I suspect STN's future EZY schedule will look a bit like what they have from BHX, with the addition maybe of AMS. Could still give at least a dozen or so daily flights.

Could very well image domestics + Amsterdam + (Winter) Geneva.

There’s more to Stansted than Cambridge you do realise? Or I certainly hope you do? There’s the whole of Essex and Suffolk, Hertfordshire as well as NE London. Yes LCY maybe close to some parts, but it’s going into town via the car/M11/A13 which is always busy and like a game of roulette to judge journey times. KL out of LCY is generally quite expensive too. I’m pretty certain that the UK’s fourth busiest airport could continue to sustain an Amsterdam link. Time will tell, but I’m not so certain it’ll be dropped by EZY.

Southend however has no EZY domestics to my knowledge? That’ll be interesting to see what they do there.

It would be easy to turn the Amsterdam service into an inside W pattern such as LGW-AMS-STN-AMS-LGW. I think the three most likely "survivors" are the Amsterdam, Glasgow and Edinburgh services. The Glasgow and Edinburgh services already use Scottish based aircraft so no changes are required,

there were no first wave departure slots available at Stansted so it will be interesting to see who, if anyone, takes the seven first wave slots that Easyjet will vacate.

plus Belfast

Why would they need to operate AMS as a W? AMS is an EZY base. I would have thought that several other EZY bases such as Berlin, Geneva and Milan would have enough traffic to sustain a route.

The best possible outcome for STN would be that EZY build a new network inbound from bases like BCN, BER, GVA, NAP, CDG, NCE while cutting back those routes from LTN to facilitate the previously announced new routes and capacity increases in response to Wizz - but that of course would seem very unlikey.

BFS, EDI, GLA, AMS and on the outside chance possibly CDG, NAP and a winter GVA I think may all be that's left.

Throw into the Mix, AMS slots are few and far between as well. Expect some juggling of times but basically the same number of rotations but with away crews & aircraft. EZY do not generally do W routes from UK bases, but the idea has gone around the scheduling guys before but the crews would not like it but who knows currently when everyone is trying to keep their job. It would move from EZY UK to EZY Europe to work out.

This is all very convenient for Ryanair.
Watching for news on Ryanair’s Luton base.

EZY STN base
 

As others have said, unsurprising, yet sad news. This has definitely been in the making for some years now, with some of the former EZY routes such as CPH, ALC, CIA and GVA having been taken over by FR or withdrawn completely, and the number of based aircraft declining in favour of LTN/LGW expansion. I can certainly see EZY retaining some presence at STN, at least domestically, since FR appear to have given up on most of those routes. Internationally, it will be interesting to see what happens, especially with long standing routes like AMS. If that goes amongst others, no doubt LS will be keen to swoop in, perhaps even increase the number of based aircraft in place of EZY's withdrawal. Who knows, maybe KLM might be willing to give STN another shot at the AMS route.

Does EZY own their first wave slots?

It is to be assumed they do, since they were inherited from Go and stretch back to the mid/late 90s when the airport was far from full.

Malta's AirX Charter to launch scheduled leisure charters
 

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/n...isure-charters

Disappointing, as from the east side of London it's far more straightforward and quicker to get to Stansted than Luton - that's over in Bedfordshire.

The downside of a W pattern is that you can't readily do early morning departures, and thus miss out on the business market for these. I can remember back in Go days the huge check-in queues for the early departures, many in suits. Has that market really all gone ?

Totally agree. From the east side of London, Luton is a total ball ache. Heathrow might as well be on the other side of the planet, and Gatwick you have to grapple with the Dartford crossing and the M25. London City is a great little airport if travelling by public transport, but it comes at a price that if you’re paying out of your own pocket often hurts.
Jet2 will be the real winners on the sun routes to Palma, Mahon, Ibiza, Malaga, Dubrovnik, Dalaman etc. In fact I think they won that war from day one when they appeared at Stansted. A lot of posters on here were certain they’d fail.
Domestics heading inbound from Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh with EZY will continue to work as they will always feature an early morning in the direction of Stansted.

When you compare the losses at Stansted, it’s still small in comparison to the losses seen at Gatwick for instance. One less loco might pave the way for something more ‘full service’ in the future.

Aviation will bounce back in the next few years.

Jet2 have certainly made a real success of Stansted so far, their customer service as well there really being spot on at check-in etc. I do wonder if however they are now eyeing Gatwick, which they haven't served before but will have slots going, for their next stage of expansion, it will give them a whole new market.

Not if you are one of the 3,500 at risk!

And Stansted is a nightmare to get to for the areas you have listed above as travel is a two way process.

I’ve not said it isn’t. But it does suit a large part of London and it’s surrounding. My point being Stansted is more convenient departure point for some of us Londoners. It all depends where you are coming from it does serve a large catchment. We’ve been here too many times before to go over this old chestnut again.