Could KLM return to STN?
 

Thank you so much for those insights all of you, genuinely appreciated :) Before the rise of FR, STN was clearly a very different place back then to the airport it is today, with more full service carriers, including KLM UK, Lufthansa and SAS serving the airport. The AMS route especially is now just a shadow of its former self at STN, seeing a maximum of 2 rotations daily, compared to KLM UK's 5-6 daily operation. It is a great shame that KLM didn't return to STN once Buzz was closed- it would be great to see them back at Stansted, where I'm sure they would be able to provide more frequencies compared to the EZY service. Plus a KL service from STN would be a great feeder route.

This has been mentioned many times before could KLM return. They would definitely do well on point to point traffic and connecting traffic. 3-4 times a day on Embraer’s would be ideal.
But KLM have never shown much interest in start Stansted operations. Never say never and coming out of a covid, a lot stronger than was expected it’s possible but I think still unlikely.

The last place you would want to transit via at the moment - see Schiphol airport thread.

To be fair Ryanair actually predate most full service carriers, Lufthansa's first route was to Munich which was in response to Go flying there, Frankfurt followed but Ryanair at this point already flew to Hahn - this was one of Ryanairs earliest non Stansted-Ireland routes. SAS have had a number of stints but again first Oslo was started in response to Color Air, Copenhagen to Go. At points in the late 90's/early 00's some routes had 3 carriers competing (e.g Frankfurt, Oslo, Glasgow) which was never going to last. 9/11 put pay to SAS and Lufthansa. I think what may prevent a Stansted return KLM now is a decent London City frequency, not just from KLM but from British Airways cityflyer. The same could be said for Gatwick, Transavia flew to Amsterdam for years but aside from British Airways (if we count them as full service) there is a few non low cost european carriers feeding a hub, Air Europa, Aer Lingus, TAP, Turkish come to mind

amc737

Anyone know which VIP flights have been coming in to STN today ?

Kuwait Gov A340-500 just landed. Japanese Gov 777-300ER x2 arrived yesterday.

V.I.P flights
 

Namibian Falcon
Sir Senegal A320
Egyptair A32n
Moroccan gov B737
Kuwait A340
Japanese B777
AF1
Brunei B748 (since positioned to LGW)
Canadian A310 + CL60

Many more

Regards

STN - Dole seems to have disappeared completely from FR's app, and all dates are showing as unavailable to book on the FR website. Perhaps a temporary glitch, a re-organisation of flight dates, some last minute negotiations over marketing support taking place, or maybe a winter seasonal route that will not resume later this year ?

I noted a few weeks back that there has been a chopping of routes and frequencies for winter compared to what was originally available.

FR domestic
 

With Ryanair reinstating service to Edinburgh and Belfast this winter, are EZY likely to continue their own services on these routes, given how far they have scaled back at STN? If they do discontinue EDI and BFS, that would leave them with just two routes from STN (AMS and GLA) :(

It depends on a variety of things - pricing timings etc.

Ryanair are predatory at STN- it is heir heartland and they will take on anyone where they perceive they can make money and potentially out compete. That's the way a market economy works.

I speak to lots of folk who think Easy should have stayed there including a pilot who works for Easy. They are I am afraid wrong for as long as it is dominated by Ryanair.

Does it matter as long as STN is connected to GLA and EDI?

From a customer standpoint, the lack of competition on both these routes, should EZY should decide to pull out, could result in higher fares charged by the sole remaining carrier on GLA and EDI (i.e. FR). So one could argue that more competition would benefit the passenger from a price standpoint, but also frequency perspective. Both EDI and GLA have been long standing routes for many years for EZY at STN, so it would be a shame to lose them.

What is even more concerning is if EZY decided on a total withdrawal from STN, as this would mean no service to AMS from STN.

EZY provide early services southbound and late northbound, which probably suits most PAX. FR will provide the opposite (the last southbound EZY flight is at 19.05). I wonder how successful it will be,

Have to agree, might be fine for those without an agenda but to get an almost full day working you would stick with EZY. If the flight goes tu as well, a good chance of getting on a Gatwick or Luton flight, with RYR you are left high and dry.

There were well publicised complaints from M'OL last time when UK domestics were pulled under much more favourable trading conditions with the aircraft deployed to "more profitable routes", I wonder what's changed? This will be surely be a Ryanair UK (RK/RUK) operation, I wonder if they need more routes and flying for internal reasons? BA haven't even brought back LGW-EDI so UK domestic is clearly still a challenge.

The rate of APD is due to be cut on UK domestic routes from April 2023
Rates for Air Passenger Duty - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The general EZY times of circa 8-8:30 northbound and 18:30-19:30 southbound also work well for those of us living in the south. Overwhelmingly when I’ve flown south on late flights (BA/BE/EZY) loads have been weak, but the aircraft coming in from London to pick us up always look much busier. This similarly applies to DUB but FR have run late flights to LTN and STN for years so I’m sure they know what they’re doing and what to expect.

Easyjet and Ryanair competed on these routes prior. Why would Ryanair restarting these routes scare Easyjet off now?
I can’t see Easyjet going from Stansted completely. Loads are always good and consistent. I flew to and from Edinburgh last week both flight on an A319 with 140 plus each way, at least 30 bags in the hold on the return and a good few people buying bits onboard to.

Emirates A380s? https://www.key.aero/article/are-emi...oming-stansted

During the summer just finished, Jet2 flew STN-Bourgas from mid May to the end of September. Bourgas is flown by Jet2 from multiple other bases in the UK as well. All predictable stuff that you would expect from Jet2

Jet2 have chosen to operate the route in 2024 but not in 2023. Was this just a c*ck-up by somebody, lack of aircraft or some other reason for skipping a year ?