It's a done deal. The start date might get put back a little but I have no doubt it will happen.

Falcon
 

Dare I say.. the times of Loyalty in business are very much gone now. With airlines pockets tightening, this will be which airport will offer the best value for money for the airlines. We all criticise MOL (me included) but he says in public what most board members from other airlines say in the background.
I wish LTN Luck in securing expansion though.

In the current market which is flat, keeping your market share is the priority, growing it is an added bonus.

Captainbirdseye,
Loyalty among business may have diminished but the fact Luton has proved there is a demand from the public who I am sure predominantly use the airport due to locality and choice of destination, will no doubt also have a bearing on airlines who might want to re-locate. A few years ago I remember MAG stating in public they will not (excuse the language) 'prostitute' themselves to the likes of Ryanair. I am sure they stand by that statement today unless they have lost their 'values', however I think MAG will be looking to secure and focus on long haul routes that currently are operating to both Heathrow and Gatwick?

Why would a long haul airline want to use Stansted?

-There isn't huge business potential unlike the other London airports, especially Heathrow.
-There isn't any feed from partner airlines. Short haul traffic from Ryanair won't transfer.
-People already use Heathrow! Why would they use an airport that is further away with less choice?

Ryanair "own" 70% of the passengers that currently use Stansted. MOL effectively "owns" the airport - not MAG. He can do what he likes. This is what happens when you're over-reliant on one airline. A situation I'd hope Luton would be hell bent to avoid.

That post on the Manchester thread is an excellent read.

Quote: "Captainbirdseye,
Loyalty among business may have diminished but the fact Luton has proved there is a demand from the public who I am sure predominantly use the airport due to locality and choice of destination, will no doubt also have a bearing on airlines who might want to re-locate. A few years ago I remember MAG stating in public they will not (excuse the language) 'prostitute' themselves to the likes of Ryanair. I am sure they stand by that statement today unless they have lost their 'values', however I think MAG will be looking to secure and focus on long haul routes that currently are operating to both Heathrow and Gatwick?"

Not Heathrow, any long haul carrier that's there already isn't leaving! As for Gatwick, would say that's doubtful too, as they're either in the "waiting room" for Heathrow slots, or happy staying put for now (e.g. BA and VS West Indies services).

Why? Simple, Heathrow has the required connectivity and the premium business which provide the bulk of most airlines' profits.

The "no-frills" buisness model (and all-cargo operations) do not require these, that's why Stansted is an ideal base for them.

http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...eply_small.gif

Wizzair
 

Wizzair, currently operating 144 rotations per week, will have increased this to 178 by the beginning of June. No additional destinations in that period.

Wizz: a LTN base soon, perhaps?

MAG is not an independant, thinking, conscious "being" - it is a company and so what it does and how it acts will reflect the values and attitudes of the people running the organisation. A number of senior people have changed at MAG since the fall out with Ryanair, not least the arrival onto the MAG board of Ken O'Toole who of course, was number 3 to O'Leary at Ryanair.

Guess what his attitude is towards dealing with Ryanair.....

Quite true, and the solution was to offer Ryanair off-peak slots at an acceptable rate.

According to sources in Eastern Europe, a certain airline operating will be carrying close to half Luton's current annual pax throughput soon!

Well you can see why it is so had to get a job

Nearly half of Luton's daily passengers before 8:30 in the morning then!

If it is pink and purple, then I think a LTN base is coming soon.

But, who knows?

Wizzair
 

178 flights per week (peak) x 180 pax capacity x 2 (in/out) = 3,332,160 nominal capacity.
Assuming a load factor of 85%, annual throughput no more than 2.8m

Impressive, but only just over 25% of total passenger numbers at LTN in 2013.

Going to happen, just look at an attraction.

Four Night Bear Tracking Adventure in Romania from Buyagift

Key facts

London Luton Airport is the UK's 5th largest passenger airport 9.5 million passengers used the airport in 2011.
96% of passengers fly on scheduled services, 4% on charter services.
89% of passengers were on international flights and 11% of passengers were on domestic flights


Top 10 Destinations 2011
Position Destination (2012 in brackets)
1 Budapest (7)
2 Warsaw (3)
3 Dublin (1)
4 Geneva (8)
5 Glasgow (2)
6 Malaga (5)
7 Edinburgh (4)
8 Amsterdam (>10)
9 Paris (6)
10 Bucharest (>10)


The scheduled carriers that operate at London Luton Airport are as follows:

easyJet
Wizz Air
Ryanair
Monarch Scheduled
Thomson
El Al
Blue Air
Flybe
Aer Lingus Regional

The charter carriers that operate at London Luton Airport are as follows:

Thomson
First Choice
Monarch
Sun D'Or


LTN Passengers by Type

Low Cost = 86%

Full Service = 10%

Charter = 4%

Abertis airports holds stakes in 29 airports in 8 countries with a global traffic in excess of 90 million passengers a year. After the acquisition of dca, abertis airports becomes one of the largest operators in the world with a notable presence in Europe and America.


The abertis group made a net profit of €720Mn in 2011. Total revenues amounted to €3,915Mn, while net cash-flow was generated to €1,533Mn. EBITDA totalled €2,454Mn. abertis invested a total of €676Mn.

Airport accounts year ending 2011.
 

The thing with Luton and Stansted is, while they can definitely get bums on seats, to fly through the airport and operate routes profitably, BUT there are however other airports which can fly the routes for even more profit and generate more revenue.

This is why Gatwick is the darling airport for easyJet, in the London area (and their whole network), it might be more congested, slot restricted and take longer to turn around an aircraft (due to air bridges). But the airline can simply get more revenue out of their passengers flying from there.

This is why Air Asia X swapped from STN to LGW, as they could sell tickets at a higher price, despite filling seats without a prroblem out of Stansted. But they dropped the route eventually after our wonderful chancellor increased the level on APD on long haul flights to £80, making the route unviable.

This is the same for Monarch out of Birmingham, and hence why they have removed aircraft from other UK airports and turned BHX into their largest base, with 8-10 aircraft flying from there this summer. They are simply cashing in on the lack of Low Cost Carriers there, with the demise of BMI Baby, Ryanair reducing their presence due to aa spat with the airport and no easyJet presence.

You then have the issue, of full service airlines operating out LGW happily for years and then realise there is more money to be made flying out of LHR and switching their route to there. This is the case with the airlines from the USA, and the latest is US Airways changing their Charlotte service to Heathrow.

I think it is going to be a case the airport is going to have to try and keep their existing airlines happy and try to entice them to grow, finding new carriers is a hard and difficult job. Especially with the likes of LGW, STN, SEN and to a lessor extent BHX also all chasing the same business.

Bear is delicacy in Romania, I hear it is very tasty! :ok:

‘Scotland’s largest airport will today (Thursday) announce the launch of a new £15m route development fund, to drive competition and bring new airlines and new routes to Edinburgh.’
As per the above headline released yesterday, I hope Luton maintains it’s position in the UK’s top busiest five airports.

LBS,
Luton may even drop to 7th if things don't pick up route wise.
BHX has had all the news over Xmas / New Year and more route announcements recently.
To be honest it has amazed me how long LTN has kept the 5th position but competition is now hotting up!

Well it’s not the end of the world whether Luton is 5th 6th or 7th. I wouldn’t want to see Luton at maximum capacity with all the pending building work that is due to take place so Luton needs some spare capacity to allow sections of the airport and terminal to closed off.

This is why Air Asia X swapped from STN to LGW, as they could sell tickets at a higher price, despite filling seats without a prroblem out of Stansted. But they dropped the route eventually after our wonderful chancellor increased the level on APD on long haul flights to £80, making the route unviable.


APD didn't kill off Air Asia from the UK. They also dropped the Paris-Orly route at the same time. The simple fact was they ended up charging almost as much as the legacy carriers to that part of the world and the passengers voted!

What was happening at 0745 this morning? Witnessed two consecutive go arounds - I believe 2 Wizz A320s. I think I've only ever seen one ever let alone two in a row!

Both aircraft maintained runway heading at around 2000ft flying over the airfield before banking to the left away from the town as per normal departure procedure.

2 x go-arounds 28th Janaury
 

The reason for the go-arounds was due to a large number of birds on the grass adjacent to the runway. These were reported by the preceeding landing aircraft but only after another aircraft had entered the runway to depart.

The birds needed to be dispersed so hence the go-arounds.

OLY1B

Watching Look East this morning, I saw HALE being represented again - this time moaning about an additional 50% of night flights under the current expansion proposals - that works out at around 1 extra flight per hour and 10 flights per night (if you call 2300-0600 night). Its nothing. And why would airlines want to increase their night flying outside of the peak summer? Its not exactly going to fill aircraft is it?

In the interests of democracy, surely people who want the expansion to go ahead, be given equal airtime?

10 flights per night! If I take you back 10-15 years there were that number frequently per hour!

10 flights per night! If I take you back 10-15 years there were that number frequently per hour!

You mean Air Bridge Vanguards and Aer Turas CL44 amongst others :E

Do not forget that the HALE brigade are equal to 0.01 % of its towns and villagers population they pretend to represent! They talk in dribble and anyone with a brain (99.99%) that lives in the towns and villages will see right through them. What makes me laugh is that their members have quoted that Airbus A380'S will be operating long haul from Luton! In addition we will have flights every 90 seconds (I wish). They also state that during the early morning hours at about 01.00 and using sophisticated equipment they measure the sound of aircraft flying over their villages- yet I and thousands more live in South Luton and don't even realise flights are departing over us because we are either doing our regular things or are asleep! However I am aware of one South Luton resident who wants the council to compensate her for her rattling windows- but does not want PVC ones because they are 'dreadful in appearance and common'! :eek: I have to say though- that both LADICAN and HALE members are a funny bunch and what it all boils down to- is will they loose their value in property? Luton's most expensive home is valued at 1.5million pounds far more than theres and yet is positioned 300 feet below the aircraft and about 150 feet off the centreline! It is in fact the former water tower in West Hill Road memorial park.

Lee - HALE have every right to argue against airport expansion. If you disagree with them, slagging them off will only make you sound like an oddball and encourage people to support HALE. If you want airport expansion to go ahead and gain public support and influence, it has to be through reasoned and respectful debate...

I've no problem with people voicing their opinions, but it must be done in a constructive way, devoid of personal self interest and mistruth.

If people didn't protest and pose questions, we wouldn't be in the democracy we're in today.

To be honest, I have some indirect potential bias - my chances of continued and progressive employment could depend on a growing airport.

I say bring back the Ryanair 1-11s and the 26 WOB SID! Now that would give folk something to complain about and Mr 1 Bravo nothing to spot! The modern jet makes considerably less noise than most folk fear, having stayed at the Luton Hoo recently, I slept like a bear!

What - Buster staying at Luton Hoo ... I assume that was in the grounds or did you win the Bear Lottery and actually stump up for a bed!

1-11's can come back anytime but not the OLY 1 Lima(?) departure.


OLY1B

I had to pay, Mr Bust refused and wouldn't pay for me to travel by helicopter either, so I drove! If you book well in advance it is not as expensive as you might expect and breakfast is rather yummy!

You two show just how exciting things really are on this thread.....

:rolleyes:

Wizz is the ideal airline for Luton. As the aircraft that park overnight depart they are replaced with Wizz arrivals thus prolonging the airports busy period. Also no extra infrastructure is needed for Wizz as they just fill in the gaps.

So with this being the 75th anniversary of the opening of Luton airport, shall we see a giant bronze Buster on the roundabout opposite the hotel, together with the road being re-named Buster Way?