Gulfstreams new facility at Farnborough offically opened today but the press release says they will keep their presence at Luton but will this include the hanger or will that go back to Signature?

They will keep a man in a van and that is it. The hangar will go back to Signature. The main issue is that the staff don’t want to relocate.

Social distancing Luton style captured in this video clip.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...akers-18672017

So you’ve just come off a plane that you weren’t forced to go on in the first place in which you are sat just inches from other people and yet you complain about social distancing in the terminal ! - A non story.

Thank the Sun & Mirror for this non storey and all the local rags pick it up hours later.
I suppose other MAG airports are a shining beacon of how to do it!?

Or can't, because of house price differences between Beds & Hants

It is not a non story. Airport management have made public statements that the airport is safe when it isn’t. The airport terminal in normal times can from memory handle around 4,500 passengers an hour. I have the exact figure somewhere but I can’t be bothered to dig it out. This figure hasn’t been reduced to reflect social distancing or safety and highlights the pitfalls and the risks passengers take when flying from being bussed out to stand to standing in long queues and then sitting in an aircraft with the engines off so the Hepa filters are doing nothing.

The issue is that despite a massive drop in passengers numbers flights still bunch up and arrive and depart at a similar time. The queue in this video gives the opportunity for the virus to spread. It is worth remembering this when people call it a non story.

How have MAG got dragged into this?

18 to 26 feet
 

Studies have found that a person coughing or sneezing or even simply talking can spread COVID-19 in the air up to a distance between 18 and 26 feet. In effect as long as individuals use face masks and wash their hands regularly they will greatly reduce the prospect of contracting the virus.

As a daily commuter on the trains I feel totally safe because I protect myself. I would feel safe in a terminal and safe in an aircraft.

The Press just love to dig at anything relating to Luton however the photos of the queue in the terminal do not cause me concern because it would be impracticable to keep our social distancing at 26 feet!

The actions of Government, business and society will all influence whether there will be a second wave. Activities at Luton don't help nor do the actions of some members of the town council who attend parties in the most contagious part of the town.

Total click bait. "Chaos" and "Mayhem" (as the headlines suggest) it is certainly not. A small queue by Border Force standards. In any case passengers have just spent two hours or more on the same plane together. Bigger queues at Asda.

Signature
 

This implies more than just a man & van to be retained at Luton https://www.globalatlanta.com/gulfst...ervice-center/

It would certainly make sense for Gulfstream to keep some sort of facility at LTN to accommodate the AOG work etc that Farnborough won't be able to accept given its restricted operating hours......

I have a contact at Gulfstream. Around 6 weeks go they said they was taking redundancy. I was also told Gulfstream were leaving a man and a van on site and that they were vacating the hangar, which was going back to Signature. There was a major issue getting staff to move though. I have no idea whether plans have changed due to a lack of Farnborough engineers and that they will keep a bigger workforce at Luton until the problem is resolved.

Regarding the Gulfstream move, it is so easy for management to make a decision and not think the whole matter through. Might seem like only 50 miles ish but not being aware of the very high house prices near Farnborough but also the time it can take to drive the M1/M25/M3 shows how the workforce are viewed these days. Manpower is just an inconvenient cost unit per hour in management eyes.

As I said, a man in a van when you read this link

https://www.aviationpros.com/home/pr...port-team-fast

Yes as that link shows the FAST team have been based at Luton for 9 years and will remain so. It was the guys who do the long term work in the hangar I was talking about. Very few are willing to move with the package offered by Gulfstream so might be retained for a while at Luton to keep existing contracts going. How this pans out long term we will see.

With engineers being removed from payroll by the airlines, if Gulfstream are will to pay the retraining required, I doubt if they will have problems recruiting, especially as the drive from some somewhere like Heathrow is not too bad. I'd wager that there are many that already live along the M3/M4 corridors?

Gulfstream may well pick up some engineers who have been made redundant from elsewhere. However, it takes some time to train and type rate licensed engineers so it won't happen quickly and some work might be retained at LTN in the meantime....In my opinion this crisis will see many older engineers retiring early as there is a large number in the industry who are well over 50. The bean counters have always seen engineers as necessary evil's so terms and conditions will be almost impossible to maintain at pre-covid levels going forward (like many other airline departments).....Many older engineers started their careers in the Forces or with aircraft manufacturers (but both are no longer viable sources of well trained engineers for the airlines)