Change of topice without starting a new thread:

Guantánamo actors questioned under terror act after film festival
Any 'from the horses mouth'??
Is this report correct?

They were only detained an hour which is about the time it takes for the luggage to turn up these days at Luton. While the detained six had comfy seats to sit on the rest of the masses were left standing in the baggage reclaim area with nothing to do except count the broken floor tiles.

I see that passengers using Stansted Airport may soon be offered web check-in services. The news comes after the airport announced it is installing new barcode scanning technology.

The new technology will allow airlines using Stansted airport to create websites where passengers can print off boarding cards from home, enabling them to bypass check-in desks.

This must put Luton at a disadvantage as it tries to attract passengers.

Thanks LTNman, someone has now opened a thread in R&N (expect it here soon!).

STN will never get the majority of my travel for as long as I live 15 miles from LTN and 50+ from STN. I imagine that a lot of people work out the mileage and time (such as M25) before choosing their departure point. In the past, that distance has more than neutralised the price advantage to the same destination from the two fields.

It seems that the Aer Arran service between LTN & LRT, due to start on 26 March, is now no longer bookable for that date. First bookable flight appears to be Monday 15th May, some seven weeks later.

Mon Schd increasing LTN-ACE from 1 to 3 flights weekly from Nov.

ZB LTN-PMI/GIB is not bookable after the 28OCT05. Looks like the full schedule is not on yet.

easyJet are shortly to announce some imaginative new destinations from the UK, but I am not too sure if they are from Luton, but it would coincide with the rumour of a larger 700 base and the new office/maintenance facility in the old Brit 737 hangar?

= thin routes? Hope they give themselves a chance by using Luton and its vast catchment area

I am not at liberty to say, but eyebrows will be raised. If they are from Luton, then even more so! :eek: Are any additional 319's destined to go to Gatwick from the factory this summer? The new destination could be from Berlin however?

Monarch Luton Lanzarote winter 06/07. Lanzarote up from 1 to 3 flights per week. Tuesday and Sunday I think are the additions to Thursday.

Aer Turas DC-7 overrun 1974
 

When we were discussing the Challeneger overrun the other week I am sure someone published a link to photos of the Aer Turas DC-7 overrun in 1974. I cannot now find that, or via a Google search. I don't think I imagined it! Could someone kindly PM me with the link. Someone who was involved in the incident would like to see them. Ta.

The link is a bit iffy at the moment and comes and goes but they can be found here when it is working

http://doug3658.fotopic.net/p12346424.html

http://doug3658.fotopic.net/p12346425.html

Give it a rest LTNman! I travelled out and back through LTN only a couple of weeks ago and couldn't see that many 'broken tiles' (agreed, there was a handful that were taped over). Reckon you've got an obsession with broken tiles (or maybe you just suffered from a deprived childhood...??).

As for web-based (remote) check-ins: can someone explain just how this would meet the heightened pre-boarding security required by the DfT??

:confused:

January stats
 

Passengers 622,385 up 7.8%
year on year 9,179,597 up 20%

ATM’s 6182 up 13.5%
Year on Year 76160 up 16.9%

Not bad at all seeing Ryanair have cut back due to a lack of Pilot hours but then I think it was the middle of Jan 2005 that Ryanair expanded out of Luton with extra aircraft.

A quite excellent result! Anybody know how these figures compare to BHX, EDI & GLA's latest??

:ok:

Stats here http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport...Statistics.pdf

If I'm reading the figures correctly, for comparison:

BHX ATM 8114 (rolling total 113,069) PAX YTD 9.3m
EDI ATM 8961 (rolling total 116,195) PAX YTD 8.4m
GLA ATM 7094 (rolling total 96,846) PAX YD 8.8m
LTN ATM 6182 (rolling total 76,160) PAX YTD 9.1m

Be interesting to see total YTD movement figures i.e. including corporate flights, as LTN's account for approx 22% of its yearly total.

20% year on year growth is excellent (and well ahead of other major airports), but this is where it ends.
The Ryanair new aircraft drop out of year on year comparisons from February and in fact current FR ops are below last summer's levels.
However there are likely to be some 300,000 more Wizz pax from May onwards, more TOM from same time, plus more Aer Arann, Air Turquoise, Styrian, and perhaps some more easy later in the year.
IMHO it's touch and go whether LTN will hit the 10,000,000 mark in 2006.
Anyone in a betting mood?

I would have thought that it is better for Luton to have a period of low growth now so that the airport can catch its breath and get more infrastructure in place. Maybe even fix those broken floor tiles.:E

I see that Stansted http://www.uk-airport-news.info/stan...ws-240206c.htm has just started a 9 month programmed to resurface its 10,000 runway but this is from Luton’s website

New surface for London Luton Airport runway
24 February 2006
Work on resurfacing London Luton Airport's runway will begin on Wednesday 1st March.

The work, costing an estimated £16M will last for 9 months and is due to be completed at the end of November 2006.

The 2160 metre runway was last resurfaced in 1989 when the airport was handling less than 1 million passengers; today almost 10 million passengers fly through London Luton Airport each year.

The project will cost an estimated £16 million and will see up to 100 contractors laying asphalt and concrete and replacing over 600 runway lights.

To minimise operational impact, runway resurfacing can only take place at night and as a result there will be no flights arriving or departing from London Luton during this time. Flight schedules will not be affected as airline partners have already made adjustments to their timetables.

The runway will close from midnight to 05h45 from 1st March to 30th June and again at the same time from 1st October to 30th November.

Kathryn James, London Luton Airport Managing Director said "Resurfacing the runway at a busy international airport such as London Luton presents a number of complex challenges, so we have a programme of works specifically organised to minimise any disruption to normal airport operations.

It is extremely important we also manage and minimise the environmental impact and disturbance to neighbouring communities. Throughout the project we will closely monitor air quality and noise impacts.

Letters have been sent to those who live close to the runway explaining what will be happening and how it may affect the local community. Residents have been provided with an email address for further enquiries, [email protected] , alternatively any concerns can also be sent in writing to Navigation House, Airport Way, Luton, LU2 9LY."

Miss James went on to say "This project has been sequenced to ensure both London Luton and London Stansted runways are not closed at the same time as the airports act as diversion airports for several airlines."

Ends

Quote from the airport press release

Glad I keep better records than the press office. In the financial year ending March 31st 1989 Luton handled 2,911,493 passengers which was the highest total since March 31st 1974, while in 1990 the total reached 2,694,794. From there the airport went in decline until hitting a low in 1994/95 when 1,796,685 passengers used Luton.