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.

It's seems on the Luton thread that you think this will be a big deal/loss to MAG Really? A fortnightly flight to St Helena?

Yes you are probably right. Did they even try for such a minnow? In fact if Stansted got the service would MAG even bother to mention it after their statement about long haul in the same way that AENA hasn't mentioned it either but it did put a smile on my face.:)

I suspect WestJet is the only real disappointment to STN here - if they weren't chasing them then their business development people need shooting as they made no secret of the fact they were planning a London service. Still it's a competitive airport market now and that's what happens. The boys from the North West continue to find out the hard way what its like to be a small(ish) fish in a big pond.

Saying that I am not surprised WestJet chose Gatwick (much lower risk - maybe actual, certainly percieved), however they still have to secure/buy the slots at Gatwick - but as a new entrant they will get some priority there.

Yes that service wouldnt have much much of an impact, but not to sound like a famous supermarket advert......every little helps!

STN are looking to attract something a bit more mainstream hence the likes of TOM, TCX, BE and SK being the sort of airlines (other than FR) that are putting new capacity into STN and not smaller start-up carriers.

MAG will be talking to airlines such as the major US and Gulf carriers, and probably some other short-haul legacies to go with SK.

STN's redevelopment project has still got a way to go and I wouldn't expect a major long-haul airline to come in before that's all completed.

It seems SAS came to STN as second choice because they couldn't get anything close to the slots they wanted at LGW.

Itchin McCrevis

I'm not sure where you heard that? SAS to my knowlege had been talking to STN for a while and had quite a large operation from STN pre 9/11.

I would of thought a certain airline that has become a bit of a key player in LGW must have made LGW less attractive to SAS.

I see Stansted is following Luton's lead by raising the drop off charge to £2.50 from July 1st plus £2.50 a minute after the first 10 minutes. Oh and a further £20 if you return in under 30 minutes.

It is the number one issue for complaints at Luton so I guess it will be the same at Stansted but it is a good source for revenue.

Tirana
 

To disprove that MAG are only talking to the mainstream, FlyToAlbania.com will be operating 2x weekly on Thursday and Friday nights from mid-July until September using Small Planet.

The website is one of the worst I have seen in a long time.

STANSTED - 2
 

China Southern cargo starts into STN this weekend, another major scalp that looked at LGW and turned it's nose up

I don't think China Southern even looked at LGW as regards to their new cargo route from Guangzhou, it was Stansted from the start unless you have a link to state otherwise!

I'm with Canberrra on this one - much more likely it would be LGW that turned its nose up at a freighter service if it was ever even approached. I can't see freighters figuring anywhere in Gatwicks ambitions and rightly so, passenger flights are much more lucrative.

So LGW has secured yet another Canadian Airline.
Air Canada Rouge and Westjet but with Air Transat on the LGW-YYZ
can all 3 survive along side each other only time will tell
But I guess some good fares will be available next year.

Anything in the pipeline for STN. I heard EK people were in enterprise house last week but that could be to do with MAG Manchester I guess.

I flew Stansted- Toronto many many moons ago by Air Transat but they didn't hang around Stansted too long before retreating back to Gatwick. Seem to remember the aircraft was full.

I also flew to CANADA from Stansted well that was the plan
We were overbooked on FLYGLOBESPAN and were bussed to LHR and put onto AirCanada so the demand was at Stansted ... But I'm trying not to get into they should have chose STN because that's not my point.
I just can't see how you fill an A330 and 2x B767's each day
I think that at least one will have to decide to move to another London airport or pull the route all together but I am looking forward the the price war 😜

Gatwick has always been a traditional route to Canada from the days of charter flights and having to be a member of a club.

Agree totally but last year I flew AirTransat from LGW-YYZ in May
There was at least 40 empty seats I just can't see how adding two 767's to the route can work but like I say I hope it does I'm not being anti Gatwick
Just a bit shocked they both chose LGW and didn't look at the bigger picture

"I flew Stansted- Toronto many many moons ago by Air Transat but they didn't hang around Stansted too long before retreating back to Gatwick"

No they didn't hang around too long, just the 10-15 years!!!

Thanks for the info. Wonder why they left then?

They cut regional flights and focused on LGW, MAN and GLA. At one time they went to EXT (this was shared with STN for a few years), LBA and others.

STN had good links with Canada until more recent times. Through the 70s and 80s Wardair had regular service with DC10s and 747s, Worldways and others I can't remember came in as well.

Transat came in the 80s initially with dedicated flights and then shared from the late 90s to early 2000s.

Royal had up to 10/11 weekly flights to various destinations around 97/98 after being kicked out of LGW for poor timekeeping. They got back into LGW the following year but maintained 2/3 weekly flights at STN for a couple of years. So for a while there were two operators from STN to Toronto. I think Royal then merged with either Transat or Canada 3000, or went bust.

Thomas Cook flew to Vancouver for a summer around 2005 due to lack of slots at LGW. I'm pretty sure this operated over the school summer holidays either the year before or after.

Finally, there was Globespan and their daily service to Hamilton. Of the more recent links, this was the only one admittedly that wasn't a LGW outcast.

I'm sure I've missed some others, but although it should be noted the market to Canada has changed over time, flights from STN have always been popular when they have operated. I agree LGW has the larger traditional connection, but STN's place in the history of links should not be discounted.