Hi all, first poster here. mainly because having just flown to Lanzarote from Luton i think it was not the greatest of experiences.
The staff bless them try but the whole place seems so glum. I last flew from there over 25 years ago and whilst i know time passes it seems to have stood still there. Yes lots of parking in an awfully laid out long term park. Uninterested bus driveres at pick up points. Slow passport control.
I could go on. My feeling is that Luton is what it is. A rather hamstrung badly thought out below par airport and nothing short of a total re think will cure it......sorry.:(

All Goldcare work will be done in Manchester, I think.

Thomson are no longer enrolled on the Goldcare program for the 787

FAO Muckers... That's an original thought!

In all seriousness - If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys! I doubt many other airports in the UK are much different.

The pier is not going to the south stands. When the new pier is extended to south of the eastern apron passengers will be bussed from there.

I can't stand that term. Those that spout it don't usually have a clue about what people are actually paid. It could have something to do with the hassle some employees get these days simply for trying to do their job.

In fact I do. Passenger Service Agents (ie. the people that sit behind the counter at check in), earn a flat £7.27ph and work 6 on, 3 off, almost always unsociable hours. Many of the employees are in their first job and have no previous aviation knowledge or experience. Although when I had that, they still weren't interested!

It was probably wrong of me to blame just the employees; the employers must take some of the blame as you could perceive a minority to be hostile. And as a contractor, you're under constant pressure.

Well Muckers if you thought Luton was bad then you haven´t been throught the port of Dover lately (I know it is not an airport). It is like going on one of those ghost trains that used to be at seaside resorts years ago with so-called UK Border staff peering out and looking into vehicles as you drive through at 5 mph (two grey haired seniors in a Spanish registered car). Perish the thought what our continental friends think of it.
On a side passed the new airport at Castellon on the way - very impressive but no sign of any activity I´m afraid.

Oh dear, some bad news from Essex!

Stansted passengers numbers down | Anglia - ITV News

From memory the top of the tail penetrates the 1 in 7 transistional slope.

Seems as though the www.london-luton.co.uk website is down at the moment as it's 'just' been registered for a customer... I wonder if that is Luton Airport or some money making sharpwit! :E

Hellas Luton- Volos starting next year?
According to the guys on the SEN thread it's been confirmed!!

Website back to normal......I also experienced same as ImPlaneCrazy.

Website still off-line. Oops!!

Working OK for me......even here in Tenerife !!!

Its not that the staff have a problem i think the place causes the problem.
The whole airport area seems to be a conglomoration of add ons and plug ins, that at the time were probably very much needed but as we all know there is a time when you cant add any extras, its then you either say we are what we are or start again.
Yes I live within a mile or two of SEN and I have been a keen advocate, but it wont get bigger, it wont compete for heavy jets, it cant because it is what it is, a bright new local airport for the south east.
Luton should care that it may lose short haul to them, the flying public will learn that the airports feel and focus is as much part of the flight as being in the air, and lets face it we spend as long in the terminal as we do in the air in a lot of cases.:)

Just noticed this is a brand new startup. Good luck!
What bank in Greece gave them the funding!?

Welcome muckers, we are a friendly bunch here even to our friends at Southend.

Luton has no option but to carry on and modify what it already has. Southend had the luxury of finding an unused part of the airfield next to a railway so it could start again. For Luton to start again it would mean shutting down the terminal and moving it with its aprons and would take a couple of years.

Next year will see the start of building work to expand the airport by a further 8 million passengers. Hopefully by the time it is finished it will meet with your approval.

I have no doubt Southend will reach 2 million, most of that seems to be coming from Stansted, with a little bit of new business and maybe a tad from Luton. As with all airports what Southend gains it can also lose.

Despite all of Luton’s issues it has something on its side. It is called location, location, location. Together with a public transport system that operates 24 hours a day the airport is very easy to get to.

What makes you think they got funding from a bank in Greece ?

Easy seem to have Mykonos & Olbia as new routes from Luton, commencing April & May respectively. Both twice weekly.

Thanks for the welcome LTNman, must day i did wonder what you would say. ive seen and read a lot of your posts on the SEN thread.
I'm not saying the place should be written off and i do think SEN were rather fortunate to have what was effectively a clean sheet to start with.
I just feel that luton seems a bit like an old west country fishermans cottage where bits are added as the family grows and before you know it you sleep in the basement and bath in the loft next door. In short Luton is a bit all over the place, and just not very pleasant;)

Nice to see new destinations from EZY, but these flights will no doubt be at the expense of other routes.

No it will be using the a/c that night stopped in dortmund.

fr-

muckers wrote

I know what you are saying. I have lost count how many times the airport has been upgraded over the years.

A good example are the steps down to the departure gates on the main apron as they face the wrong way. This is because passengers used to walk to the gates from the old terminal now they come in from the opposite direction from the new terminal and have to turn around to descend the steps.

Aesthetically the terminal frontage will improve when they build across the bus station so the old terminal frontage will mostly disappear.

There will also be a major reworking of the inside of the terminal bringing passenger screening downstairs and the almost doubling the number of lanes. All the landside shops bars and eating areas will be moved to the new build at the front of the terminal. Airside will get new seating areas plus many more shops.

I haven't been down there since the top floor was put in the Tinminal, but I do hope the Gates 1-10 area is completely refurbished, both externally and internally, as part of the Masterplan.

Muckers wrote

There is a big difference between the Luton and Southend threads. We are a bit more friendly here as you can say what you like without the personal attacks. If people disagree here then it is debated in a mature way.

We might not always agree with what is said but all views are respected.

No more Aer Stobarts Lingus Arann Regional flights into LTN from tommorow.

I think you will find the service does not finish until 6 January 2013 so a little time yet Runway 08.

Waterford
 

Time for Flybe to step in?

Am I right in thinking that the Waterford route has been operated since the Suckling era?

Flybe would be nuts not to go twice daily on WAT-LTN. None of the other Ireland-London corridors have seen passenger numbers decline like WAT-LON after the Southend experiment. SEN is a fine facility but for the south east Irish market it's just the wrong location and imperfect public transport. No reason why WAT-LTN can't hit 10k passengers a month again by Summer 2013.

Buster even before that, Ryanair Hs748s and ATR42s.
And who can forget Euroceltic with F27s.
Its a well proven route and perhaps someday in the future when Aer Lingus mainline push Aer Arann aside, Aer Arann might lament dropping a route that worked very well for them.

Ryanair last served Waterford with ATR42s (even EI BYO was FR machine), it ended August 1992. BA Express then came in operating a daily J41 on Stansted route...That was Manx Airlines at that time as far as I can remember...

What is the likely hood of another airline picking up the LTN - WAT route ?

I'm hearing whispers about Turkish Airlines A310Fs.

As long as they are day time operations, otherwise they will need to 'whisper' on departure to keep Ladacan quiet !!!!

Confused of Milton Keynes. If the loads on LTN-WAT are viable why are Arann pulling it?

Don't think Flybe will step in - isn't the Dash 400 a big capacity leap.

Unless thy use Sucling/Logan 328s.

My estimation would be that there are bigger opportunities ex DUB for UK provincial routes, furthermore statement from Waterford airport makes reference to the fact that RE are selling an aircraft (may mean returning one to the lessors, not sure), though the route was always in terms of pax a good one on LTN and SEN had improved alot, yet as many commentators have said LTN was a well developed market for the Irish travelling home.

Airlines wont take any chances with new routes that may be perceived as soft by those airlines, the fact that the Q400 is that much bigger than ATR may in itself be a deterent, I only hope that WAT doesnt go the way of GWY.

They probably weren’t but would have been if the route hadn’t been split between 2 airports. Passengers wanting to fly from Luton to Waterford today would have to wait until Thursday so are forced to use Southend or find another way of getting there. Seems they are finding another way to get there.