Luton to Vigo has tickets on sale for the summer peak at Iberia's website

Falcon - it has puzzled me as to why Air Nostrum would decide to put flights from Luton to Spain on sale so late in the spring. They are not a startup airline and LTN-VGO has been operating each summer for the last three years - you would think a decision on their network and aircraft availability would be made at an earlier stage in the year.

That said it is indeed concerning how the orange and purple brigades are becoming dominant at Luton. Ryanair and TUI are becoming little more than bit players

I think you will find that Air Nostrum are struggling for aircraft this summer, some internal CRJ flights have been downgraded to ATR's - a change that affects my flight up to MAD in a couple of weeks - and they are also using Canaryfly aircraft on some routes.

If Vueling are not continuing I wonder if the green airline in the same group might step in with those juicy slots with Dublin, Cork or Shannon, just a thought.

Would the early slot work for US connections? That's the only reason why I think the green airline would do it.

Views from the terminal are somewhat limited these days so a quick trip to the car park roof revealed just how busy the airfield was first thing today. Just another day I guess.

Both photos taken within a minute of each other.

https://i.imgur.com/gtxT7Lb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4dmdBrJ.jpg

1.49 million passengers in May, that is going some considering the amount of disruption during the month due ATC strikes and poor weather across Europe.

May is a Spring figure but times 1.49 million by 12 and the airport is just about at capacity.

I could notice that all 3 handling companies were well understaffed to cope with that amount of pax most days last month. On top of that the number of delays caused by late couches serving remote stands has increased. June so far seems to be similar to May. And obviously the road to terminal is big traffic jam on daily basis now. Also comparing the increase to previous years I can already see the chaos happening later in the year.

The European Commission (EC) has given the green light for UK global investment manager AMP Capital Investors and Spanish airports operator Aena Internacional to acquire joint control of London Luton Airport.

In April, private investment firm Ardianannounced plans to sell its 49% stake in the airport to AMP Capital.

At the time, AMP Capital said it would continue to develop Luton in partnership with Aena.

On June 11, the EC issued a statement approving the deal.

“AMP Capital, belonging to the corporate group of AMP Limited of Australia, is active in infrastructure investment and management services, and controls Newcastle International Airport as well as Leeds Bradford Airport in the UK. Aena Internacional is majority-owned by the Spanish statutory corporation ENAIRE and is active in the management of airport infrastructure. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns because of the limited impact it would have on the market,” the Commission said.

Since Ardian acquired 49% of Luton in 2013, more than £160 million ($223.3 million) has been invested in the north London Airport. Over that time, passenger numbers have grown from 9.7 million to 15.8 million in 2017, making Luton one of the UK’s fastest-growing airports.

I would think the latest temporary drop off zone will be open by the end of June. Drivers that have got used to getting in the left hand lane for the drop off zone will soon have to get into the right hand lane. So who looks at a road signs when you know where you are going? Those picking the left hand lane will end up on the service road.

For those with even short memories when the existing drop off zone opened it was expected to fix the chronic traffic congestion but it actually made the situation worse. In the first few days the traffic queue almost touched the M1 and set a new record. Lets just say the airport management where somewhat shocked at what was happening. This was in part due to a temporary pedestrian crossing from the short term car park and the infamous pedestrian crossing in the drop off area that still causes chaos today.

The new zone has no pedestrian crossings but 5 cul-de-sacs with half the kerbside in the first bay for disabled drop off. Again all traffic wishing to enter any of the 5 cul-de-sacs will have to filter into a single lane on the ring road. No doubt for the first few days a man will be directing traffic who will cause more queues as drivers stop to ask directions thus bringing the airport to a standstill.

Touch of deja vu for the airport in that every car leaving a cul-de-sac will be held up by a car queuing to enter bays 2,3,4 or 5. It will no doubt have the feel of the traffic layout from a few years back where they even tried traffic lights on the roundabout in the CTA before the traffic flow was reversed. Seems someone has a short memory as I link once again it will all end in tears.

Did I actually type couches? :) Airport Ops do coaches, so it's nothing to do with any handling company.

With Ryanair opening a new base at Southend, I wonder what this could mean for Luton?

The LTN base has been stagnent for around 5-6+ years with no new capacity and routes occasionally chopped and changed.

Could they eventually move Luton ops to Southend and extend that base further?

Only thing I can see preventing that is Michael O'Leary not wanting to hand peak morning runway slots and aircraft parking spots which are finite, to the likes of easyJet or Wizzair at Luton to easily expand! But in all seriousness with an airport like Southend having plenty of capacity, they could easily absorb Luton's Ryanair ops in addition to the routes and three aircraft just announced there.

Maybe just offering Luton a smattering of routes from other bases like Dublin and the popular Spanish routes.

I wonder when Ryanair's current agreement ends and if this could be a warning shot?