Inflite is pretty busy with many flights. Generally the busiest of them all overall. Stansted will get the big widebody stuff as there is nowhere else to go. Sometimes, like when Wimbledon is on, it seems to be neverending bizjet flights, but the northside will take some parking away. the plan is probably to get rid of all of the bizjet stuff in the end. but that is very very long-term.

Air India's new presence at LGW must be at a loss from STN?

Indeed it's a big failure on MAG's part in my view. There's no meaningful business demand or interlining agreements here. Just high volume P2P long-haul from a VFR market mainly based in north London. STN should easily be able to win this kind of business.

The midlands market will drive past STN on the way to LGW. Stansted is lost in my view. What are they targeting? MAG need to have a rethink of strategy.

Not sure they will drive past as there are plenty of options 'up norf'. What has happened to all these startups? Even Luton was linked with one at one point!
TATA obviously own Air India now, is there linked business south of the river?

The Midlands market is served from BHX to both Delhi and Amritsar non stop.

What puzzles me is where the market is for ATQ from Gatwick, I would have thought that if AI was looking for a second London airport STN or LTN would have been closer to the Punjab VFR customer base.

And as AI already had a presence at STN pre-covid, what went wrong?
I know is a way off yet but remember WZZ have 47 321XLRs coming which makes London to India possible. They have stated no interest West to US currently so South & East must be in their long term plans.

I agree with the above. I can see the attractiveness of Goa from LGW if they’re looking at its association and success with long-haul leisure but STN is surely a better fit for the rest of the operation. Especially with the Cambridge tech corridor on its doorstep.

Is Luton really viable for a flight to India taking maybe 9 hours, and a not-particularly-long runway ? And yes, with all the extra luggage (and weight) that flights between the UK and India seems to attract. Would you put business class pax through Luton, particularly if your flight is a mix of economy and premium class pax ? It's not the same as an business-class-only aircraft with just 100 seats all of whom are paying a premium fare. Since Tata took over, they will want to get rid of the cr*ppy perception that Air India has sometimes had in the past
If Air India is to open a base other than LHR... then LGW, STN, or growing BHX seem to me the strongest contenders.

Note - before this degenerates into a Luton v Stansted war and I'm accused of being anti-Luton.... I flew through Luton over 20 times in 2022

Isn't Air India moving the lower revenue routes to LGW and using the slots at LHR for the premium heavy routes?

No, no. I wasn't suggesting any sort of routes by a 321XLR from Luton. I doubt the terminal or runway would be suitable but courting them at STN before they get a stronger hold at LGW. Linking to the Middle East will come first for them as they haven't been too successful in the bucket & spade sunshine routes yet.

Air india will be flying from Stansted this summer.

to where? They just announced 4 routes from LGW and increased frequencies from others at LHR but nothing about STN.

Really?

Emirates go twice daily from 1st May.

Twitter

At last some brighter, but expected news.
Emirates upscaling at BHX & GLA as well so nearing pre-covid levels.

flight in the GDS already from 1 May, but no classes loaded as yet on new flights

OUTBOUND
01MAY MON STN/Z¥1 DXB/¥3
1EK 66 F4 A0 J7 C7 I7 O7 H0*STNDXB 1455 0100¥1 77W M 0 /E
Y9 R9 M9 B9 U9 K9 Q9 L9

XEK 68 F A J C I O H *STNDXB 2110 0710¥1 77W M 0 /E
Y R M B U K Q L

INBOUND
01MAY MON DXB/Z¥4 STN/-3
1EK 65 F4 A4 J7 C7 I7 O7 H0*DXBSTN 0850 1325 77W M 0 /E
Y9 R9 M9 B9 U9 K9 Q9 L9

2EK 67 F0 A0 J0 C0 I0 O0 H0*DXBSTN 1415 1845 77W M 0 /E
Y0 R0 M0 B0 U0 K0 Q0 L0

Flights now on sale. First, business and economy are available to book.

Both Vietnam Airlines (B787) and China Cargo Airlines (CK/CKK) (B777F) have requested slots at Stansted for the summer, with the latter 3 days per week. Source from staff at the airport

I have heard similar as well. I have also heard from a duty manger in the terminal that Vietnam reps were being shown around the airport over the past week.