Flights were Eurocypria, then Helios/Ajet

And of course Caledonian, ahhhh.... those TriStars using every inch of Luton's runway.

Took one of those, on a hot/still Summer's evening, early 90's. Over 400 POB IIRC. The view from the Flight Deck must have been interesting!

2017 passenger total
 

Having searched various recourses to determine the correct figure relating to the number of passengers that used LTN between Jan 1st 2017 and Dec 31 2017 has not been easy. Media (including the airport) quotes the airport as having handled 15.8 million pax. When adding the 12 month totals submitted by the CAA the figure totals 15,990,276. But the general figure quoted by the CAA is 15,989,225 (admittedly not a great difference) but should they not all be producing the same total?

Maybe one figure is for passengers passing through the main terminal only while the others include the FBO terminals?

Changing the subject has anyone noticed the ever growing stockpile of earth the airport is collecting? There is a planning application gone in for even more earth to be moved to around the fire training ground. Think it is something like an extra 331,000 cu m. I am starting to think that maybe this area will play a role in the airports expansion.

LTNman,

Is there a plan for another taxiway link to the 26 turning bay? If so, I guess that would require infill.

Yes there is but like the 08 end it won't go to the end but it will still require an infill.

Strange goings on at Luton. Both the Signature aprons either side of their terminal 2 are completely empty although 3 biz jets were parked on stand 10. These will revert back to the airport but from memory not until 2020.

Even the Harrods apron by their hangar only had 4 aircraft parked on it. Wonder where all the biz jets have gone:confused:

To SEN of course. Sorry, just dreaming.

I agree with you LTNman in that the soil will be required to build up an area so that new aprons can be built to hold the anticipated 18+ extra stands.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...t-tall-445544/

Looking at the satellite image shows the existing soil dump which has considerable raised the ground level in places particularly around the airport boundary. The screen shot shows the latest planning application to add 331,400 cubic metres to the areas shown which is next to the existing soil dump. This soil is coming from the big dig for the DART.

It might well be the case that this area will eventually become an apron rather than an unused valley.
https://i.imgur.com/J8Q0cnc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2VdwIiK.jpg

When will work commence on Taxiway Foxtrot which will be positioned to the east of Delta to alleviate congestion? I was told it should start soon and join into Alpha just to the west of the run up bay.

There has been a digger parked on the grass on the far side of Delta now for a few weeks.

The extension to taxiway Bravo was completed by a company called Ryebridge which does a lot of work for the airport. Now that work is finished they have moved on to the short and mid term car parks. The work to the short term is connected with building the new temporary drop off zone and road layout while the work to the mid term is connected with changing the road layout due to the dart.

I am assuming when that work is finished they will start on Foxtrot but Foxtrot is not meant to be finished until 2020. Also with the state of the ground soil conditions will be better when it has dried out a little.

LHR = 78,012,825 up 3.04%
LGW = 45,556,899 up 5.65%
MAN = 27,826,084 up 8.54%
STN = 25,904,450 up 6.51%
LTN = 15,979,653 up 9.17%
EDI = 13,410,343 up 8.60%
BHX = 12,987,327 up 11.53%
GLA = 9,897,959 up 5.90%
BRS = 8,239,250 up 8.26%

Where did you get 18+ stands from?

If the airport wants to double passenger numbers it would need almost twice the number of stands it has today so would need a number in the high 30’s.

The council keep stating that the business park next to the airport will go ahead which would be the natural place to expand the airport and without it they don’t have the land for all those stands not even if they level the hill out by the fire training ground which could give the airport around an extra 16 stands.

Well it can't be said that the airport has a clear vision of the way forward with regards to it's building work. The latest example is the temporary drop off zone that is under construction in the short term car park. The planning application shows drop off lanes in an almost southerly direction but the kerbing for the lanes that are now going in are at a right angle to the plan.


It is crucial that the airport cracks the persistent problem of congestion that has plagued the CTA for years but those with even short memories will remember the drop off zone before the current single lane. Passengers were forced as now to cross traffic lanes to get to the terminal so no difference there with the latest scheme but this layout will hopefully not have barriers at the ends of each lane as previous layouts have had in the past.

The airport have stated that bus traffic will not have to go through barriers when this work is completed so we will have to wait and see where they actually go. In the plan below the barriers capture all traffic entering the CTA so there are also changes to this part of the plan as well.

https://i.imgur.com/csWDLL9.jpg

For many years Luton, Edinburgh and Birmingham had very similar passenger numbers, usually with Luton slight ahead, but all three vying for the fifth busiest airport slot. So pretty shocked to see Luton suddenly pull ahead with 2.5 million more than EDI and 3 million more than BHX.

The sooner the expansion and "improvements" comes online the better!

Flew through the airport on an 8am flight to Warsaw last month, and had high hopes of seeing some significant improvements in the departure area and to be honest was very disappointed!

Very quick and speedy through security, but still no additional seating in the departure lounge from when flew through 3-4 months ago, just few new outlets open, and still as chaotic as ever! Felt no different and no less busy than when I travelled on a Saturday afternoon last June when it was hellish!

It comes across to me the airport is pinning its hopes on people eating in the restaurants and food outlets, and spending their time in these, and then they have no need to add additional seating!

I've just come to conclusion now, it is best not to go through to departures until 45-60mins before your flight, unless you want to board the flight stressed and with a migraine!

I think the airport have all but abandoned any free seating areas as two proposed areas are now planned as retail.

Century Park

For those that are interested there is a interesting letter , dated 6th Feb , relating to the new access road to Century Park.
Concerns have been raised by LLAOL regarding the loss of the long stay car park, Hire car companies and traffic flow. the planned closure of vehicle access via Percival Way to just cycle and pedestrians and the new junctions.
Seems they are not impressed that all this could start at the same time as the works for the DART as well.

Can't post the link but it's available on the council planning portal.
Simple search : Century Park 17/02300/EIA Application

Highway England are not impressed either and want 6 months to fully understand the implications on their road network.

As for LLAOL who are Aena, they are not happy at all. Basically they are saying that the council and LLAL have lost the plot. Also the building of the new dual carriageway through the back of the airport will cause major problems with traffic flows. No account has been taken of the airports internal bus service and that road junctions have been planned in isolation and that the council are in breach of article LP1 which states that the airport must not be affected by any work.

Think they have been losing the plot for several years now judging by all the overruns and delays!

It is surprising how far back this redevelopment work was actually started.

The old arrivals area closed on 31st May 2015 so it will be around 3 years before the new arrivals area is opened and that doesn't include the baggage reclaim area.

The first part of the main terminal to be boarded up for the expansion of security area took place on July 14th 2015. That won't be completed until at least the latter half of 2018.

In the meantime the cost has gone from £100 million to £110 million to £120 million to the latest cost of £150 million with the project now well over a year late.

Been mentioned on the MAN thread that Menzies are losing the EZY ground handling at LGW/LTN and STN in this region
Anybody know who is picking up this work at LTN?, appears Stobart are taking over at STN.

Race to the bottom. Swissport lost their Wizz contract to some Italian mob so have next to no work so maybe they have undercut Menzies.

The airport will not let 1 ground handerler have the WIZZ & EZY contract. It’s just too much work to manage at Luton that’s why swissport couldn’t handle EZY years ago so putting in a bit now makes sense.

A rumour that was running round a few months ago says DLH will put in a bid to handle EZY like they do at LGW, heard it’s been very successful there.

Azzurra also have a clause in the WIZZ contract that they can’t take any new work in the first 12 months. This eliminates any contracts up for renewal this year.

One of the biggest passenger gripes at Luton is the amount of time it takes to get luggage to the belts. Renewing contracts seems to mean less staff to do more work.

It’s all down to cost

The early shift is very well staffed
Late shifts are staffed ok
But the night shifts are staffed to a “skeleton” crew, this means 1 ramp crew, 2 on a good night after 22:00 to meet and offload everything

We see most nights the ramp guys meeting everything then working there way back to the beginning and ofloading, this is where most of the baggage delays happen

Still suffering from the MON effect but still upwards LLA welcomes 1 million passengers in January - London Luton Airport

22.00 seems a bit early to go the skeleton crew. If it was 23.30 much of the problem would go away I would think at least in the winter

From the press release.

A lack of 4 non stop trains an hour won't stop the airport reaching 18 million although it would be nice just like more seating in departures which the airport does have control over. Also it seems that Luton has forgotten about Southend in its press statement.

Interesting flight tomorrow Vueling to GRENOBLE. I did not know Vueling did charters - half-term school ski flight I would imagine.

Almost certainly...
Charters from STN early tomorrow by Smartwings,Ernest & Transavia to the snow resorts.

Vueling 2x Grenoble from STN this PM amongst more than half a dozen airlines operating ski charters ex STN today.

Isn’t this a LTN thread?

I was thinking the same:confused:

With LTN passing 1 million passengers again last month Luton doesn’t feel that busy passing that figure anymore so maybe that is the airport’s sweet spot at the moment as work carries on with the redevelopment.

Reply to c3b with his post he "did not know Vueling did charters"...

A tour of the CTA and multistory before the route changes in May.

Best to right click and copy the URL and open a new window for the option of a full screen

If Meccano made multi-storey car parks.....

The Meet n Greet video is only telling (at best) half the story. It might be helpful to show the signs in arrivals and the route for pax. They do not say if you have to stay with the vehicle - or can go into the terminal (I guess not but they do not say). Further, they do not say how much it costs, or if there is a maximum time of stay.

Far be it from me to suggest that LLA have produced something that is half-baked ...

That video is from a private company that operated from the short term car park but now operates from the multistory. I personally would not trust that company to look after my car as I have seen the type of drivers they use as they take the cars off airport to re-park them. The company has put in a planning application to build a reception centre off Eaton Green Road in a former Vauxhall car park next to the Easyjet staff car park and will bus passengers to the terminal.

The airports in-house meet and greet priority car park operation operates from the floor below. They used to park cars exclusively on the top two floors but with the loss of the short term car park many of the cars are now taken to a piece of waste ground between Airport Way and New Airport Way which is opposite the Ibis. The area isn't even fenced off.