Yes but why? Luton has been handling widebodies for around 35 year with no problems.

I am led to believe that all these operational changes are to reduce LLAO's insurance premium.:confused:

Heard it had something to do with CAA dispensation, which the airport forgot to renew. Now it has lapsed it has gone for good. The insurance premiums has more to do with the handling agents who are going to take over responsibility for marshalling

Doesn't work like that. Not true.

Why is that then? Why is the issue with only the main apron? They used to park Tristar’s on stand 5ish and the terminal stands would park Monarch 757’s, now all the terminal stands seem to be limited to 737 size of aircraft as they can squeeze more aircraft in so it can’t have anything to do with wingtip clearance as a wide body taxis surely?

Also responsible for implementing a ban on all overnight high-power engine running unless the aircraft is due our carrying pax on the first rotation (didn't seem to consider aircraft that might be AOG but needed for the first pax rotation out of say, Stansted, Birmingham or Gatwick!)
Bug**r all to do with CAA dispensations or anything else vaguely connected with practicalities. It's all down to the new LLAO man not liking the available wingtip clearance for wide-body (not B757s which aren't wide body) aircraft types taxiing via Alpha to/from the Main Apron stands. Apparently he doesn't think there's enough even though the taxiway strip complies and alway has complied with the necessary CAA criteria. A well-placed 'mole' tells me that it took over a quarter of an hour to get a ThomsonFly B767 out from stand 15 just before Christmas, during which time the taxiway was completely blocked. Might be an OK way to run a small regional airport in West Yorkshire - but it's hardly an efficient way to run London's fourth...

:hmm: :rolleyes: :=

FlyBE has disappeared off the booking engine for JER next summer - too much competition from TOMfly? Would have liked to have seen them expand at LTN to NCL/MAN/BHD/JER/GCI/IOM etc

Flybe Jersey-Luton-Jersey
 

Attn toledoashley.

The Jersey-Luton-Jersey summer service is still showing on Flybe timetable for 2007.

The service is Saturdays only from the 5th May 2007 to the 29th Sept 2007does this help or do you know a bit more and that they will not operate this service all be it one day a week against the Tommy flights of every day next year??

This is essentially correct (it also took 25 minutes to tow a Kuwaiti A310 inbound to Stand 16 earlier this month) but the reasons for the length of time this took should be understood (the delay with the inbound A310 was allegedly, because the tow-bar or shear pin broke). As for the Boeing 767, firstly, because it was positioning to BHX and so empty and thus light, the flight crew were not willing to complete engine start until the tug had disengaged. Secondly, neither the ground crew nor the flight crew appeared to know precisely where the taxiing restriction applies and in consequence, the tug disengaged too soon and had to be re-connected so that it could tow the aircraft beyond i.e. south of, Alpha 8.

Whilst this may or may not be the way to run a major London airport (it's up to others to judge, but certainly, AENA's management is not exactly an amateur or inexperienced in this regard) the fact is that if flight crew and based ground crew don't know precisely what they're supposed to do (inadequate or poor briefing or documentation?), then it's inevitable that the procedure is going to take longer than expected. Similarly, if tow bars or shear pins break, this again is going to delay things and cause 'traffic jams'.

What's painfully clear is that any regular number of wide-body movements to/from the Main Apron at LTN (say, one or more movements per hour) in either direction is going to severly affect the airport's handling capacity especially at peak times, and this will inevitably have a significant impact on runway utilisation simply because aircraft that are 'boxed in' won't be able to get out there quickly enough.
:8

No mention of it on the notams

All of the Luton NOTAMS seem to have gone from the NATS Pre-Briefing Website!!!

No NOTAMs current then.

Ryanair also cancelled the first departures of the day on all four of their aircraft on Boxing Day from Luton.

The route is definately pulled. My mother-in-law, who had a JER-LTN booked for May, has been advised by Flybe that she will be receiving a full refund within the next few days. Booked instead with Thomson at about half the price. Hope the daily flight works out for them.

The plot thickens!
 

Could this "mystery" have anything to do with the new requirement under EU:yuk: law to pay compensation?

Just a thought...

Same on New Years Day.

Ryanair operate limited schedules every year from all bases on December 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st and January 1st.

It's not correct to say that Ryanair "cancelled" flights on these days, but it's true that Tuesday December 26th for example was not a typical Tuesday regarding Ryanair operations.

So Malta airport arrival and departure screens were showing their "Tuesday screens". It was incorrect to show "Cancelled" next to the Ryanair flights but I suppose their software or screen space did not allow the comment "Exceptionally not scheduled to operate this Tuesday".

The Malta Star article seems to be based on the screens at the airport. I'd like them to actually find a passenger who booked a flight from Luton to Malta or vice versa for December 26th.