LUTON - 5
 

Continuation of: http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...59#post3007259

I have heard that the Luton Flying Club building is going to be knocked down:{

Does that include the Bar as well, quite a bit a space there with the Hanger? Oh the lost youth walking about the Piper's & Cessna's and the later year's catching a late night drink with the hossie girls:)

Aer Arann : LTN Base
 

The RE base at LTN is to close early january.

LTN - IOM will finish.

All other routes will remain.

They have had to purchase portable lighting that have to be put out on a daily basis by the crew.They are cleared for landings at night into unlit locations but for safety reasons they have gone for the portable lighting option. Apparently RAF Henlow have been brilliant in helping keep the Police flying by bending over backwards to find a temporary accommodation till their permanent base is completed. This is of course because of the short notice they were given to vacate the airport.:=

I think this is Luton’s oldest or second oldest continuously operated route. With IOM – Heathrow services being ended sometime ago and IOM – Stansted being cut back to around 2 flights a week I would have thought this route would have been a money spinner.

Maybe Flybe can resurrect the ex BACON route?

Easy starting new route to Ibiza this summer, any news bout the newquay and lorient routes with arann?

Newquay could possibly be operated by a Cork based aircraft on a W pattern. However Lorient is unlikely since Aer Arann announced the timetables for the French routes last week and Luton wasn't mentioned

Had an email from Aer Arran on 1st December, saying that the Luton - Lorient route would be released at the end of December, so hopefully that has not changed.

The Luton Flying Club are advertising 'closing down parties' for the years end, so maybe it is going to be demolished?

Had my first date there 23 years ago with a girl that is now my wife :eek:

I hear that Monarch will be introducing a Luton Larnaca service from next May.

Buster. Just why do you think BACon and now Arran have dumped the route:hmm:

My guess on the closing of the IOM route is that, since it started, both STN and LCY have had routes opened. Also, many routes from IOM to places like MAN and LPL have started that allow pax to link to European and other tourist routes.

There is an absolute finite capacity of traffic to/fro IOM and all starters have found that you cannot expand the traffic. When it was Manx that was running almost all the routes, then they could gain economies of scale. Unfortunately, BA wanted another four pairs of EGLL slots and bought the company. Then it was only a matter of time before they shucked off the rest. (and that's the polite way of spelling it. :oh: )

Aer Arran made a good start at picking up the LTN traffic but I think that the traffic had already been dispersed to the new routes. Looking at IOM web site destinations (ignoring Ireland North and South) there are 12 other destinations in England and Scotland, as well as LTN. When the LTN~IOM route opened I doubt that there were half that. (I sit to be corrected)

Incidentally, this is all my own view from using the route since it opened and observing the IOM as a regular visitor. I have no stats to back up my hunches, so criticise and put up facts as ye may! For myself, I am very cross that the route is closing as I have used it up to four times a year since it started.

PAXBoy: All I can say is I'm livid. :{ Still waiting and answer from RE. I had been checking prices well into Summer 2007 for my business commute and they suggest bookings were Ok. Oh well last time with them this week. Euromanx must be happy.

Back in the days when the 146 operated 3 return flights from the Isle of Man into Heathrow (then this operation moved to Gatwick) and the single daily return flight into Luton, the loads and one must assume the yields, were very strong considering that the Luton-Isle of Man service was at once stage the only BA route operating from this Bedfordshire airport (Cityflyer came and went during this period so did the Kerry/Belfast service). Perhaps one can look at BA taking over Manx to the gradual decline in volume and yield over a period of time? Whatever the reason, now there is now no North London daily connection to the Isle of Man which surely cannot be good news for the Island? Travellers must get to Gatwick or London City, or even drive up to Birmingham.

Monarch to Larnaca, good news if true?

Agreed. Hope this would be more than a one or two flights a week, bearing in mind that Helios/Ajet was operating a daily service(twice daily some fridays) before their demise.

Monarch's four aircraft, when it arrives in May, is fully utilised, so where a Cyprus flight would come from, i'm not sure. The only spare capacity would be for an overnight op, which would be the least favourable option from a pax point of view. A 'W' from somewhere else maybe.

HM Government give the 'Thumbs Up' to Luton Borough Council and the local economy.

http://www.sopo.org/cgi-bin/news.cgi...l=&websiteId=2

No mention of course, about the economic benefits of having a major international airport on your doorstep (which costs you nothing to run). Still, the way that the Council is behaving, in 10 or-so years time it'll probably no longer have a local airport that can be described as "major" and "international". Still, Eagle Flight Training and the Luton Flying Club will be able to re-establish themselves and spend all day circuit bashing to their heart's content on an empty runway :hmm: :rolleyes:

There will allegedly be three flights a week to Lanaca but to operate those three flights two other existing services will be dropped with a W pattern aircraft introduced, meaning that 5 Monarch aircraft will fly into Luton on one day of the week.

I understand that Ryanair achieved a 73% load factor for their route to Malta in November. Was this their first full month of operation? If it was, considering November is hardly a prime time for tourists to visit the island, not a bad start eh?

Kind of proves that folk want to fly from Luton if the price is right and flights are available.

So what is the real reason for Arann closing the Luton base? Which alternative airport gave them a better deal, or which region gave them a greater subsidy? There are so many destinations a Flybe/Arann type operation could fill with a sub 100 seater, a number of regional French destinations for instance. Arann crews based recently at Luton must be rather hacked off at their managements indecision.

TUI seem to be suggesting a more 'basket' type of approach to the traditional package tour, where you now select flights, accommodation etc separately allowing you to pick and choose. Therefore potentially more growth from Luton as their operation has gradually been increasing of late?