Without wishing to deviate from the aviation theme of PPrune......

The railway line between London and Cambridge is at maximum capacity south of Broxbourne. It has to accommodate

1. Stansted Express trains.
2. Fast service to Cambridge
3. Slow service to Cambridge
4. Services to Hertford East
5. Slow services to Broxbourne.

The only way that this will be resolved is to “four track” the line from Broxbourne to Liverpool Street. I am sure that if this was seriously considered the people who’s houses would have to be demolished to accommodate the additional tracks would be setting up a campaign all of their own. Nice try but there is more chance of linking Stansted airport to Braintree by rail than four tracking this section.

EZY is to cease yet another route from Stansted : Tallinn will disappear by the end of the summer schedule and moved to Gatwick.

Look, I've never worked for BAA or GIP and am merely an observer of British aviation. However, I do feel that if the former company wants Stansted to be a successful airport and not to lag behind its southerly counterparts in terms of growth then it really needs to get off its backside and stop working off the rash assumption that it still has the monopoly over London's airports as it did a few years ago. The fact is that Gatwick under previous ownership was blighted with similar problems and is now flourishing under the investment programme of GIP. If BAA at Stansted was more prepared to invest in both the airport's infrastructure and its image then they would probably see the kind of growth which LGW is currently experiencing.

Obviously location is an issue but really, if they made the 'airport experience' (trendy term but certainly justifiable in this case) more pleasant as well as not allowing quite so much Ryanisation then they might do rather well. To hemorrhage routes and frequency to Gatwick and Southend (and I'm talking about more than just U2 here) is not at all good for Stansted and apparently eternal stagnation at that airport has got to stop if BAA wants growth.

Will EZY withdraw from STN?

• Routes transferred to Gatwick
• Three units moved to SEN
• New N London routes from Luton, not STN

....and BAA not interested in STN at present.

Not long term but short term why bother? Once a new owner comes along then it might be a new ball game.

Why would BAA be interested in Stansted ? They have a legal requirement to sell STN, which is being held off only by virtue of judicial review applications that rely on BAA's claim that STN is a purely low cost airport (read Ryanair) while Heathrow aims at the higher end of the market and thus the 2 airports would never be in competition with each other. The last thing BAA would want is for Lufthansa or Air France to open a feeder route from STN to either Frankfurt or Paris, or heaven forbid, Delta opening a long haul route to somewhere like NY

Until the legal appeals process is exhausted and there is clarity over who will own STN long term, short term legal tactics will win out over any strategic growth and marketing.

Agree with what davidjohnson has said above - it is currently in BAA's interest not to attract new airlines because it will then make their appeals look unfounded.

However, it is a very sad state of affairs to watch the place diminish the way it has. I flew from Stansted a couple of weekends ago, approx 9am on a Sunday which is traditionally a very quiet time of day at the airport, even more so now with all of the cutbacks. I turned up with 90 minutes to spare knowing that it should be pretty quiet. Well, the terminal was very quiet overall, however they only had a handful of x-rays open and so we still queued for 25 minutes in the end and I then waited another 10 minutes for my bag to be hand searched by a miserable member of staff as there were 4 or 5 people in front of me waiting for the same! For an airport that can supposedly cater for double the amount of passengers that it is currently handling, it really isn't good enough for it to be such a mind numbing and slow experience.

I also witnessed a staff member threatening to 'phone the police' if one gentleman did not listen to the advice that his bag was over Ryanair's limit and that he'd have to go back to the check-in desk and pay for it to go as hold luggage. Basically he was just pleading that he was given the chance to 'give it a go' and that it was Ryanair's problem at the gate if it didn't meet the limits. Maybe someone in the know can tell me whether it is a security staff responsibility to enforce such rules, as I really don't know the answer to that one? Either way I think that the situation could have been much better handled than threatening to phone the police.

This year I've only braved Stansted once, despite only living a few miles away. It's a 50 mile journey to Gatwick for me, yet time and time again this year (5 or 6 trips so far) it throws up better choices, more airlines/destinations, and a nicer experience. It would appear that for the time being this will only get worse as Easyjet move aircraft to Southend and gradually move other routes to Gatwick.

SEN would be more than happy to take more flights from stansted/luton,alltogether a much nicer experience for the passenger

Yeah they can sit in Southend's new terminal twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do as the new airport lacks retail outlets. Some might argue that this is not a problem but the shops and food outlets attract many passengers who are looking to pass some time.

Ahhh another SEN bash Mr Luton! What fun!

Now let me see... two Arnold and Forbes cafes (one landside and one airside), a WHSmith and another shop which sells a large range of the usual duty free suspects. And if you have a concentration span too short to withstand that, then there's even a viewing area to watch the aeroplanes from.

Not enough for you? Just because SEN is growing rather faster than LTN, you don't need to vent your frustrations on here - yet time and again you do. It is so resentful, so crass that frankly I'm not sure if anyone even listens anymore. You've probably never even visited SEN - if you had then you'd know that 'the shops and food outlets attract many passengers who are looking to pass some time'.

I would be interested to know what importance passengers really put on there being a good "shopping experience" when choosing a departure airport.

Personally I would rather choose somewhere which offers a speedy transit through the terminal so that I don't feel I need to arrive 90 minutes before departure just in case there are delays at security, or I have to wait 20 minutes for the car park bus. At SEN that speed of transit is available but when I use LTN or STN even I (and ask my wife how much I like shopping!) do find it relieves the boredom to browse in the numerous shops. But whether most other people appreciate the shops simply for that reason or see them as an essential part of the travel experience I really have no idea. I suspect research must have been carried out into that subject in the past.

SEN certainly offers sufficient retail to meet the basic needs of the traveller as Aero Mad says, but what I really appreciate there as opposed to LTN is that you can actually sit comfortably adjacent to the gates until your flight is called. Standing around for ages at the gate, or even worse on the stairs at LTN, is no fun in my book.

LTN - building site with a runway. Always has been, always will be.

I'll get my coat...:rolleyes:

how sad that a topic on Stansted AIRPORT has degenerated into the shopping channel. I know things are bad at Stansted but there must be something positive to talk about.

as if by magic

http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co....t-23042012.htm

Well there you have it. What's all the complaining about. Well done Stansted.

Well I have and I liked it.

Nothing wrong with Southend and nothing wrong with Stansted. All I said was that many passengers like to look around the shops before departure which Stansted has many. Touchy lot those Southend folk. Sorry if I offended:confused:

LGS6753Don't think the EasyJet CEO sees it that way Link , no mention of LTN though;)

Another scheduled airline leaves Stansted! Anadolujet seems to have suspended all flights to Ankara, by the end of April...

More discounts to Iceland
 

Iceland Express are now discounting their flights - all season - by 50%. Bookings must be struggling against EZY from Luton, who are increasing flights, and not discounting.

Anadolujet disappearing is a bit odd and a shame but it doesn't seem to have gone anywhere else so at least on this occasion it appears to be the route not the airport.

But regardless, change of ownership can't come soon enough. I saw a report a couple of days ago that MAG are selling a major stake to Abu Dhabi to find a bid for STN. Sounds hopeful.