The 53,000 sq ft of extra apron was handed back on March 24th. The additional temporary rented stands were parking up to 6 extra aircraft on the 2 stands, which just shows how much traffic Luton is turning away for a lack of parking.

Seems again that Luton has no spare night stands for 2018 although another 2 will be released for next year when the builders compounds go.

In 2020 more existing stands will go back to the airport so cutting biz jet parking again.

TUI Summer 2019
 

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/ho...eats-1-8431852

New routes to Heraklion and Thessaloniki (Halkidiki)
Continuation of Hurghada (Egypt) into Summer
Additional flights to Dalaman
+25,000 additional seats

Is the builders compound on 46(?) going to be removed when Pier B comes into service? Airport literature around says that there should be trials of Pier B before Easter with it coming into full service just after. Costa, WH Smiths and M&S will be closing on the 3rd of April in Temporary Arrivals for around 3 weeks whilst their new shops in the extension are finished. Presumably this is the date (3rd) when the new arrivals route will open?

I can't see this builders compound being removed until around the end of the year due to ongoing work in the rest of the terminal, much of it hasn't even been started yet. If that is the case the bus stands on the south side of pier B can't open as the buses won't have an exit route.

Construction update
 

I was thinking that the removal of the funfair hotdog type kiosks was permanent to make the airport look more like an airport but with the builders fence being moved further across to accommodate building work to the front of the terminal I am thinking it won't be long before they are all put back. Passengers seem to like them though.
https://i.imgur.com/zfGINJp.jpg

The front of the terminal has made a temporary appearance due to the moving of the fence but will disappear soon when the boarding goes back up. Passengers will have a choice to enter and leave the terminal via ramps or stairs.
https://i.imgur.com/JMjb2PP.jpg

The temporary drop off zone continues to make progress. The second multistory will be located between the end of the drop off zone and the existing multistory.
https://i.imgur.com/5yzjzy9.jpg

As can be seen the pay barriers will face the south stands.
https://i.imgur.com/FdH2nDm.jpg

Meanwhile on the other side of the airport the terminal extension above the immigration hall is being clad.
https://i.imgur.com/F0N8Cj9.jpg

Great photos as ever and I for one always appreciate them.

Regarding the photo of the terminal extension where the former bus station was situated, I notice that lampposts have been installed, now I wonder how this will affect the highly anticipated ''canopy''!

Those lampposts were installed in 2015 as can be seen in this photo dated early 2016.
https://i.imgur.com/E9kmtj7.jpg

They are actually shorter than the surrounding lighting that is away from the front of the terminal so I have always assumed they will be covered/ just covered/ nearly covered by the canopy.

Hard to really tell in this photo but there is a size difference if a comparison is made of the column lengths.

https://i.imgur.com/7J6BJhK.jpg

Thanks for posting the above photo and yes in that view you can clearly see that the lampposts are indeed shorter than they looked in your previous photo so they could very well fit under the much expected canopy and I'm really looking forward to your photos of that once it's been installed.

I also look forward to the canopy as it will be the airports signature. The trouble is that I had my apatite whetted by this beauty in 2014.
https://i.imgur.com/97Wczf8.jpg

It doesn't look that good when this came out a couple of years later. As discussed sometime ago if this is the final shape it looks like stretched canvas. :yuk:
https://i.imgur.com/MyQSnF5.jpg

This is a comparison shot with my previous post of the entrance
https://i.imgur.com/cEtyHLN.jpg

Also the airport have published this which shows a curved wall
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/vp...75135744_n.jpg

Great photos once again - even though I work here every day I always look forward to your photos!

Oh what a lovely shade of grey.

I thought Addison Lee were the nominated private hire company, and yet it looks like another firm is queuing , or is that an old photo?

I quite like the shade of grey as it matches my car:ok: Addison Lee still operate the taxi fleet.

One thing that I have noticed over the years is that damage caused to the construction is not normally fixed. A machine gave the top of the entrance a glancing blow knocking it out of shape and it has just been left.

Over at the footbridge when the floor was being painted a wide 2 metre pool of grey paint ran down the white support pillar underneath and was never repainted white. The bridge was never cleaned either and was just handed over in a filthy state. The bridge is still in a filthy state with dust covered grimy stained internal walls.

Taxiway Foxtrot

Noticed this is now out to tender , expected start date July2018 - finished date May 2019.
Estimated cost £7 mil
They appear to be also tendering for de icing pads as well
It will be a code D taxiway which could either be 18 or 23 mtrs wide depending on a/c type expected to use it?

I assumed the 3 new taxiways were already won by the company that did the extension to Taxiway Bravo, did the enabling work for the DART and is now working in short term car park.

Wonder if the deicing pads/ pavements will be in a new area or still on the south stands? Will the work just mean the changing of the surface material or just the provision of drainage to capture the de-icer run off?

According to the airport recently, the new Taxiway F will be the remote de-icing in future.

Where's taxiway F going? Anyone got a plan?

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

If that is the case how would traffic from the main apron get to Foxtrot if departures were on 08 as aircraft would be crossing the bridge first as ATC sort of runs a one way system?

The builders have taken down the covers that hid the terminal extension.:yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk: All the retail units are boarded up as expected but I have to say the public concourse is lacking a ceiling. I am hoping it isn't finished but we will have to see as every service from trunking, cabling, ducting, angle iron and pipework is on show in various colours and everything stands out like a sore thumb as the services are quite low. A complete mess comes to mind if I am honest.

Outside the ground from the side of the new entrance is being butt up with the existing tarmac by the temporary entrance, which is why the fence was moved and looks like it could even open shortly. There is not a hint of any foundations being laid for the canopy so I am now wondering whether the canopy has been abandoned as once the new entrance opens the builders won't be able to fix a roof above passengers heads.

Worst case scenario is no canopy and no ceiling but with the building costs out of control and the airport about to rip up newly completed projects it might be the case that we should be grateful the airport didn't replace the tiled terminal floor with even more tarmac. :eek::{

They'll be bonkers if they don't make it Code E and 23m.

Its going to be code D. So what code is taxiway Echo? I know that is restricted to smaller wingspans which cause issues at Luton. Also if taxiway Foxtrot is D would that not make Delta also code D as it will run parallel?

https://www.theconstructionindex.co....tice-codenuts-

I believe the new Foxtrot will be Code D only because of constraints with adjacent car parking and ground issues. According to the AIP entry Echo is restricted to max B757/A321 which is at the lower end of Code D. Presumably the separation distance between the new Foxtrot and existing Delta will be sufficient to enable Code C on Foxtrot and up to Code D/E on Delta which maybe shouldn't cause to much of a problem given that the airport operates predominantly Code C aircraft.