Solyom
 

Solyom Hungarian Airlines initially stated they intended to start ops into LGW from BUD.

I cant find any information that states their intention to fly from LTN.

They did not specify any airport yet only announced that London is to be served as one of the first 4 destinations. Rumor has it had the'd fly to LCY with RJ-85s (the hungarian media is playing with the idea amongst other nonsense).

July CAA stats show ATMs down 0.3% and pax up 0.4% (monthly) and -1.3/+0.5% respectively for the rolling year.

Stansted still in decline, Edinburgh closing quickly.

For Luton, the future looks a bit brighter with various new Wizz routes this winter, Tarom, and the return of the fifth Monarch airframe next summer. The main problem is capacity - the new owners need to get their skates on and push forward with their development plans.

As AENA were a party to the original plans, presumably they will continue with the published proposals rather than going back to the drawing board.

My info came from Hurn.

Luton Airport Worst UK Airport
 

According to Which, LTN bottom

Which? reveals the best and worst UK airports - August - 2013 - Which? News

Luton airport bottom

Which? members who passed through Luton airport on their travels were typically not so impressed with their experience. The UK’s fifth busiest airport achieved a customer score of just 43% for the overall airport experience, scoring two out of a possible five stars almost across the board, including its speed of check-in, passport control queues, airport design and its toilets.

Which? members described Luton airport as ‘dark and gloomy’ and ‘poorly designed and poorly signed inside and out’.

Hardly surprising that airports with less passengers and excess capacity and more space will have a better passenger experience.

The bottom line is every year 10m people use LTN (and the other two LHR terminals in the bottom 3 process approx 30m? every year).

Which? report
 

It's hardly surprising that the top and bottom three are those listed. The top three are lightly used, and in the case of SEN and DSA, modern facilities.

The bottom three are overcrowded and not user-friendly. All three are on small, limited sites. They have all suffered a severe lack of investment over the years.

In Luton's case, that is due to its unusual ownership model which caused lack of proper investment by the Council during its years of operational ownership, followed by restrictive bouts of short-term investment since. Because of the franchise model, operators will only invest at the beginning of the franchise period for sound commercial reasons. The dead hand of council ownership prevents the operator from planning any extension outside the airport boundary, despite the wishes of the market.

I travel through airports all around Europe most weekends and by far my worst consistent experience is always in Luton, particularly security and their attitudes.


If there is a way of getting to my destination by avoiding Luton, I will.
And that opinion is shares by the majority of m colleagues.

Well hopefully the new operator will listen to this report and the criticism that will come from it.
At least the only way now is up and it will be interesting to see what AENA does!

I personally have had no problems using the airport but I respect people like Ecamsurprises and others views.

But the new operator cannot do anything about the basic layout of the Shed and it's manifest shortcomings. All of which are due, in my view, to cost cutting from the moment the Architect was given their first instruction.

The cost of reshaping it is never going to happen and the cost of improving the experience by more staff, is never going tohappen. That's it folks. Game Over.

Remember AENA is a grown up airport operator, the investment I'm sure will suprise us all. They are not going to spend their money and let things stay as they are.

But changing the attitudes of the security staff and how they treat their "customers" would go a long way.

I know we all complain about security, but they are by far the most arrogant and obnoxious workers I've come across on all my travels through euro airports.
I always think I've been unlucky but every single time someone is being shouted at or a little old fragile lady being sneered at because she doesn't have the correct liquids back.. It's one area that could be improved without much cost of re-development.

They need to be careful, Gatwick used to be pretty poor but they've changed a their game and have made some really good inprovements. One notable one being how you are greeted and talked to by the security staff.

(Southampton was the best in the uK for security, in my opinion)

And yes, the other elements such as the long walks through drab corridors does affect the whole experience too, but having been through so many airports I think security stands out to me as one of the selling points. The rest I can deal with.

That is not true. Plans are already in place to extend the terminal so it covers the bus and coach station. This will give the terminal a new entrance and allow the passenger search area to move downstairs. There are also plans to build out the piers and extend the arrivals area including the baggage reclaim area and build an expanded departure lounge. These plans are not minor tweaks but a major development.

''Plans are already in place to extend the terminal '' have they been submitted and approved ?

Ericlday,
The plans were submitted to LBC last year.You can see them on the planning portal for the council.Application number 12/01400/FUL.
Then they started the consultation period early this year before Albertis announced they were off loading their airport portfolio.

Assuming AENA keep to the original plans then the council could approve these reasonably quickly I think , but any changes will create further delays.
Pretty sure all of this would have been debated between the parties involved before the announcement that AENA made a couple of weeks ago.

Falcon666
 

Thanks for the update.

What a load of absolute nonsense. You should probably change your name to mr negative. :ugh:

runway08 You are free to say so, just as I said:
Whilst I read that the search area might move downstairs, I wonder how many more shops are going to be fitted into the original area? It would be difficult to change the unending corridors with no travelators and the time taken to get to the gates.

Will they provide more seating for people to wait for the flight to be called? Will they provide better information displays?

They are certainly not going to re-instate the through road to ensure one-way traffic flows in the terminal as that would now cost a fortune.

You may choose to call my view 'negative', I consider it 'realistic'. I have been paxing since 1965 and using LTN since 1985. I have lived in this country long enough to see the way public facilities are dealt with.

I've been travelling through Luton since 2003 - it's a dump and always has been. Certainly, the opening of the new terminal area in 2005 was a big improvement, but it's not a particularly enjoyable place to hang out.

However, to turn Luton airport into a pleasant environment is going to cost a ton of money. Stansted is nice only because BAA spent a fortune on the general infrastructure over the years.

Neither LBC nor Abertis really care if it gets the odd bad press article - they care only that the revenues keep on coming - ie Joe Bloggs buys a seat on a flight and spend his money in the airport shops

Runway and overnight ramp capacity around London is in short supply and very few airlines *really* want to take on MOL at Stansted - so Abertis may figure that it's not really necessary to spend a vast amount of cash on a nicer environment at Luton - the passengers and airlines will keep on coming anyway. Abertis' shareholders will be more keen on any capital investment being spent on expanding airport capacity instead so as to increase passenger numbers.

The people who see the grotty bits of Luton airport are very much flying on LCC or charter airlines and their passengers' decision to fly takes price very much into account. If you want large scale building works at Luton, the money has to come from somewhere - namely increased airport charges which translates into higher cost of flights. Joe Bloggs may not like Luton much and may make a big fuss to the press, but does he *really* want to pay a higher ticket price in the future for the nicer environment ?

The existing search area will become the start of the airside lounge. It will continue into the new build above the new entrance hall in the area which is now the bus and coach station. It will continue and cross the existing ground floor entrance. The existing Duty Free shop will be modified to allow access to the new pier. New seating areas will be gained as well as many more shopping outlets. The existing pier to the eastern apron will be puffed out on either side to allow gate seating.