Hi LTNman

Just done a bit of rummaging about and it appears it is the LLAOL (the airport), submitting the application for the transit link to the airport and not the council.

The council are providing the funding as a loan.

It also states in the planning application that it is a "2.2km twin guideways mass passenger transit (MPT) system", so I think people including myself referring to it as a train service are mistaken.

It also states in other documents Ive read, the building contractors would be announced in October, but that doesn't seem to have happened yet.

I am imagining the system with be something similar to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Innovia_APM

The platforms at Parkway will be around 38m long excluding buffers and other non tracked sections which is twice as long as the 18m Volvo bendy buses.

Looking at the timescales work proper starts May next year with work on the central station starting next June but that can't be started now until the new multistory is finished and opened so I would say that part of the project will be delayed by a year. The station has a 59 week build and when complete work is meant to then start on the systems and equipment so the whole project could already be a year behind schedule.

I would be surprised if a Bombardier solution would not be used as they supply LGW & STN and MAD (from a airport operator point of view).
Platform length would suggest the ability for 3 Car people movers as current models have the following specifications
Size : 12.8 metres (42 ft) length, 2.8 metres (9.2 ft) width, 3.4 metres (11 ft) height.

Hi LTNMan, at Birmingham there isn't any spare rolling stock as they are pulled by cables along the track. I can't imagine it would be easy to change those over.
I do remember when it was sponsored by bmibaby, you had to listen to advertising through most of the short trip.

According to the tender the the work will take 3.5 years and the yearly running costs will be £2 million

London Luton Airport Mass Passenger Transit System..

London Luton Airport Mass Passenger Transit System.

A fond farewell to runway 08 and 26 next year. Will become 07 & 25 and probably coincide with opening of runway parallel.

LTNman new location required !

First Monarch and now the runway designation. Life will never be the same:{

The airport is now closed overnight from midnight until 05:30 till December 2nd to allow the taxiway extension to be joined to the runway.

There is a further closure period planned in January if the work isn’t finished.

Yes...DHL noted @ STN this AM

I've been looking at WizzAir's 2018 summer schedule.

They seem to have dropped Split, but are planning to operate 360 flights per week - roughly the equivalent of a 17-aircraft base - on the following routes:

Bosnia - Tuzla 2pw
Bulgaria (30) - Bourgas 3, Sofia 17, Varna 10
Czechia (10) - Brno 3, Prague 7
Georgia - Kutaisi 2
Hungary (41) - Budapest 31, Debrecen 10
Israel - Tel Aviv 4
Kosovo - Pristina 2
Latvia - Riga 14
Lithuania (25) - Kaunas 7, Palanga 4,Vilnius 14
Macedonia (7) - Ohrid 2, Skopje 5
Moldova - Chisinau 5
Poland (97) - Gdansk 19, Katowice 20, Lublin 7, Olsztyn-Mazury 3, Poznan 12, Szczecin 3, Warsaw 23, Wroclaw 10
Romania (82) - Bucharest 21, Cluj-Napoca 19, Constanta 4, Craiova 7, Iasi 7, Satu Mare 2, Sibiu 5, Suceava 5, Timisoara 7, Tirgu Mures 5
Serbia - Belgrade 3
Slovakia (6) - Kosice 3, Poprad-Tatry 3
Slovenia - Ljubljana 4
Ukraine - Kiev 4

17 countries, 41 destinations.

Wizz

I wouldn't read too much into that just yet.
They only appear to have loaded flights for one LTN based a/c for S18 at the moment.
There were three based in S17

Maybe they are awaiting further slots before loading the full programme.
IIRC Split was an early morning departure along with Varna and Bourgas in S17

Out of curiosity what is the latest on the Monarch HQ.
Is it now empty and shut ?

If I didn’t know Monarch had gone belly up I would never have guessed when looking at their HQ. The building is still occupied, the lights are still on and there are plenty of cars in their car park.

@LG6753

Nice bit of work, looking into all of that...

Looking pretty similar to this year, so no huge surprises there. But by documenting this makes you realise how impressive Wizz are at LTN!

Shame about Split if it has been dropped, and I suspect it has as the other summer seasonal flights to Tuzla and Ohrid are on sale, so there is no reason why Split wouldn't be on sale if the route was going to operate.

@Falcon666
On the two occasions I flew to Split this summer, it was roughly a 1-2pm departure and arrived back at Luton around 8pm, and was operated by a Kaunas based aircraft and crew.

Wizz Air had the Luton to Split market to itself until this Summer when easyJet also started on the route, and suspect this might be a likely cause. Also easyJet are operating the route daily next summer when it was 3x weekly this summer, and Wizz was 3-5x daily.

I've used the route numerous times, and Wizz use to charge some pretty handsome prices in the summer months when they had the route to themselves, and this year prices were noticeably cheaper, once easyJet were biting at their heels.

As the Split route is primarily used by Brits going on holiday, I guess easyJet have the upper hand as more of a household name, than Wizz does, despite them operating it for the last six or seven years. Also easyJet have opened up routes to Zadar and Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast too this year.

Wizz doesn't seem to have had much luck with Croatia, having dropped routes to Zagreb, Osijek and Dubrovnik in recent years...

Giles
Thanks for that , I stand corrected.
Delving a bit more deeply shows the following for the three based a/c for S18

A/C 1. O6.00 dep Constanta 1,3,5,7. Varna 2,4,6.
A/C 2 07.50 dep Kaunas. Daily
A/C 3. 07.30 dep Ljubljana 2,4,6,7. Olystyn 1,3,5

I was looking for much earlier departure times as S17 had 05.50 and 06.00 times.

There is the possibility that the Kaunas flight does originate from elsewhere before departing at 07.50 am but I can't see it at the moment.

So all three based have schedules loaded??

Looks like Easy will have Split to themselves

Those Luton departures for aircraft 2 and 3 are late leaving. This summer 2 Wizz were leaving at 5:45 while the 3rd was gone by just after 6. If this schedule is correct they are now hanging around until the first wave is already starting to leave on a return leg.

Looking at today’s departure board they have a departure at 5:45 and another one at 6:05 so seem to be down to 2 based aircraft for the winter.

The first wave of Wizz flights start to arrive at around 07:00 so the 07:30/07:50 departures are likely to be these and not the based aircraft.

The AGM of Wizzair takes place today, would not be surprised to see some new routes announced. The shareholders must be pleased with the shares trading at £34 having originally opened at £17.

Sorry, got my facts wrong only half year results today, profits up but shares down £2 just goes to show you can't please everybody.

Wizzair Turkey
 

Wizz have reportedly bought a 49% stake in Borajet and it will be rebranded Wizzair Turkey. So probably expect new routes to Istanbul etc in the near future.