Hitherto there have been three in the middle of the night (2 x 757, 1 x A300) and another A300 later in the night.

NMG's greater use of daytime would have helped, today's was running into STN before Christmas and before that in the Summer to LHR but I suspect LHR slots are more different to obtain now.

x4 DHL in the early hours today along with one at 9AM, that has got to be an increase.

LLA have issued a press release indicating that the passenger throughput in 2022 was 13.1 million. That's about 5 million below the planning cap, and yet numerous operators had their slot applications rejected.
The whole idea of planning caps was always ridiculous - this news just proves it to be another example of bureaucratic over-reach.

They all said that they had 12,000 departing passengers on Christmas Day.

Blame the airlines for under performing in a tough market so keeping other airlines out.

Plenty of slots and passenger capacity was actually available but there wasn't the passenger demand so I suspect consolidations had taken place after the slots were allocated.

Expect more of the same for 2023 with another 11 flights this Saturday to Geneva. So how many flights are really needed for the demand when there is no snow?

Slot blocking?



As I don’t have the official year ending December stats here are the rolling 12 month figures comparing up to November 2019 when Luton was on 17,924,619 passengers and now where the November rolling figure for 2022 passenger is 12,649,673

ATM’s

Rolling 12 months to November 2019

110,362 Scheduled ATM's

1,578 Charter ATM's

143,017 Total ATM's including cargo GA charter, GA private, other



2022 rolling 12 months to November 2022

83,613 Scheduled ATM's

1,009 Charter ATM's

116,870 Total ATM's including cargo GA charter, GA private, other.

The press release. https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/air/...-day-on-record

Seeing the airport operator refused to put in a penny and the Dart could take passengers out of the car, so could cost LLAOL money, maybe he is not looking forward to a drop in revenue.

Maybe the other end, I have no knowledge but I suspect slots are quite cherished in GVA and they can't be seen not using them. I'm sure the Lufthansa Group (Swissair) would love to suck up anything unused.

I think only x3 of the above departed in the early hours with a 757 repositioning to the runup bay to sit and await next work. If Cargo continues this way the new stands will not come soon enough.

Except those stands are not earmarked for cargo. Nor does an expanded cargo operation have a place in Luton’s plans as cargo is viewed as stand hoggers.

Too short and narrow

With Amazon closing it's Distribution centre at Hemel, Dunstable becomes more important and Marston Gate up near Bedford I would have thought continued connectivity would be a priority for the whole Beds, Herts & Bucks region.

When Amazon pulled out of SEN they said it was part of a strategic switch from air to road

I don't see ASL scaling anything back and are they not a big Amazon contractor? Convenient PR for another failed operation from SEN.

Summer 2023
 

I had my usual close look at planned Summer 2023 schedules over the weekend. I compared total movements (departures and arrivals) on the first Monday in August (not exact science, but useful comparison). Here's a summary:
Year 2019 2022 2023
easyJet 156 130 142
Wizzair 136 102 122
Ryanair 44 38 38
Others* 24 16 12
TOTAL 360 286 314

* others are TUI, El Al, Sun Express & Fly One

So overall movements are back to 87% of what they were in 2019 suggesting plenty of slots not yet used. Not sure what has happened to Blue Air slots?
The schedules seem to indicate 24 based easyJet, 13 based Wizzair (which seems a lot - not sure if anyone can confirm that), 6 based Ryanair and 1 based TUI.
I'm sure some schedules may change between now and August.

It is starting to look like the road access and forecourt to the Dart at Parkway isn’t going to be finished in time for the planned opening rumoured to be for Easter. Started in June 2022 it was planned to be a 12 week project.

Temporary large wooden posts, together with 3m high sheets of boarding, are being erected where the temporary walk is located to the railway station so blocking the view of what should be the forecourt and drop off area. At the moment portable temporary wire fencing is in place that keeps the public out of a messy building site.

LTNman How is the new 100 stands/ Delta taxiway & 42 & 42L work going? Ready for 1st Feb?

Anyone who fancies volunteering for public trials of the DART can now do so here:
https://subscribepage.io/XL9GMZ?utm_...lunteer+trials

Construction update
 

All depends whether you are talking about 1st February 2023 or 2024. I would think a late spring early summer is the most likely time for an opening.

Photos taken yesterday

There will be a very good reason why the new apron size hasn’t been maximised but I don’t know what it is. As can be seen a short cut is being put in from the service road.
https://i.imgur.com/jLKB5Kw.jpg

Most of the new apron has yet to receive any concrete.
https://i.imgur.com/UAPMLT1.jpg

The most advanced section plus the strip attached to Delta
https://i.imgur.com/ptfCLI6.jpg

The least advanced section by the south apron is being pile driven with shuttering being installed. This will allow the ground to be dug out as the 2 aprons are at different heights.
https://i.imgur.com/WtZ5sUk.jpg

As for 42 and 42L, I didn’t take much notice but I thought they were open. A Notam states they will close for a month starting on 23rd January. Delta has barriers across it, which can just be seen in the above photo, level with the end of the southern apron allowing for an aircraft to park on Delta.

As for Parkway, the 12 week construction of the forecourt is now on week 28. All very strange. As there is hardly any progress it was not worthy of an updated photo.