocked and now it has been officially confirmed.

And as you politely commented, I was right :-)

Such a shame of the loss of TOM long haul after this summer.

I can understand why they wouldn't operate Cancun through the winter again as loads and yield have been rather poor on the route outside the summer.

I'm quite surprised they've abandoned long haul entirely as Orlando flights for this summer are almost full already and Montego Bay seems to be performing well sales wise. Both SFB and CUN were at 95%+ loads throughout the summer last year.

The demand is there but a complete lack of advertising and constant changes in the days of operations throughout the schedule I can imagine affected loads. TOM may want to focus on BHX and MAN where the crew and aircraft are based, as apposed to ferrying the aircraft down and back every week.

The reality is Jet2 will have more aircraft at Stansted than Thomson and Thomas Cook at Luton and Stansted combined next year. There is going to be over capacity on the short haul routes. I would of thought they would focus a bit more on long haul at STN because of this?

I'm sure there will be a new TOM short haul route announced with two gaps in the peak summer schedule to have the standard 4 flights a day schedule on two aircraft. Maybe Santorini, Mykonos, Preveza or Catania if they want a unserved STN route?

Thomas Cook short haul schedule for next year appears the same with two based aircraft between May and October with a 3rd based in July and August. Long haul appears to also been cut by 50% with just one long haul aircraft as apposed to two, although the second aircraft may yet to be sourced with the air tanker lease ending.

There's no gaps in TOMs schedule for new routes unfortunately. Two flights a week do a W-pattern away from STN, one to HUY from PMI on a Tuesday and the other to BRS from FAO on a Sunday.

Oh that is a shame. Suppose STN are lucky they haven't lost a entire aircraft as Luton has.

Mentioned already in the trade press but not on here I believe....RYR bringing forward the start of 5 new STN routes from start of the Winter scheds as first proposed to the first week of September....comprising... Aalborg..Kiev..Lviv... Oradea & Pardubice...

LBA currently has 13 based aircraft.

That's strange - I thought there were only grass strips north of STN/LTN!

Stansted's looking a firm No.3 for Jet2.com in Summer 2018 behind Leeds/Bradford and Manchester

Excellent...I guess that`s the sentiment I was pursuing...A great & solid start for Jet2.com @ STN & into a firm #3 base for them next year all in a comparatively short time scale....

I know that Easyjet and Ryanair are much larger than Jet2 and either has the resources to win a price war against Jet2 if they want the fight, but what impact has Jet2 had on Easyjet/Ryanair ? It can't be just Thomas Cook and Thomson who are losing out with 7 or 8 new Jet2 aircraft flying beach routes

I can see direct competition on the following routes flown by Jet2 from Stansted (more if you include Luton):
Easyjet - Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Geneva, Ibiza, Menorca, Split, Zakynthos
Ryanair - Alicante, Corfu, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg and Tenerife

I don't think Jet2 so much compete with EasyJet / Ryanair as show them the size of a market that they're missing out on by the way they market themselves. They must surely be tempted to make a better than half-hearted attempt at entering Jet2's holiday market?

Competing would be predominantly an IT and marketing thing, backed by a few extra customer service staff that could be outsourced?

It could well be the case Jet2.com are taking more than custom from just STN based services & airlines...Jet2.com are advertising extensively throughout the South & as STN is their only Southern base it perhaps stands to reason they are pulling from more than just the STN catchment...You may well need to look @ LTN which you bracketed & with not too much hope for further sun flight growth @ SEN I would expect....time will tell...

davidjohnson6

By coincidence yesterday I had a look at easyJet prices on the affected routes from STN, LTN and SEN this summer to see if there was any visible impact from the new Jet2 operation at STN. I couldn't detect any to be honest and certainly STN prices looked pretty firm in comparison to LTN and SEN. Obviously I couldn't compare these with last year's prices and it could just be that LTN and SEN are equally affected. SEN is offering additional capacity to PMI this year so it should be possible to look at their actual pax numbers at the end of the summer to see if growth is proportionate to the increased capacity.

Edit: I posted before I saw southside bobby's post so maybe I have partly reflected his thoughts inadvertently.

I suspect Jet2's main targets are Thomas Cook, Tui and Monarch - particularly across the Birmingham, Luton, Stansted catchment areas.

Possibly extending into the Gatwick catchment area south of the Thames.

Jet2 New Routes
 

Five new routes showing for Summer 2018... Almeria, Bodrum, Kefalonia, Thessaloniki and Verona

Security malfunction
 

According to the Daily Mail ( I know!) there were major issues this morning for 4 hours due to a breakdown in the x-ray equipment (confirmed by airport management) The pictures posted looked pretty horrendous. Any chance of any compensation for the many pax that missed their flights?

I very much doubt airlines at STN will pay a penny without a judgement from a senior court. MAG will say there is no contract with a passenger (unless a senior court thinks otherwise)
Best guess is that pax will just have to accept it and hope airlines are lenient when selling a replacement ticket

I agree that the airlines are not liable, however MAG is. I assume that travel insurance should cover a the cost of the missed flights, but probably not for subsequent expenses.

wowzz - I agree there might well be a case for saying MAG is liable, but MAG will be very careful in what they say publicly to avoid admitting any liability, pointing to the lack of any payment by a passenger to the airport (contract law 101 - no consideration generally means no contract). A passenger would have to go to significant effort and expense in the High Court before any kind of liability might be found. Alternatively there is the option of complaining to the CAA but this will probably not achieve a worthwhile result

MAG *should* in my view face some penalty for this but without politicians focussing on getting reelected, neither the Dept for Transport or CAA will want to get involved. Passenger just has to put up with it.