Possible. I think it's probably more likely STN will lose an airframe or two if they can pick up Gatwick slots. That's assuming EZY are allowed to bid for them, or aren't out bid by BA or Norweigen who want to ramp up long haul at Gatwick

EZY can probably always get STN slots, though it's unlikely FR, TOM or TCX will want to jump into LTN so I guess Wizz is the on,y airline likely to scoop up the slots. *if* ezy do get the bulk of Gatwick slots then it's conceivable LTN may lose an airframe for a time

I hope another airline comes in and replaces Monarch and the slots are not absorbed by the big existing carriers based at LTN... While I appreciate the airline had a far smaller presence at the airport, that compared to other carriers, I think the airport needs to try and continue to diversify its portfolio as much as possible, and try not to be so reliant on on the likes of easyJet and Wizz...

The only actual routes lost is Gibraltar, Dalaman (think TOM might operate it as a charter route) and Ovda, and just shows the competition Monarch were up against, and this is just at Luton! Will be good to see Gibraltar and Dalaman brought back, but not sure if Ovda brings much value?

Im not sure we'll see easyJet adding much additional frequency to the old overlapping routes, as this just dilutes the current fares on these routes and frequencies might only get added closer to the start of Summer 2018, if and when existing flights get booked up.

Im not too sure how realistic it is another carrier will expand or open a new base at Luton, would be great to see Vueling grow, but not too convinced of that either, as it has remained static for the past year or two.

I think 2016 was Luton’s year with 2017 and so far 2018 being Stansted’s years for new airlines particularly jet2.

With plenty of stand capacity now available with the demise of Monarch and with the new stands that are now complete there will be no rush to grab them in fear of missing the boat. Factor in the spare capacity that has come on tap at Gatwick, the push at Stansted for new business and it is unlikely Luton will see a rush of new carriers. Luton’s bottom place Which survey of 29% will not help either or it’s focus on just low cost carriers.

Might be the case that Signature could get back the use of stands 16-19 for overnight parking if they asked nicely until they are needed again.

Ovda
 

If a London-Ovda route returns, it will almost certainly be from Luton or not at all. Ovda / Israel is offering some hefty subsidies to airlines bringing in foreign tourists and Ryanair has made use of this in a big way. The only catch is that while routes like Bratislava-Ovda have had healthy load factors, Luton-Ovda has sometimes had quite mediocre load factors - not sure if there is enough demand for a 5h30 flight to a destination which is expensive in GBP terms

New
 

While I am sure ex-Monarch pilots and cabin crew are already on the ball looking for jobs, I saw this on LinkedIn and thought I'd post...

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...003_114514.jpg

Wizz Air - Career Opportunities

Also BBC Three Counties Radio were reporting easyJet were holding recruitment days this coming Thursday and Friday.

Probably a very different culture and working conditions to Monarch, but in this day and age we all need a job to pay our rent /mortgages to keep a roof over our heads and put food food in our mouths!

Hope it helps.

IAG recently stated that after rapid expansion by Vueling, growth for 2017 was cut right back after many issues at Barcelona, but shareholders were to expect further expansion from the airline during 2018.

Rumours of LTN and LBA bases for Thomas Cook next year to replace some of the lost Monarch capacity. Anyone know any more?

Monarch was a scheduled service airline while Thomas Cook isn't. Seems unlikely but what do I know.

You can buy Thomas Cook seat only on many outlets as it is a scheduled airline now,

But not in the same sense as Monarch were, even TUI sell a proportion of seat only sales but at the end of the day they are basically a charter airline just like Thomas Cook are, both affiliated airlines to their respective inclusive tour companies. Although Thomas Cook operate scheduled flights to the United States of America from Manchester all of their other flights are charter flights on behalf of the parent company Thomas Cook Holidays.

Thomas Cook Airlines and TUI are the last remaining British in house charter airlines affiliated to their respective holiday brands.

All Thomas Cook flights are available for purchase in the GDS under the code MT.

Can a MAX 8 reach the east coast of N American from Luton's runway?

I fully assume Greybull will hand the Boeing order over to another airline to operate long haul. Birmingham seems more likely though. Swaffield in the days before 'Admin' set up a consultancy company. As far as I am aware, the orders for MAX 8 have not been cancelled by Greybull, but they have placed the 'short haul' operation into Administration having taken KPMG on board to sell the short haul and 'failed'. Funny eh, how KPMG picked up the 'Admin' work!

Anyway, can Luton-Providence be flown on a hot day fully loaded from Luton?

Now why would you mention an airport which already has a European carrier with significant presence and ties with a Luton based airline and has other MAX8's on order........?:oh:

Thomas Cook based routes:

AYT: Tue/Fri
BJV: Sun
CFU:Thu
DLM: Mon/Wed/Thu/Sat
NBE: Tue/Fri
ADB: Sat
LCA: Wed
PMI: Mon

Any source for that? Presume 1 a/c and a leased in one at that?

I think Thomas Cook placed considerable numbers of passengers on Monarch flights- goes back to the days when Airtours took much of the Saturday Palma etc. capacity on those A300s - remember MON 1326/7 anyone? They operated Corfu this year perhaps because Monarch no longer went there.

Unless they placed them on EasyJet flights , they would now be seriously short of capacity ex LTN next season. Whether these will be TCX aircraft or Smart Lynx etc. of course remains to be seen.

Enfidha and Izmir would be new though and surprised not more Palma.

13 flight a week so would this be a Luton based aircraft? Seems like there is plenty of opportunity to add more flights otherwise the aircraft will be spending most of its time on the ground.

Not really.

I have a friend who flies for TCX. He doesn't do more than two sectors a day and the aircraft only usually two return flights - one short (e.g. PMI or ALC) and one long e.g. AYT or MJV) or two long ones. So there isn''t really much slack there apart from Saturday when I suspect the aircraft will either do a W-pattern into somewhere else or say a second PMI will be added during the school hols.

TCX and TUI haven't got sucked into the short turnaround high utilisation game that the Loco's have- they still operate as they have for years and 1-1.5 hour turnarounds are the norm.

As 22/04 has just stated there are a lot of near 4hr flights.
Just checked for Enfidha in June and it's a 06.30 dep so yeah one based a/c it seems.