Thought London City has a higher percentage of passengers using public transport.

It does.

Stansted, however, claims on its website to be "the number one major airport in the UK for the highest proportion of passengers using public transport".

Sounds like some carefully worded statistics to me!

Maybe something to do with LHR/LGW being in more densely populated areas, more people arrive or are dropped off by car? Whereas STN being in a less dense area means that a higher majority of the pax are travelling to/from London, particularly Europeans looking for a cheap London gateway? I don't know the answer, but that's my guess.

Anyway, this morning I was on the Stansted Express at 07:37 from Tottenham Hale. Somewhere in the countryside near Harlow we had a complete power failure, where we sat for 90 minutes with no heat/no light/no working toilets, before finally arriving at the airport 2 hours 15 minutes late. I heard countless arguments between couples, or businessmen/women and their bosses, all cursing about how they'd never use Stansted again. The people I really feel sorry for are those on a tight budget, who are now going to have to spend a month's disposable income to book themselves on the next available Ryanair flight after they've missed it. I've said it before and I'll say it again (this happens approx every fortnight for me, although today was the worst this year), that poor excuse for a railway line is by far Stansted's biggest pit fall. Forget the bad management, forget the cr@ppy Ryanair experience....at least Ryanair tend to get you to your destination on time! That would of course count on you making it to the airport in the first place, and I seriously imagine that almost anyone on that train today would not choose STN for them or their families again.

From The Business Post:

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has said he would rather London Stansted airport, his company's biggest base, was sold to an investment fund than an industry player such as Manchester Airports Group.

"It would be better for Ryanair if it was owned by one of the big pension funds," O'Leary said. "I think ultimately they will be the ones we'll be most likely to work with."

Last month, Ryanair dropped an offer to buy 25 per cent of Stansted as part of a wider bid group, saying it had been barred from the process by Spanish builder Ferrovial, the biggest shareholder in BAA Ltd, which runs the airport.

Manchester Airports has said it is interested in buying Stansted. Other possible bidders include New Zealand pension fund Infratil, Australia's Macquarie Group and Texas-based private equity firm, TPG Capital.

"Manchester Airport would not be a good buyer because they're just another airport-monopoly mentality," O'Leary said. "I think one of the big pension funds - Infratil or Macquarie - would be better. They'd take a longer view."

Is this more a case of MOL thinking he can influence a pension fund owner more easily than MAG? In my experience pension funds don't take a longer view - quite the opposite in fact. They are usually only in it for 5 to 8 years then they'll look to sell up & move on. Not necessarily a bad thing as they may well look to build the business faster however that may not necessarily be sustainable in the longer term.

It is in Ryanair's interest to drive down the price Stansted sells for.

There is history between Ryanair and Manchester Airportsgroup and as a rule Ryanair have lost.

Way back when (about 20 years ago I think) ... Ryanair werearguing with Manchester Airport about the fees they had to pay and unilaterallydecided to refuse to pay some of them. The result was MAG went to court and gotpermission to impound a Ryanair aircraft which they did. Ryanair paid up andthe aircraft was released after one Dublin rotation was cancelled.... How weall laughed.

A little more recently Manchester Airport Group refused to givein to Ryanairs demands for lower fees I seem to recall the phrase “we were madean offer that it was easy to refuse”. As a result Ryanair withdrew from Manchesterwith the exception of the Dublin service. About a tear later they came backpresumably after paying the higher fees.

Somebody seems not to have noticed that the Chairman and biggest private shareholder of TPG Capital, David Bonderman, is also the Chairman of Ryanair, and TPG group is Ryanair's biggest investor.

[YOUTUBE]
What a great video seen on Youtube! during Olympic time! Stansted does see some great aircraft.

Delta 767
 

I'm sure I seen A Delta 767 over the business side of Stansted this morning anyone know why it was there ?

Here you go Daz:

US Pop Artist Rihanna on Tuesday 14NOV12 embarked her 7-day marathon promotional tour, dubbed The “777″ Tour, which the record label charted DELTA Boeing 777-200ER aircraft to support her forthcoming album “Unapologetic”, which features current global hit “Diamonds”, due 19NOV12 in most countries worldwide.

The “777″ tour, which sees the artist performing 7 shows in 7 days in 7 cities, coinciding withthe forthcoming release of her 7th album in 7 years. The flight will be operating Mexico City – Toronto – Stockholm – Paris (CDG Airport) – Berlin (Schoenefeld Airport) – London (Stansted Airport) – New York (Newark).
DL8857 LAX1100 – 1615MEX 777 14NOV12
DL8857 MEX0125 – 0640YYZ 777 15NOV12
DL8857 YYZ2355 – 1355+1ARN 777 15NOV12
DL8857 ARN1100 – 1340CDG 777 17NOV12
DL8857 CDG1100 – 1240SXF 777 18NOV12
DL8857 SXF2355 – 0050+1STN 777 18NOV12
DL8857 STN0300 – 0555EWR 777 20NOV12
DL8857 EWR0800 – 1015ATL 20NOV12
DL8857 on 20NOV12, is a ferry flight. Flight information is appearing on DELTA’s flight status section on its website, as well as most GDS. However, flight schedule listed in most systems are estimated departure/arrival time. Registration of the aircraft is N862DA.
In the press release issued by the artist’s official website, the 777 tour is “sponsored by HTC Corporation and co-sponsored in the UK by River Island and in Paris by Microsoft, the “777″ tour will take a group of die-hard fans and a traveling international press corps of over 150 journalists representing 82 countries, aboard a chartered Boeing 777 twinjet to 7 concerts in 7 days in 7 countries. The “777″ tour will host an intimate gig in each of 7 cities in 7 different countries.”
The last highly-publicized tour on an commercial aircraft chartered by a US mainstream pop group was The Backstreet Boys in 2000, for their promotion of “Black & Blue” album.

Ahh, that tour which sees no bounds to its endless success... slightly off-topic I know but FYI

Rihanna's 777 tour descends into 'anarchy' and 'chaos' as naked journalist streaks on plane - News - Music - The Independent

LGWAlan ... Thanks for the info

So according to LGWalan its rolling out at 0300!:sad::eek:

Serving drinks at the Stockholm after-party - Rihanna 777 tour descends into chaos - Features | MSN Music UK

I mistakenly forgot to add the source of my post - Airline Route - apologies all

Went through STN late last evening. Needed to get to the mid stay car park. No useful signs around. Absolute shambles in the pouring rain. Was eventually directed to a blank notice board. And told to wait there in the pouring rain. the bus eventually arrived and the driver said that the problem of a complete lack of signage had upset hundreds of pasengers thatr evening alone. The problem had been reported to BAA but did they care that we were all soaking in the rain while they failed to provide ANY information to anyone. Of course not. It seems to be the norn at STN now.

Have you taken the time to email/write into BAA and STN? When I use STN I use the valet parking, great service.

Fr-

Another call for rail improvements at Stansted

Stansted: Stansted launches manifesto calling for better and faster rail links

there was a CCTV car driving about at 0500 this morning, I assume it was looking for people stopping outside the car parks to drop off

So has the £2 drop off charge come in to force yet?

From article in #1907

It certainly will. Very crowded commuter line.