Yep. Seems to be BA879 from St. Petersburg & BA254 from Lusaka.

5 BA aircraft at LTN earlier today, 2x767, 2xA320, 1xA319.

BBC said Luton took 7 BA aircraft but I counted only 6 this morning. 1 in the run up bay, 2 on the south stands, 2 on the east apron, 1 on the north apron and 1 on stand 60

Great to see so many BA jets at Luton, but not for the reason they arrived!

http://i19.ebayimg.com/02/i/04/9f/23/56_1_b.JPG

Anyone else noticed the appalling signage for motorists at the airport?

On either side of the tunnel there are large road signs indicating that a roundabout is being approached with each exit point carrying direction information. The signs were put up when the drop off zone was moved to the short term car park for 7 days before being put back in haste as motorists were using the roundabout as the new unofficial drop off point. This signage was never replaced so the signs still indicate that the exit point to the present drop off area is a no entry road and that cars are banned as the exit only leads to service road 2. Once motorists have ignored those signs and ventured through the barriers into the drop off area each and every left turn lane carries no entry signs that are attached to the lamp posts even though the road markings are indicating a left turn. Bizarre
:confused:

Anyone know if any redevelopment work has, or is due to start shortly, on the current c**p baggage reclaim area. The present facility is awful and creates an unfavourable welcome to all arriving passengers.

Any truth in the rumour that ryanair are holding a press conference at the airport next week. About what ?

I reckon that two new belts are being or have been put in. One enters the new enlarged baggage hall by the side of the old passenger entrance doors, which used to lead to passport control via a large hole knocked through the outside wall. The belt then disappears off outside into the distance to I assume the loading dock.

The other baggage belt has been installed in the service road in-between the new terminal and the new passport control/ immigration building which opened around a week ago. It looks like the belt will be loaded in the open unless work has yet to be finished in this area. It is then enclosed inside a large lid and climbs around 40ft before entering the baggage hall from the opposite end.

Looking from the new meeters and greeters area the baggage hall looks far from finished although all development work is meant to be finished by September which probably means Christmas.

I have noticed that a new dry lined wall now runs the full length down the middle of the old shopping area. I guess that the baggage area could be extended out to here.

The ongoing redevelopment work is due to be completed by 8th September when the expanded facilities will be 'officially' opened.

The next stage of development is likely to be a second pier to serve stands 46, 47 & 48 - this is allowed for within the current permitted development.


Since MoL has stated that Liverpool and Luton are Ryanair's best performing bases after Stansted and Dublin, no doubt there are additional services being planned for 2006. The Airport has already identified a peak-time need for four or five additional stands from the Spring/Summer 2006 season and so may shortly submit a planning application.

:ok:

The facilities might be officially opened on September 8th but in reality finishing off work will continue well past that date.

Heard on the lunchtime news that Helios have grounded their entire fleet as a result of yesterday's terrible tragedy. Their daily flight into LTN from LCA , seems to have landed at LTN this morning at 11.17, some 90 Mins later than scheduled. Anyone know what aircraft operated this service in view of the above.

Deepest sympathy to all those who have lost loved ones in the accident.

I am hearing 3 based Thomson 757's for next summer, May-Oct inclusive, with minimal 'W' patterns?

Still talk of Thomsonfly, extra Ryanair, pity not a lot more from easyJet until it is a Bus base in 2007?

The 'extra' stands must be on the site of the Short Term Car Park to fit in with the pier extension??

EOS seem to have their act together, recent FAA observed flights using Stansted have gone rather well. Where does this leave FlyFirst operating Low Cost First Class to New York from London's finest?

http://static.zsl.org/images/width15...04-web-305.jpg

Buster

Certainly 2nd edition brochures for S06 seem to confirm 3 x Thomson based 757s for the entire summer period with hardly any Ws. Indeed, for the peak summer period it looks like 4 x based for 3/4 days a week, due to increased freqs. Verona & Bourgas appear as new destinations from LTN.

Looks like further expansion by ryan seems fairly definate now from March, whereas easy, who knows.

As for Fly First, soon to be renamed, Fly Never, I think you can kiss that goodbye.

easyjet maintenance
 

Buster, did your Asian easyjet maintenance thoughts in June just go Swiss?

https://www.easyjet.com/EN/News/sr_t...e_support.html

Britannia Summer 06
 

Now had time to do a fuller analysis of the 2nd edition Thomson brochure.
There is an increase of 14 Britannia flights per week over 2005. Assuming 200 occupied seats per flight over a 25 week season, that equates to an additional 140,000 passengers next summer.
Changes as follows:

Bourgas - 1 per week, new destination
Corfu - 2nd weekly flight added
Alicante - up from 2 to 5 per week
Malaga - as ALC
Ibiza - Fourth weekly flight added
Kos - dropped (1 pw in 2005)
Palma - Up from 4 to 8
Mahon - as CFU
Rhodes - down from 2 to 1 per week
Tunisia (MIR) - as Bourgas
Dalaman - Up from 1 to 2.

It looks like an attempt to add capacity to the popular loco destinations, and grab a slice of their action. Particularly PMI, ALC, AGP & IBZ.
Isn't it about time one of the locos added LTN-IBZ daily, at least in summer?

Currently on Thomsonflights.com there are only 3 based airframes, the web site is not showing the 4th?

http://static.zsl.org/images/width15...04-web-305.jpg

Another good month in July. Pax up 21.7% to 911,772. Rolling 12 months up 22.7% to 8,619,477. August should see the 1m pax/month barrier broken.

Great month at LPL likewise.

Yes, the rolling year for LPL is near to 3.9million pax up by over 20%.

When I arrived into LTN yesterday and passed through into the new arrivals area( a big improvement on the old one)), I noticed, among the many new desks for onward travel, one for Terravision. Although it was unmanned at the time, I assume then, that Terravision are shortly to start Low Cost coach travel into London from LTN, as they currently do from STN. Certainly, if this happens, they will add to a very substantial number of land travel options into London and to many points around the country.

Anyone know ?

I have no idea if it is an increase, but expect 14 easyJet Boeing's based for winter 05/06.

Looked last week at www.thomsonflights.com only showing 3 based aircraft for next summer. Might have changed this week though?

One million passengers (or close to) through the tinminal in August...AMAZING!

Stansted still ahead Year Ending 31st July 05
12 month rolling totals (terminal pax)

Heathrow - 67,744,436 up 1.9%
Gatwick - 32,399,161 up 5.6%
Stansted - 21,704,443 up 6.8%
Manchester - 21,685,741 up 5.4%
Birmingham - 8,964,746 down 0.4%
Glasgow - 8,717,959 up 4.8%
Luton - 8,619,477 up 22.7%
Edinburgh - 8,269,376 up 6.3%

Luton should overtake Birmingham soon, Edinburgh has been passed, Glasgow shortly?

Add into the equation the fact that Luton is still one of the busiest airfields in Europe for Biz Jet flights!

http://static.zsl.org/images/width15...04-web-305.jpg

swefly

looks like swefly are dropping there 3 weekly flights from LTN & LBA to 2 time weekly from September. The Airlines Lahore - Skavasta also drops to 4 time weekly instead of been daily.

looking at the new timetable it looks like all flights to LBA & LTN will be operated by the airlines B767-200 SE-RBV.

new timetable below in PDF.
http://www.swefly.com/files/Tidtabell_utrikes.pdf