Personally great that J2 are operating to Reus. I was hoping for another Bcn route too but maybe in year 2

The addition of Kos by Jet2 is also a bit of a two fingers up to FR, given they just announced they're abandoning the island as part of a spat with Greece.

FR's response to all this will be very interesting given their "no growth" position.

Alternatively : Jet2 have massive confidence in their own product and their ability to sell it that they even think they can make a STN operation of this size work after failing to get capacity at a more prefferable London airport

Firstly...

Why/how have some of you come up with the conclusion that STN is/was not Jet2's preferable London departure point?

They actually have a good history with STN from their days as Channel Express as well as the mail/cargo operation.

Secondly...

Folk in the London region will fly on their jollies from any of the London airports if it saves them a couple of hundred quid. Just look at Ryanair and how they manage to drum up demand on routes that no one else would ever imagine. If the price is right people will use it. We're not talking business/city routes here. It's bucket and spade.

Itchen McCrevis

'After failing to get capacity at a more preferable London airport'

And which airport would that be?

I think STN was always going to be there preferred airport unless you know otherwise!

I don't think for one minute they even considered LTN and LGW was a definite no considering the 83 weekly flights they have announced at STN.

Why would you want to go up against, for instance, Alicante:

At LGW with EZY, DY, ZB, BA, TOM and even FR are back from Oct '16

or LTN with EZY & ZB

When at STN there is very little competition on these 'leisure' routes with just Ryanair in this instance. Yes Ryanair are dominant at STN and have been very clever in seeing off any competition on what they view as their territory, but Jet2 especially with their holiday product, has a completely different offering to Ryanair.

We're not just talking Jet2 Holidays poaching customers from other Stansted based operators, some of these customers will be poached from the other London airports and tour operators. People will pick STN over say, LGW if the price is right. Thomas Cook, Thomson and Cosmos (do they even still exist?) are the ones that should be most concerned. Jet2 look to make a massive impact on the SE package holiday market. Their success up north speaks volumes for what they can do.

Jet2
 

Not wanting to take sides but LGW would not have had preferred slots and LTN would not have a overnight stands next spring. An operation this size could only go one place. The Jet2 brand is still unknown in the south so it is going to need a massive marketing budget.
I'm surprised no-one has said anything about BA, must be worrying for some of their routes from STN?
I wish them luck.
LTMA is going to be much busier next year and we could once again see departure delays in being released into airspace or conflicts due to LCY and NHT movements....

For Jet2 to launch an operation of this size they had only one choice and that was always going to be Stansted so I wonder if they got a great deal? No doubt if Luton had started its redevelopment a year earlier then Jet2 would have at least had a choice and maybe the chance to squeeze a better discount out of Stansted.

With Luton beings as popular as a turd in a Mediterranean swimming pool and Stansted being further away from Birmingham than the easy drive to and from Luton, Jet2 will have a completely separate catchment area, which might be another reason why Stansted could serve them well.

I doubt if anything has changed since I last flicked through holiday brochures a few years ago but while Gatwick always seemed to have several pages of departures Luton and Stansted was lucky to muster up half a page between them. There has always been a historic bias for IT companies to concentrate their London programme on Gatwick but at least now the balance is starting to be re-addressed with a North London airport now gaining some ground.

Regarding the catchment areas for the new Jet2 flights out of Stansted. Having recently moved my UK base from Bedfordshire to East Sussex I would personally not even contemplate flying from Stansted (nothing against the airport by the way) just the logistics (road/rail) and cost (still cannot understand the cost of petrol/diesel in the UK compared to Continental Europe). It would have to be Gatwick and possibly Southampton for me. The airport's which should be worried in my opinion would be Luton of course followed by Birmingham, Southend and East Midlands. Far easier for people north of Stansted to drive there. I was told some years ago that a considerable amount of Luton's traffic lived north of Nottingham, whether this is relative today is open to question. Do not forget Thomas Cook will commence flights from Luton next spring so even more competition.

Stansted departures are not affected by either of these airfields at all.

LAMP does mean that the STN CLN sid often has short notice restrictions placed on it due to inbound LC traffic

C'mon guys, putting aside the fact that I do know for sure that they considered other London airports, how can you possibly believe that a canny and sucessful company as Jet2 would make an investment of this scale without first thoroughly evaluating ALL the possible options, no self respecting Board would accept such a proposition.

I will confess to having no knowledge if STN was their preffered or just their only option in the end, that was just a poke at the local fanboi's for lulz :E

Itchin McCrevis
 

You should have just finished your sentence with the word 'knowledge' instead of feeling the need to elaborate. :ok:

LOL great riposte, worthy of anyone in my family (are you sure we're not related?), made me chuckle all morning :ok:

Any news about the increased number of security personnel and Border Control staff that will be needed to cope with the increased number of passengers?

Ha ha! You know how to pull a leg...

Doubt it will even be much different anyway. LS will mainly fly in during the off-peak periods when you'd normally get straight through passport control. It can't really get much busier during peak times than it already is.

Can't help but notice that easyJet are recruiting for S17 cabin crew and pilots across all their UK bases, apart from STN. Maybe it really is the end...

-aax1
Or maybe they are fully staffed at Stansted for S17 and do not need to take on anyone else.
Why is everyone so negative when it comes to Stansted


G-ANPK (Stansted Air-Britain)

easyJet aren't recruiting at Belfast, Newcastle or Glasgow either. These four bases are generally regarded as some of the happiest in the network so crew retention is generally higher, hence there is no need to recruit. More worrying is the amount of crew they need at the other bases where people are trying to find any way out!

Although the crappy stretch of A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge is still enough to put people in the East Midlands off Stansted, unless the departure times are very favourable of course. Maybe one day they'll finally widen this stretch, at which point STN will become immediately more accessible at least psychologically.

As someone who lives in Notts and regularly uses Jet2 wherever possible for leisure trips, I wouldn't fly Ryanair from EMA even if they were slightly more expensive. They are really very well thought of here. I'd like to think their EMA base will survive BHX and STN opening without any shrinkage.

I see Jet2 doing very well out of STN. Wealthy middle England counties such as Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire will prefer the product to FR I am sure. Norwich and Southend have the most to lose.

A bit of trouble last night according to the Daily Mail with a lot of flights arriving together surprise surprise. Mega queues at passport control, children crying, missing last trains etc. It must be true of course because it is in the Daily Mail!

What was it? Slow news day? One of their journalists flying in and upset they weren't given special treatment?

There is nothing unusual about the number of flights. Doesn't excuse the queues though.

A14 upgrade starts in Nov. But that means that in the meantime it'll be even harder for people from those parts to get to Stansted.

jet2
 

hearing rumours that a 3rd handling agent will be used for the jet2 contract.

EasyJet Spring/Early Summer 2017
 

STN seems to have held onto their 7 based EZY aircraft and all of its routes, despite some people's concerns.

Flight timings look to have changed a bit but generally pretty similar to Spring/Summer 16.

24,009,348 passengers used London Stansted in last 12 months, up 8.4% on previous year. Just 6,000 short of record high set in Oct 2007.

Interesting article and analysis by anna.aero regarding Jet2 entering Stansted next summer.

Jet2.com to take on Ryanair at London Stansted in S17

What I find interesting/disappointing is that in the years in which MAG have owned Stansted, Ryanair's market share has increased significantly while easyJet's and other airlines have decreased.

MAG always go on about how they've transformed Stansted, returned it to growth and have got a greater mix of airlines when the truth is all STN's growth is Ryanair and they spent £80m on World Duty Free.

STN is lucky Ryanair has been so loyal but they need to get more airlines desperately and spend money on the facilities asap.

I wonder if a Middle Eastern and an American ariline will come in any time soon? There was a lot of rumors last year regarding Qatar and AA coming in but all dried up.

aax

Although Ryanair are by far the largest airline at STN the airport does have a total of 16 scheduled airlines and a large portfolio of freight carriers so it's not all bout Ryanair although obviously they are the predominant airline.

Rumours of Qatar and American at STN where did you hear those!

Qatar Cargo do operate from STN though.

I can't see American Airlines making a return to STN if so it would be their third attempt and any flights involving the ME3 in my opinion would more than likely come from Emirates.

The recent £80 million invest wasn't just the World Duty Free it was about maximising the space within the constraints of the terminal as a totally new security area was built along with an enlarged and modernised shopping area and new restaurants and the redesign of Satellite 1.

If your a frequent user of STN you would have noticed the transformation from it previously looked like.

With all the new flights announced by jet2 25 million passengers won't be a big deal anytime soon and if there will be a reaction from FR and EZY 28 million passengers are not unrealistic by 2018.

MAG ready to launch legal challenge if LHR and LGW are both given the green light for new runways next week.

I'll have great grandchildren by the time the runway opens.

The AA rumours started from MAG frequently visiting Dallas to have talks with them about re-commencing STN flights. The Qatar rumours came from the Hotel being built opposite Sat 1.

I also doubt either of those airlines will start but I think 2017 will see a launch of a scheduled long-haul airline.

And with regards with the £80m, I think it has been been woefully spent. WDF and shopping/restaurants look nice but the design is awful, the choke points that exist in the terminal cause overcrowding and the shopping centre experience is not enjoyable for passengers. When they want to compete with LGW and LHR they need to seriously look at the terminal design again. Sat 1 already needs a refurb updating the refurb, it's falling apart if you look close enough. I do agree security is however much improved.

aax1

MAG Probably have many discussions with many airlines and airports worldwide regarding business opportunities as do others but it doesn't mean an airline has any intentions of doing so it's all about your business as in MAG promoting itself so because of that rumours always appear but there just that.

'The Qatar rumours came from the hotel being built opposite Sat 1'.

What does Hampton by HILTON have to do with Qatar operating out of STN?

I don't really think that STN is out to compete with either LGW or LGW rather them gaining more of a share of the market which obviously means attracting new airlines and in particular a scheduled long haul airline to the airport (other than Thomas Cook and Thomson).

If and when a new runway and terminal is built at STN it will never really be able to compete with LGW or LHR, its main competitor is LTN to be honest.

Of course STN are out to compete with LGW especially and to a lesser extent LHR. As they frequently quote "We want to be the best airport serving London". When the likes of Air Asia X return to London in 2018, STN are going to compete with LGW to get the service back, especially when Air Asia have said they either want Ryanair from STN or easyJet from LGW to feed their service. Also, STN dream of full service airlines, not low-cost that already overly serve the airport and Luton.

The rumours were that the hotel was being built to encourage Qatar to come to the airport by offering Business facilities. With a connection directly to Sat 1 to offer hotel check-in. That is what was said last year and it was going round in circles. Likely not to be true as most rumours are, but that was what the rumour was.

As much as I love STN and I've been visiting the airport and have enjoyed seeng first hand its massive growth since I first went there in 1979 but seriously,

'We want to to be the best airport serving London'

'WE WANT TO' stands out here!

It's like Gatwicks slogan 'Your London Airport',

Every airport can make statements like that but it doesn't much except for promoting the airport.

The only real immediate chance for STN to obtain a full service long haul airline is EK but with them cancelling the planned forth daily flight into LGW due to a fall in demand doesn't look as if they intend on expanding their London airport portfolio anytime soon.

As to a connection from the Hampton by Hilton check in direct to SAT 1 how will that work precisely as a security area and checkpoint would have to be added and I can't see that happening, the plans for the hotel are online and show no such connection.

You do realise that there is a Raddison Blu adjacent to the north of the terminal with business facilities if airlines such as Qatar needed them but regardless of location of both hotels there would never be a direct access from either directly to any of the Satellites be it 1,2 or even 3.

When I was a young spotter it was ridiculous how many rumours existed regarding airlines, airports, routes, etc but even then as now I never take any notice of rumours as I prefer facts and I'm afraid what you stated are just that pure rumours.

Maybe I've missed previous commentary, but wasn't it September 1991 when the 'New Stansted' opened? A £400M investment in space as it was advertised at that time. I remember being on one of the earliest flights from the terminal and it was so very quiet indeed. Exel Airways were flying to Eindhoven from memory etc. and Ryanair BAC 1-11's and Air UK 146s a plenty, not to mention a daily American Airlines to boot.

This 25 year milestone must be worthy of some mention or celebration....?


EI-BUD

It was March 1991 so they've already carried out the 25 year celebrations. There was a big gathering amongst colleagues in the Terminal, speeches from the MD etc. There was some local media attention about it and a half-hour special from ITV Anglia news broadcast from the new Satellite 1 area.

EDIT... Here's the link to ITV Anglia news' broadcast...
http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2016-...h-anniversary/

Thanks FRSTN... completely missed that!

Merger of Cityjet and Stobart Air likely to be completed shortly

From an article in the Irish Times this morning regarding Stobart Air / Cityjet merger...

Stobart Air operates regional air services between a variety of centres in Europe and the UK, with Southend Airport being a key base. It is the operator of the Aer Lingus Regional network. The announcement said that the transactions “ will enhance Stobart’s flexibility in building new passengers routes at Stansted airport”, indicating that it will retain some stake in the merged airline.

Am I missing something here, or perhaps more likely is this just a misprint?