AMS
 

Considering what a good route this was do you think another carrier will take up this route now Level has gone ?

Wizz would give Easyjet a challenge.

AMS is very slot restricted, can't see IAG giving those up. Probably increase frequency on another member of the IAG Group.

Can't see AENA walking away from the LLAO deal, long term good money to be made, just some normal business hard bargaining going on.

They indeed won't walk away but they don't want to pay the guaranteed minimum payments to LLAL regardless of the passenger count claiming force majeure which is written into the contract.

It gets better, potential outdoor cinema for one of the airport car parks. Council in discussions with third party. Every little helps I guess.

From Blue Swan:

Aena CEO Maurici Lucena reported the company plans to develop a new incentive scheme in 2020/2021 to encourage air traffic resumption post COVID-19 (El Espanol/Europa Press/Reuters, 18-Jun-2020). The scheme includes reductions in charges for airlines exceeding a certain threshold of movements, adjusted monthly according to traffic forecasts. Airlines are expected to benefit by around EUR25 million from the incentive programme.

I wonder if this will affect Luton as Aena are a principal in LLAOL.

Blue Air re-starting both Bacau and Bucharest x5 pw from 2nd July.

And EZY next week https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...rom-next-week/

Wizzair show zero availability for the following routes from Luton after 19 July
Kosice, Poprad-Tatry

Confirmation from ACL, in case it was needed, that FlyBosnia won't be flying to Luton in winter 2020/21
Ryanair seem to have been granted slots for a 3x weekly to Valencia - no idea if they'll actually use them

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f216a3b37.jpeg
Short but sweet list
but doesn’t include new Wizz routes to Canary Islands , Marrakesh , Bacau etc

Out of interest how would one be able to see these lists? I had a look on the ACL website but couldn’t find anything up to date. Lots of screenshots being shared on other forum threads and it is a really interesting source of info.

Hi Cloud1
If it helps I went via the ACL Main Page , select “ Latest Airport News “ from the top of the Page , scroll down to Results pdf files.
Select which pdf you want. ie “ Luton Airport W20 Initial Coordination Report “
Press and hold on selected file then select Download linked file from drop down box . (I use a I Pad )

Things starting to recover on the VVIP operators now, up to 51 movements on Thursday after hovering arounds 30+ for a few weeks now. Obviously if lockdown eases more then those chaps/chapesses will be able to go to their second homes in Ibiza, Mykonos & Cote d'Azur.
Obvoiusly this is about 50% of pre COVID ops but with runway slots not an issue currently we could see a mini surge this summer.

I am starting to think that Luton might be heading for a faster than expected recovery. 24 airline movements tomorrow between 6:00 and 8:00. Easyjet seem to be consolidating their north London operations to Luton and both Wizz and Easyjet have announced new Luton routes.

Is the Council painting a darker picture than reality as it tries to screw the government for free money?

With the resumption of the F1 season this weekend in Austria a mini airlift started today with a TUI Belgian 737-800, a JOTA 146. Tomorrow sees an Aurigny E195 all operating to Graz plus a number of executive aircraft.

Wouldn't be good business sense not to.
With EZY restarting tomorrow things looking much better but will there be bums on seats?

I wouldn't have expected the likes of RYR Kerry route returning so soon but it has tomorrow.

the Kerry route is a cash cow in a normal summer, it’s more popular than the STN route and can be pretty pricey. It’s back at a reduced service until end of August then it ramps up from memory. I’ve never seen it less than 75% full in about fifty flights over the last couple of years.

Also on the boards for today is the first Sun Express - if it appears.

One appeared last night from Izmir, so I guess the flight tonight is likely, Presume start of their summer programme.

Looks like 23 departures before 9 tomorrow!

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/pe...0-jobs-2902044


A 70% drop would mean 5,400,000 passengers by year end, which is hard to believe seeing the airport had 2,919,261 passengers by March of this year

But how many passengers did the airport have in April, May and June?

Probably not much more than 100k. Pax numbers down circa 98% on last year. Beginning to creep up but from a very low base. A 60-70% YOY reduction is very possible. I hope things quickly improve for the staff's sake.

2,967,441 to May but the airport was handling no flights in parts of April and generally 4 departures for the rest of the days. Today there are just under 100 scheduled services. If the report is correct, from June 1st onwards the remaining months would generate a shade over 400,000 per month.

Looking at July 1st to December 31st at 100 aircraft a day that would give an average load of 133 passengers per aircraft if my poor maths are correct. Of course as the movements increase the passenger average will drop.

Construction update
 

The Dart Parkway interchange is being glazed.
https://i.imgur.com/frNqVCy.jpg

The railway platform footbridge is isolated from the interchange and waits for the missing section of station to be built.
https://i.imgur.com/WlGgnl3.jpg

The missing gap is being used for assembling various parts of the footbridge that are then lowered into place. On the extreme left can be seen one of the platform staircases being built while a lift shaft can be seen in the foreground.
https://i.imgur.com/x7yBUfw.jpg

Taxiway Bravo has reopened with the diversion seen behind it.
https://i.imgur.com/UDsC8qj.jpg

Escalators have been installed at the terminal station.
https://i.imgur.com/rbyAWrW.jpg

The ticket office seems to be a very substantial affair so maybe it has another purpose. This whole area will be covered by a canopy.
https://i.imgur.com/o9oSkfV.jpg

Covid 19
 

Passengers are no longer in short supply at Luton. For once the terminal was a nice place to be with plenty of space per passenger.
https://i.imgur.com/LUfR5FP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/0fWYF51.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/I8g69Bw.jpg

Dont know if it helps but a few dummy bookings for next day flights on Ryanair last couple of days (mostly STN) suggest average pax of around 70ish, some higher some lower. Assuming that will grow over coming weeks and months 133 probably isn’t a bad estimate

https://www.tekla.com/uk/bim-awards/luton-dart-stations

Appears the DART stations have been winning awards for design and construction

When announced the the project was costed at £200m, it then became £225m with the latest figure at £243m. All funded by the towns residents who won't get to use it.

Anyone else notice that the gap between the roof and the walls at Parkway interchange? Passengers will be wondering how the rain is getting in.

I don't know, but would it have not been a fixed price contract? Thought the DART was £200m Parkway Interchange £25m.
Then these things might be priced in Dollars so that will have an effect and then there will be additional costs due to CV-19. All written down in a contract between supplier & purchaser, unless you are saying it was a poorly written contact where supplier can increase costs to be picked up by purchaser?

Good to see you following Government advice there LTNman https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavi...at-the-airport

LTNman works at the airport so no issues there unlike some troublesome reporters, at least he was not in Soho last night!

Out of interest there are no signs on the doors about passengers only in the terminal and I doubt most people would dig out the link from my greatest fan.

The Council removes seating from the town centre as it is a Covid risk being enclosed but they are more than happy that 230 passengers sit inches apart on council property aboard a Wizz aircraft. This is the hypocrisy and double standards we live with. https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/en...centre-2873163

https://i.imgur.com/Sbe6TGk.jpg

Nothing to do with Council what goes on aboard an airplane.
Government guidelines updated on 30th June say "The question of whether any organisation should open (or reopen) is a business decision for the individual organisation. Aerodrome operators, training organisations and other GAbusinesses are best placed to decide whether opening is in their best interest, either from a commercial or health and safety standpoint."
aka a Pagoda takes up alot of space for no financial gain and reduces distancing by people walking around it. I have always seen them as a pain for emergency services as well getting access to shopfronts and just a magnet for groups of people who have no business in the shopping area anyhow.

Now that the Dart at Parkway is taking shape I thought I would look at the drawings I have regarding the missing 33% of the station. So far the building has 4 central support columns but the drawings show 6 which would allow the new Thameslink platform walkway to join with the rest of the building. The missing section is from the top of the escalators.
https://i.imgur.com/PaVc4KI.jpg

Looking at this drawing, which is a reverse view from the plans above and below, the missing section is highlighted in mauve and is shown as a later phase, which I have mentioned before. I have assumed the later phase would immediately follow the first phase.
https://i.imgur.com/1m9fVuE.jpg

I am now thinking this won't be built any time soon, as there are more plans that show a 4 column station with lifts and a staircase attached to the end where the missing section of station should be. In the plan with the mauve section there seems to be a walkway from the existing footbridge to the interchange.
https://i.imgur.com/pVGIg3j.jpg.

Back in 2017 the planning application for the Dart building at Parkway requested full planning permission for the non-mauve area and outline planning permission for the mauve bits including the footbridge. Could it be that the mauve bits are being funded by Railtrack as £25m seems a great deal of money for a footbridge and was more than 10% of the total budget when announced? This would make sense as the missing ground floor section is a new station building with forecourt (as seen in the artist impression) that will be used by passengers accessing and leaving the new developments being built next to the station who want to use the train. Also the drawing shows the building named as Luton Parkway Station with no mention of the word Dart, which is the same name as the station on the other side of the tracks.

It is a good point about who is respectability for which parts (and is paying for it)
https://www.railway-technology.com/p...ransit-london/

Could explain differences in costs on what some people say the WHOLE project costs or just the DART part.