STANSTED - 2

[carbootking]

those new air conditioning units don't half make a noise sounds like someone is hoovering for hours on end but does keep the place cool

[FRatSTN]

Anyway... Moving on. Very impressive traffic growth last month despite the French ATC disruption. Compared to June 2013:


Passengers + 11.7%
Aircraft Movements + 6.4%
Cargo Tonnage + 17.8%


Interesting to see the sudden boost in cargo after seeing declines for the last few months. Anyone know why that is?

[Red Four]

Cargo, obviously mainly due to Manston closure and flights relocating.

[carousel]

The unit at the top of the towers are in fact smoke extract fans. There are actually 6 units 3 east and 3 west designed to clear the building of smoke in under two mins. The air con such as it is is housed in each of the trees (roof supports) and usually works very efficiently during the winter months.

[NickBarnes]

So tonight I had to book flights to Düsseldorf for Wednesday 17th of September/day return

Checked flights with Eithad Regional prices came to £117.48 return.

Checked flights with Germanwings/Eurowings came to £76 return with the extras included, ie seat selection.

Needless to say my business went to Germanwings, but just thought id check another date 15th october and the prices for each were the same.

So would seem Germanwings are offering the better deal to try and remove Eithad regional.

thought id post for those interested

[insuindi]

"So would seem Germanwings are offering the better deal to try and remove Eithad regional."

I'd say that is 80% of their reason for starting this route - defending the home turf and hoping that Etihad gets bored of seeing their money being burned.

[adfly]

Germanwings ~ Lufthansa, who have expressed their dislike for the MEB3 a few times now, so I imagine this is one of the reasons they are trying to push Etihad Regional off the route, as they never seemed too bothered when Air Berlin were operating it.

[NickBarnes]

Well made me book with Germanwings, as im sure it will with many people. So as you guys say, only so long Eithad will be able to put up with it.

[daz211]

When looking through the Stansted airport website I see that under flight timetable it still shows a drop box for winter 13 and summer 14
Has anyone any idea when this gets updated
as I'm looking for charter flights for winter 14 I would have thought
The winter program for charter flights would already be available ...

[Air Hop]

Does anyone know why flights are diverting from Stansted?

[HeathrowAirport]

"Just diverted to BHX from BFS STN shut as an aircraft on runway sunk into ground"

Reports of a loud bang heard. Lots of people talking about it on twitter.


A2471/14 - RWY 04/22 CLSD DUE SURFACE BREAKOUT. 25 JUL 21:33 2014 UNTIL 25 JUL 23:30 2014 ESTIMATED. CREATED: 25 JUL 21:47 2014

[Evey_Hammond]

Open again at the moment pending further landings and inspections...

[Hull City AFC]

A large hole has been found on the runway, hence the reason flights are diverting to other airports.

[OltonPete]

Landing now.

Three Ryanair and one easy to BHX, Qatar freighter to Heathrow and Jet2 freighter to East Mids were amongst the diverts.

Pete

[FRatSTN]

Several Ryanair's diverted to Luton and Gatwick as well plus another Ryanair to East Midlands. One EasyJet went to Southend.

[southside bobby]

Inaugural Germanwings up to thrice daily DUS-STN service flown this AM with CRJ900....Interestingly this service/City has a DLH code too,nice to see the DLH designator back in the screens @ STN...

[whitelighter]

Operating with a German Wings callsign though

[virginblue]

Well made me book with Germanwings, as im sure it will with many people. So as you guys say, only so long Eithad will be able to put up with it.

With that way of thinking, you will soon be without DUS flights from STN. Germanwings/Lufthansa is not interested in DUS-STN as a route, they are interested in driving Etihad Regional out of business. Once they have achieved that, they will pull out (or prices will go up significantly). Around 2000, Lufthansa had a sizeable presence at STN as part of a (failed) strategy to react to Ryanair and easyjet (flights from FRA, HAM, CGN, MUC, some operated by bmi and flightline). Needless to say, they stopped STN after a rather short while.

[jdcg]

I saw it as a backup move for when FR start CGN and 4U have to pull or reduce their flights. I think they'll slaughter Etihad on DUS. They're very popular with all the German expats in London.

[pamann]

I think you'll find the difference between Lufthansa and Germanwings is that Germanwings are an already established STN resident, so comparing them to the efforts of LH back in the day @ STN is somewhat unfair. However I have no doubt that they are trying (and will succeed) in seeing Darwin/Etihad off the route. It's just a shame we've said goodbye to AB.

I'm assuming the LH flight number allows for connections @ DUS?

[FEROMAN]

I see it's still not updated - slots should be finalised with ACL pretty soon which is when a confirmed schedule is released. At the moment it's still open to 'handbacks'.

[LadyL2013]

How often is 04 used? Been looking around, but can't seem to find any exact number.

[FRatSTN]

To my knowledge its about 35% of the time.

[LadyL2013]

Thanks for that. On of the he STN departure flight path tends to go over my house at about 7000ft and I was trying to work it out.

[Flightmech]

04 is used whenever the wind direction dictates it to be used. Just like any runway?

[FRatSTN]

Some airports like Heathrow have a "westerly preference", Manchester has a preference to 23L/R where even if there is an easterly wind but it's less than 5 knots they'll still use the preferential runway(s).


I think Birmingham has a preference to 33 as well. Don't know in any of you have ever heard BHX ATIS message: "Preferential use of runway 33 is in operation. Landing aircraft requiring runway 15 must state that it is for operational reasons", often when it's a light south/easterly breeze (it avoids landing a/c flying over Birmingham for 15 when the wind is only fairly light).


As far as I am aware Stansted doesn't have a preference to runway 22 (albeit it is used 65% of the time due to prevailing wind direction). If the wind is to go generally easterly regardless of strength, they'll generally switch to 04. Or they tend to keep it on 04 unless the wind starts to favour 22, where as some airports like Manchester will switch back to 23L/R really as soon as they can for preferential reasons.

[terrain safe]

Stansted preferential runway is 22 and will be used up to a tail wind of 5 knots.

[LadyL2013]

They were using 04 today so I presume tailwind was beyond that 5knot limit?

[FRatSTN]

EZY looking pretty cr*p again at STN for next summer.


Only one more route dropped (Sofia). Maximum 7 aircraft it seems at the moment (one less than this year). Suppose I should be grateful?

[ericlday]

Why should you be grateful ?

[FRatSTN]

Because if they go as far as even maintaining the number of flights and routes from Stansted these days it would be a miracle. In other words, it's another cut (rather expected) but could be worse. I agree it shouldn't really be something to celebrate or be grateful about in this growing business but that's EZY for you.

[jdcg]

I flew STN - BRQ today with FR. I've been flying predominantly thru STN for 16 years and today was the worst experience I've had there. Huge queues thru security (half the lanes seemed to be closed off for no good reason. It was off peak but still very busy), virtually no seats in the departure lounge after the tortuous new twist thru duty free and loud music everywhere. When MAG first took over I thought it was starting to show signs of improvement but it's as repellent as EMA now. Shame. EMA used to be my home airport before STN. MAG seem to be progressively ruining both places.
Conversely, now being able to take two bags onto FR was great. :hmm:

[jdcg]

I flew STN - BRQ today with FR. I've been flying predominantly thru STN for 16 years and today was the worst experience I've had there. Huge queues thru security (half the lanes seemed to be closed off for no good reason. It was off peak but still very busy), virtually no seats in the departure lounge after the tortuous new twist thru duty free and loud music everywhere. When MAG first took over I thought it was starting to show signs of improvement but it's as repellent as EMA now. Shame. EMA used to be my home airport before STN. MAG seem to be progressively ruining both places.
Conversely, now being able to take two bags onto FR was great. :hmm:

Also, saw a Swiss Avro RJ was taking off when we were boarding our plane. Why would it have been there? And saw two FR planes with orange winglets and tailfins. Are these leased in from somewhere?

[jdcg]

Sorry - don't know how I managed to duplicate posts here? :$
Mods - please delete the first one and this one. :-/

[Flightmech]

The Swiss Avro RJ was probably there for maintenance at Inflite. The Ryanairs you saw with orange winglets are the aircraft on lease to Ryanair from FlyDubai.

I agree with you about STN. I flew STN-CGN recently and it was awful in all aspects until you got out of the main departure lounge to the satellite. Hopefully its just a transition period.

[FRatSTN]

STN passengers numbers hit 2.03 million for August 2014, an 11.6% rise on August 2013.


For those of you who have been having poor experiences at STN, it's a shame to say the least. However I'm sure it has to be forgiven the fact that the place is being essentially ripped apart and rebuilt in large areas.


I am able to comment on this as I am very familiar with both STN and EMA airports. Personally I find EMA a great little airport. It's not the most glamorous airport I agree and is further room for improvement but it's efficient and it's quick, which for me is all the more important for a regional airport.


As for STN... You may want to have a look at this, which hopefully is going to vastly improve the passenger experience over the next year or two:


Phase 2 of Stansted?s transformation enhances retail (http://www.airport-business.com/2014/09/phase-2-stansted-transformation-provides-enhanced-retail-new-epassport-gates/)

[Skipness One Echo]

Stansted preferential runway is 22 and will be used up to a tail wind of 5 knots.
What's the noise abatement issue, it's green fields both ways surely....?

[Shed-on-a-Pole]

At some airports the gradient of the runway has to be factored into the calculation as well. It can be an influencing factor (uphill / downhill!), though I don't know the specifics for STN.

[davidjohnson6]

As far as I can tell, the new layout, and the article referenced by FRatSTN seem to confirm this, the whole purpose of the new layout of the departures area of the terminal is to enforce that all passengers take a lengthy and extensive walk through the shops past all the different shelves with particular emphasis on the duty free shop in the hope that passengers might spot an item they can be persuaded to buy. The route is circuitous to slow down those who walk and increase the time passengers spend looking at retail shelves. Those who have been shopping at IKEA will be familiar with this technique.

Fantastic for the person who flies once per year, arrives at a terminal 2 hours before flying and regards airport shopping as a great adventure.
For the person who uses the airport regularly, this is lousy.

[smallpilot]

Another reason to avoid Stansted. This really is the worst idea. So parents will have to drag their kids through their new 'retail experience' - I can see thats going to be popular -not!
Makes you wonder what planet some of these Airport Terminal designers are on!
Stansted is rapidly becoming the airport not to fly from.

[AirportPlanner1]

smallpilot - airport designers and planners are living on a planet where airlines including the legacies aren't keen on paying much for the facilities they use off the back of consumers wanting something for nothing, therefore the airport operators are chasing alternative revenue streams which includes maximising retail spend. STN is not the only place in which you will find such layouts.

[ATNotts]

AirportPlanner1

smallpilot - airport designers and planners are living on a planet where airlines including the legacies aren't keen on paying much for the facilities they use off the back of consumers wanting something for nothing, therefore the airport operators are chasing alternative revenue streams which includes maximising retail spend. STN is not the only place in which you will find such layouts.

You're right, and I detest it! I dislike shopping for shopping's sake when I'm not using an airport, but when I am using an airport (to fly from or to) what I want is an efficient check in and security experience on the way out - and most important, somewhere to sit should my flight be delayed, or I'm early. I don't need to be dragged round countless shops!

Coming back I want to be through immigration, and out of the place as quickly as possible.

Sadly, for the reasons stated, I'm unlikely to get that wish any time in the near future.

[Musket90]

Skipness

Possibly less airspace constraints on 22 than 04

[LTNman]

Just wondering if someone could tell me what the largest scheduled passenger aircraft is and who flies it in terms of seats on board?

[whitelighter]

Largest scheduled would be the TCX A321 I think with 214 seats

[Waldo1]

But who pays for all this? Us on our flight tickets? Didnt think so...additional revenue needs to be generated somehow or else the airports will be deserted due to the extortionate ticket costs

[FRatSTN]

Currently the largest is TCX A321 however they will base an A330 at STN next Summer for 6 weeks or so.


Plus TOM to Tunisia on Sundays will be operated by a LTN based aircraft next summer on a W pattern, which I believe will be a 757 but not 100% sure on that. You never know there may even be some kind of long-haul airline in the mix by then so could get a little more in the way of larger aircraft.

[whitelighter]

They are (according to rumour) about to start putting lounge(s) into Sat 1 so one assumes they must be anticipating someone wanting to use them

[Powerjet1]

Easy seem to have made a slight adjustment to the STN-CPH route. Whilst it was due to end at the start of the winter schedule when the route moved to LTN, easy are now offering two flights a week on a Thursday and Sunday from STN. This looks to be tapping into the leisure market for the run up to Christmas and the Christmas Markets etc. Flights now seem to end on the 11 January.

[LadyL2013]

I shall be going through STN today on my way to RHO. Haven't been to Stansted in over 10 years so will be interesting to see the difference. Sadly, there are far more flying harps, making the traffic far less interesting.

Are you able to get good views of the runway anywhere else other than the lounge?

[NickBarnes]

No not really only when your through to one of the 3 sat's, and yes all the flying harps makes the airport a lot less interesting than most!

[LadyL2013]

Just been through security. Took forever! 45 mins at the least.

[southside bobby]

Nice to see Cyprus Airways operating their inaugural scheduled service from/to Larnaca earlier today,transferring from LHR....

[TOWTEAMBASE]

Shame they aren't proper aircraft like they sent in the first time around, A310's and A330's if I remember rightly

[insuindi]

Germanwings appear to intent to reduce HAJ-STN to 6/7 for Summer 2015.

[mikkie4]

MANCHESTER AIRPOTS GROUPE announce FAR EAST, CHINA , U.S.A. by 2016 from STN..The NIMBYS AND THE TREE HUGGERS have started moaning already (BBC LOCAL NEWS)

[LTNman]

What MAG desire and what they get are two things. So far every long haul route that has been tried at Stansted has failed. With Ryanair running the show at Stansted there are no connecting flights that can be booked.

The new duty free shopping area shown on local TV last night looked very nice though even though most passengers don't quality for duty free shopping.

[Skipness One Echo]

What airlines are launching services to the US and the Far East? How have they addressed the market behaviours of past days causing previous attempts to fail? Looking at Air China (and Korean Air last year) abandoning Gatwick, how will #3 succeed where #2 cannot?

OR is this just PR from the marketing department? Excuse the vitriol but our marketing dept is chock full of joly types with little grasp of numbers....they exist on leads and pitches and good fluffy "maybes" before moving on (promoted on) before they're found out.

Anything concrete?

[LadyL2013]

I believe Thomas Cook will be trying long haul at the end of this year or the beginning of next.

I didn't reckon on the shopping area. It's nothing special. I'd say about 80% of passengers can't buy duty free goods anyway, so seems pointless to me.

In fact I thought Stansted was in general a rubbish airport. Hardly anywhere to eat and you had to wait half an hour to get a table (and this isn't even high season). Very few shops. It took an hour to get through security. The E-passport gates were closed on the way back to another huge queue with only 3 desks open.

Nowhere to watch aircraft and just a generally depressing feel to the terminal. Past the departure lounge it is painfully apparent this is a very underused airport. We boarded from gate 2 and I think on the way there there was only one other gate being used out of several dozen. So much space for so few flights. We we're flying in the early afternoon so hardly at a quiet time of the day.

I normally enjoy the airport experience and you normally get an exciting buzz from the atmosphere, but this was just dull. I really hope STN can grab some new airlines or at least increase the use from minority airlines so it can fulfill it's potential so to speak.

We normally fly LGW for our holidays (depending on airline and destination), but went out of STN as it was cheaper. I think we've both decided to just go to LGW next time unless STN is remarkably cheaper.

[FRatSTN]

EZY now appear to be keeping CPH operating 2x weekly for the foreseeable future with flights now on sale until May 31 2015. Still a massive cut compared to this year's 2x daily but I suppose it's something.

Appears to be a couple of extra flights to BFS, AMS and possibly another 1 or 2 routes as well.

Still very minimal though with still only 7 aircraft and fewer flights than this summer but it's better than a kick in the teeth.

[southside bobby]

Pax figures for September `14 showing an increase of 14% over September last year for a total of 1,873,870 during the month....:ok:

[sam dilly]

I saw great news about the new E gates at Stansted, I think it was 15 or 16.
My last 2 arrivals at Stansted, have seen an average of about 50% of such gates working, and long queues as ever at Immigration.
Will they get it right ?:rolleyes:

[Waldo1]

We transited both ways thru stansted recently, experience was really good considering we were late in from belfast and had a really tight connection
Outbound, the e gates were all available and we all passed thru promptly, security was great, plenty of lanes open and we were thru in a few minutes. Departures was fine, again its a building site but shops, food and toilets all readily available. Down side was we were in a huge airport which is really under utillised and yet we were then herded onto a small satellite terminal with about 6 gates and about 10 ryr flights trying to depart from...at the same time...
Return journey was fine with the addition of passing thru the UK border, brilliant! Well done getting those pesky e passport readers to work, we were thru in seconds... All in all, can't wait to hopefully try stn again next year and see how the return has came on

[southside bobby]

Ryanair re-entered UK domestic ops with services from both GLA & EDI arriving at Stansted this AM...Both up to 3 daily with EDI already slated for 5 daily next year when "the red one" ceases it`s ops from there...

[racedo]

Both up to 3 daily with EDI already slated for 5 daily next year when "the red one" ceases it`s ops from there...

Doubt SLF using Red will use FR as airports just way too far apart.
See it back down to a 3 a day within a year.

[Jamie2k9]

Racedo

Within a year....It will not go 5 daily in the first place unless U2 pull STN-EDI. Anyway we are led to believe that Little Red is flying empty so no need for extra capacity!

[AirportPlanner1]

New 3x daily to Isle of Man and 2x daily to Newcastle from March, plus 3x weekly to Newquay between May and September (this would appear to be a steal from SEN)

The Newcastle flights are off-peak so will not sure how they will do, but good news nonetheless to see another airline at STN.

[pamann]

Great news! Finally some regional connectivity returning to Stansted. I was surprised when they sold the Gatwick slots that this wasn't done sooner. But such coverage of the London market, I would expect to see some consolidation of their London routes post the launch of services from Stansted.

This is exactly the start of what the airport needs to attract some longhaul carriers. After all do Etihad not have a code share agreement in place with FlyBe?

[whitelighter]

With the EGHH deal this looks like a direct result of MAG doing a cross airport deal.

Good news for both the airports and I hope FlyBe

[daz211]

Glad to see NCL will be back on the departure screens.
I'm not sure about 3x daily IOM sounds a bit much to me.
Would have liked a 2x daily MAN in announcement.

[davidjohnson6]

Could someone explain the commercial logic behind Flybe launching Stansted-Newcastle ?
I'm struggling to figure out who will be prepared a big enough fare to make the route profitable, compared to the train or using BA to connect onwards via Heathrow.

I'm also wondering how this route will work given Flybe will operate a 78 seat Q400 against Easyjet previously operating a 150+ seat Airbus which presumably makes it harder to spread fixed costs across the passengers being carried..

[pamann]

If these routes had been announced to operate from down the road and up a hill this thread would have been on fire today. Wondering when the haters will arrive?

I must admit though the IOM route does seem an odd ball, surely BHD would be a better fit all round? But who can say? I'd like to see further routes announced from London's third airport once they've settled in. They are still by far a better choice of routes than those that in my opinion were possibly plucked from a hat over at SEN. But then I guess that's a Stobart issue not FlyBe's.

[SWBKCB]

DJ6 - agreed, and you didn't even mention the odd timings. Thought at first they might be fillers between the three IOM flights, but appear to be NCL originating?

[cornishsimon]

Flybe announce new service between Newquay Cornwall Airport and London Stansted for summer 2015 | Newquay Cornwall Airport (http://www.newquaycornwallairport.com/about/media-center/news/flybe-announce-new-service-between-newquay-cornwall-airport-and-London)


Wednesday, 12 November, 2014
Today Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline has announced a new service between Newquay Cornwall Airport and London Stansted as part of its expansion plans from the Airport. This service will commence in May 2015 and operates from Newquay Airport as part of its summer schedule until September 2015, offering a minimum of 3 departures per week.
Flights will operate on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and one way fares are available from £29.99 including taxes and charges and can be booked at www.flybe.com (http://www.flybe.com/)
Al Titterington, Newquay Cornwall Airport’s Managing Director commented “This is a further boost to the Airport and the tourism economy and follows on the back of the Gatwick announcement at the end of October. In previous times Stansted had been a key route for Cornwall bringing high value inbound tourism from its affluent catchment like Cambridge. We expect passenger demand to be strong and will be working with our partners to promote Cornwall”.




Could be a revised schedule on the way going by at least 3 per week !




cs

[FRatSTN]

Passenger numbers up 16.9% in October, fastest growth rate since February 2005.
Also average load factor on STN flights up from 81.6% to 85.2%. Also BE's announcement yesterday is a good addition to STN.
Great news where based on 1 or 2 people's comments in the past, this must have come as a bit of a shock!

[NickBarnes]

Just a bit interested really, there was 8899 pax between Stansted and Larnaca in October, what was the schedule in October? just interested how Cyprus airways are doing since moving to Stansted

Edit if it is once daily 7 days a week as I have found on google, that means 144 average pax, which means 85% load factor if I'm right

[WHBM]

Could someone explain the commercial logic behind Flybe launching Stansted-Newcastle ?
I'm struggling to figure out who will be prepared a big enough fare to make the route profitable, compared to the train or using BA to connect onwards via Heathrow.
Easy did a 3x daily A319 some years ago, which I used from time to time and it was always well filled. Stansted is nowhere near Kings Cross train station, which unlike STN is a pig to reach by car and worse to get parked there. This is true for many places around the M25. Although I am nearer to Kings Cross as the crow flies, it is far quicker to get to Stansted.

[Fairdealfrank]

Easy did a 3x daily A319 some years ago, which I used from time to time and it was always well filled. Stansted is nowhere near Kings Cross train station, which unlike STN is a pig to reach by car and worse to get parked there. This is true for many places around the M25. Although I am nearer to Kings Cross as the crow flies, it is far quicker to get to Stansted.
This is exactly why we need domestic flights as well as rail services. Rail often wins on city centre-city centre, but elsewhere flying can be a more convenient, and often cheaper, alternative. This is especially true in the London courbation, where an onward journey from a central London terminus can be over 2 hours.

[EI-BUD]

Re NCL, BE have on london Newcastle before from LGW. As easyJet are axing the ncl LGW from end of Winter, it may make the STN connection attractive to BE.

[EK77WNCL]

Hoping BE carve STN for themselves like EZY did before they dropped it. I couldn't see many other airlines turning away 300,000 pax per year but ho hum, bit better timings and more frequency in the future could/should sort NCL-STN out again. Completely different market to LGW/LHR. On a somewhat separate note, NWI was the second most called for domestic route out of NCL recently (after MAN) and STN covers Norfolk much better than any other airport served from NCL.

[pabely]

I think BE only came to STN on the back of a better agreement with MAG at MAN, but I would be pleased to be proved wrong. IOM has been tried by Euromanx & Manx2 before, both failed!

[Flightmech]

I love the way MAG have got the duty free farce up and running forcing you to walk through the entire shop with loud music on the way to departures but have done f*** all about the ridiculous situation at immigration:ugh:

[NickBarnes]

Yes immigration at Stansted can be ridiculous

[ATNotts]

I love the way MAG have got the duty free farce up and running forcing you to walk through the entire shop with loud music on the way to departures but have done f*** all about the ridiculous situation at immigration

Blame for the ridiculous situation cannot be laid at MAG's feet, but at those of Her Majesty's Government and their mindless pampering to the xenophobic tendencies of the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Express et al who can't bear the thought of people crossing the UK border in the same, uncomplicated way that they do virtually all other (western) european borders.

With the level of border control that people in UK (seem to) want the price is delays, delays and more delays.

[Skipness One Echo]

pampering to the xenophobic tendencies of the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Express et al who can't bear the thought of people crossing the UK border in the same, uncomplicated way that they do virtually all other (western) european borders.

Key difference being there's millions more displaced young men who want to come here mate. Look at Sangatte, the reason the UK is a magnet for randoms to vanish into the black economy is that there's enough Africans,Pakistanis, Iraqis and Afghans here already that can support them quite against the law. Not quite the same in rural Belgium now is it? If you have an out of control immigration policy, you're not going to fix that with open borders!

[Flightmech]

I was referring to the amount of desks they have open (and yes its not a MAG issue but htey could have an input) Always minimal, no matter what time of day. If they manned up a bit it would at least lessen the problem a little.

[stuinn]

My experience at immigration at STN LGW and LHR is border force will do their own thing with no regard to amount of queuing or inconvenience despite numerous BF agents standing around and could be manning additional desks. There are more auto gates installed now at these airports but again how often do you see a number of these closed.
Not a good advert/welcome for the genuine tourists coming to the UK.

[pamann]

AirAsia X to restart London flights - Australian Business Traveller (http://www.ausbt.com.au/airasia-x-to-restart-kuala-lumpur-london-flights)

But will it be STN?

[whitelighter]

Where else has room?

They used to use every inch of the STN runway getting their A343 airborne so unless they've bought some new kit Luton or Southend would be exiting

[22/04]

A343 is not the most athletic aeroplane but remember you cannot judge performance by take off length - thrust is often de-rated to save engine wear etc.

But really would have to be LHR,STN or LGW with a 343.

[Planespeaking]

Reminds me of Saturn's early stretched Dc8's operating affinity charters out of STN to LAX. I was in my car at the end of the runway when one took off and took the frangible boundary fence out with it's gear.

[whitelighter]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought there were no free slots at Heathrow (hence Cyprus selling theirs).

What the position at Gatwick? Could AirAsia get enough slots there assuming that's where they want to go?

[TartinTon]

Plenty of slots available at LGW outside of AM and PM peaks.

[Flightmech]

They last left LGW so maybe they will go back there. Was Interesting to see the A340 going "all the way by road" on departure from STN and maintain a climb rate of about 100 FPM :-)
The A340-300, the only aircraft that can suffer a bird strike from behind!

[whitelighter]

Ok, you here people saying Gatwick is at capacity, I guess they mean 'at capacity during peak hours'

I suppose they will have a descision to weigh up based on more prestigious airport (?) at Gatwick but at the back of the queue for slots and unfavourable flight times or potentially a competitive deal from MAG with their pick of the runway.

No doubt MAG would like to take them back from GIP at gatters. I wouldn't like to bet which way it will go to be honest.

[Buster the Bear]

They have 19 out of 25 A330-300 airframes in service, a far more frugal airliner than the 4-pot A340.

[EK77WNCL]

It was suggested on Airliners.net, could they not op to somewhere else more sustainable, because LHR has 2 A380's and 1 77E every day from MH/BA which is risky for those two in itself. D7 would most definitely lose out.

The suggestion was x3 weekly DUB, however I thought that MAN could work better 3/4 weekly. Either that or operate both, x3 KUL-DUB-KUL, x4 KUL-MAN-KUL or even x4 KUL-MAN-DUB-MAN-KUL

[Fairdealfrank]

Blame for the ridiculous situation cannot be laid at MAG's feet, but at those of Her Majesty's Government and their mindless pampering to the xenophobic tendencies of the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Express et al who can't bear the thought of people crossing the UK border in the same, uncomplicated way that they do virtually all other (western) european borders.

With the level of border control that people in UK (seem to) want the price is delays, delays and more delays.


Key difference being there's millions more displaced young men who want to come here mate. Look at Sangatte, the reason the UK is a magnet for randoms to vanish into the black economy is that there's enough Africans,Pakistanis, Iraqis and Afghans here already that can support them quite against the law. Not quite the same in rural Belgium now is it? If you have an out of control immigration policy, you're not going to fix that with open borders!
We all need to be careful what we wish for. The existance of the camp at Sangatte is all the evidence that is needed that France's borders are clearly not secure.

France is a member of the Schengen arrangements.........

Another reason that the UK is a magnet is the English language, most of these chaps have at least some English as a second language.

[FRatSTN]

TOM have now released their long-haul holidays for the winter 2015/16 season.

There is a one off flight on sale from Stansted to Montego Bay, Jamaica departing 23rd February and returning 8th March 2016.

Good to see both TCX and TOM now trying long-haul from STN. I wonder if they have plans to operate any long-haul services for the Summer 2016 season?

[Tranceaddict]

La Compagnie (B0, Paris CDG) will take delivery of a second B757-200 next month ahead of a planned launch of direct London to New York flights in March next year.

CEO Frantz Yvelin told the Nasdaq newswire that the decision to move into the British market was taken following an exhaustive study. While the airline has applied for London Gatwick slots, it is also considering London Stansted and London Luton operations, he said.

Launched in June, La Compagnie operates a single B757-200 wet-leased from Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) on flights from Paris CDG to Newark with a second due next month. The aircraft is configured with 74 business class seats.


France's La Compagnie to start London - New York business flights - ch-aviation.com (http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/33151-frances-la-compagnie-to-start-london-new-york-business-flights)

[LTNman]

While the airline has applied for London Gatwick slots, it is also considering London Stansted and London Luton operations, he said.

Plain speak for if they can't get into Gatwick they have a plan B

[aerobat]

Coming back to Stansted yesterday afternoon we were told that it was closed to all arrivals and departures due to a security alert, with no idea for how long.
We slowed down and just before handover to Essex was told it had reopened.
Anybody know why ? nobody on the ground knew.

[jolihokistix]

Nothing to do with this, I hope:

Al Qaeda Planning Christmas Terrorist ?Spectacular,? Five Passenger Planes Targeted (http://www.inquisitr.com/1645461/al-qaeda-plan-christmas-terrorist-spectacular-five-passenger-planes-targeted/)

[GAPSTER]

People on the ground did know.Has also been reported in the news.

[Del Prado]

let me google that for you (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Stansted+airport+flights+grounded)

;)

[wiggy]

Thanks Del P.

It certainly got our attention since we were trying to get into a very backed up LHR and suddenly lost our best "bolt hole".

I gather there were similar problems elsewhere in the UK yesterday....given the terror level seems to have been raised to "run away and hide" I think it might be a good time to carry a bit more than Flight Plan fuel if you're inbound to the UK.

[papazulu]

let me google that for you

Great stuff! Can't wait for a bill to be passed that forbids you walking your dog around the airport perimeter and carry a smartphone with HD camera at the same time!

Let's keep going with knee-jerk reaction after trusting every semi-paranoid citizen-report!

[GAPSTER]

I understand why you say that but be assured this was much more than a paranoid report.Not at liberty to say more, however if a report is received and not acted on and subsequently an attack is made where would you stand on that? These days I'm not sure a healthy level of paranoia is necessarily misplaced.

[daz211]

Flights were grounded at Stansted Airport earlier today after reports of a 'firearm' - but it turned out to be photographic equipment.

Police were called out to Mole Hill Green, near the airport, after a member of the public reported someone under the flight path with what looked like a firearm.

Flights were suspended accordingly at the international terminal as Essex officers attended the scene.

But soon after they arrived they discovered that far from carrying a gun, the man spotted was actually carrying camera equipment.

[daz211]

Ryanair are starting ponta Delgada (AZORES) to London Stansted in March 15
One weekly on a Saturday.

Ponta Delgada will be Ryanair's 72 base they will base one aircraft
And introduce three new routes Lisbon, Porto and London Stansted.

[STN Ramp Rat]

I noticed passing through Stansted yesterday that the No 1 lounge in the Ryanair satellite has a closure notice on it looking at the website they have the following note


This lounge will close permanently on 25/12/2014, it will operate normally until that time.


I suppose it was always a large ask at £25 a pop especially when the airport would not confirm the departure gates until so late

[toledoashley]

Lounge staff said that they are moving to a new facility in the main terminal, not operated by No1.

[insuindi]

Darwin's last flight on DUS-STN will be on 07JAN15.

[STN Ramp Rat]

so what's happening to the route then?

[NickBarnes]

Good old Germanwings will continue to operate it

[davidjohnson6]

Will Germanwings really continue the route or will it be dropped a month or so after the competition has dropped the route ?

[southside bobby]

Blimey...Stansted pax figures for Nov`14 +26% for a total of 1.59m for the month.....Cargo up too in November +15%....

[pamann]

+ 26% is great! No doubt this will get spun around to a negative by the usual suspects on here.

Well done Stansted :ok:

[FRatSTN]

Very impressive. If they can get an extra 250,000 for this month compared to December 2013 then STN will break 20 million passengers for the 2014 calendar year. Was not expecting that just yet. Fingers crossed.

[LTNman]

+ 26% is great! No doubt this will get spun around to a negative by the usual suspects on here.

Well done Stansted

Well done Ryanair:} Only joking! Nice one Stansted

[wowzz]

The figures are good from a business point of view, which is obviously what MAG are interested in, but from a pax point of view the airport 'experience' has deteriorated as the pax numbers have increased. My recent transits through the airport have been far less comfortable than the case three years ago. Less seating [or the same amount of seating but for a greater number of passengers-comes to the same thing - nowhere to sit] longer security checks, and horrendous queues for passport control. I now actively look for flights from other airports, whereas before,STN was my preferred choice.

[Skipness One Echo]

+ 26% is great! No doubt this will get spun around to a negative by the usual suspects on here.
This is overwhelmingly Ryanair driven? Right?

[daz211]

Well done Stansted.
What people need to remember Ryanair are Stansted's best seller
There is no point people saying the figures are only due to ryanair
Like its a bad thing.
Lots of companies get good results from best sellers it's like saying a car sales showroom sold loads of the cheapest car and if the had not the figures wouldn't have been so good.

As for the terminal, airside in the departure lounge has and is going through a major redevelopment and from my last trip through the airport things are much better the new Burger King looks fantastic the choice of shopping has increased with much better shops the duty free looks world class and would fit into any major international departure lounge, with much more to come stansted has and will continue to grow and yes thanks to Ryanair which is a good thing not a negative but let's wait to this time next year and see what new routes and airlines have come to stansted.
Once again well done Stansted, MAG and yes Ryanair.

[wowzz]

I'm sure the shops are very nice, but I would rather have somewhere to sit instead of a 'fantastic' Burger King.
However, as has been pointed out in many other threads, airports these days are basically shopping malls with runways as an add-on extra.

[anna_list]

Hello,
For the avoidance of doubt, the number of Ryanair flights at Stansted was up by 26.2% compared to last November. They operated over 140 departures per day on average, which is more than in any previous November at Stansted and also more than in the peak of last Summer.

[FRatSTN]

Stansted's redevelopment is not yet complete and won't be for almost another year yet. When it is there will be something like 70% more seating in the departure lounge compared to how it was originally, which should keep wowzz happy.


Of course BE are coming to STN next year and TCX will be offering some long-haul's. Also even more FR and hopefully a few more to go with that. Should be at least 21 million passengers for 2015, but maybe a bit soon to be looking that far ahead.


Still find it disgraceful how EZY continues to abandon STN for the likes of LTN which is going to be an even bigger building site whilst STN shows off it's brand spanking new redevelopment.

[Bagso]

Where will further growth actually come from ?

If RYR are dominant it is highly unlikley any other airline will taken them on, so few options there.

Plus I would have thought the RYR route map is pretty much full, are there that many destinatiosn left ?

yes there is a bit of domestic activity on some niche routes re FlyBe and a sprinkling of charters but where to next ?

[FRatSTN]

EZY are bigger in London than FR by some margin and are still a bit bigger at LGW than FR are at STN.


I know FR account for close to 80% of STN's traffic and EZY only around 50% of LGW's but competition from EZY doesn't seem to put off too many airlines coming to LGW.


But in answer to your question... maybe Full-service? Long-haul??

[adfly]

The difference at LGW is that EZY were not the only carrier on many of their routes, even when they started them many had fairly strong competition from the likes of BA and ZB and indeed TOM/TCX when they had a larger presence on many routes. The stronger demand in the region also benefits competition & attracting new carriers significantly (for both short and long haul). I expect EZY are not quite as tough to compete with as FR too since they do not have such a low cost base, their brief attempt at LGW-Ireland quite a few years ago shows how this can turn out!

[SealinkBF]

My last two flights from Stansted (28 NOV and 11 DEC) - I found the airport experience miserable.

Yes there's lots of building work taking place etc including a new "Aspire" lounge; but I really can't face going there again.

+26% means that I doubt they will care!

[FRatSTN]

But +26% also means that MAG look as if they are going to get a good return on their investment.

[whitelighter]

With the development of a new mini terminal for prestige passengers Long haul (or mid haul) is where the growth will come

Watch this space

[rocket_dog]

Can any one shed some light on the flights being operated out of STN in Feb 2016 to Montego Bay by TOM on a 787??? Sold out as well...

[Skipness One Echo]

Given that growth is Ryanair passengers, it would be interesting to see how that return on investment is generated. It can only be via % of retail profits rather than market rate airport charges?

[LTNman]

Plus all those £2 the airport picks up when passengers are dropped off or picked up by car.

[carousel]

Stansted haven't charged for pickups or drop off from the terminal for months, as long as it takes no longer than five minutes (or the ANPR cameras get you)

[bmaviscount]

Flew from Stansted for the first time in years just before Christmas. It was like hell on earth. People everywhere, not enough seats. Horrible forced flow through a shopping mall. Even the No 1 lounge is closing down. The Stansted Express is also not fit for purpose. No wonder EZY are abandoning . Ironically FR was a lot better than expected.

[Superpilot]

If only you could experience other airports at the same time. Try the horrid experience that is Luton right now. It's pretty dire everywhere at this time of year. Busy terminals, large amounts of employees on leave, construction.

[ericlday]

Here we go again....ours is better than yours, please lets not start sawing sawdust again. Accept bmaviscounts experience without having to start gocompare and become all defensive.

[EI-BUD]

Incredible that contributors to this forum explain that EZY should be expanding at STN, that they cannot compete with FR.

I think what we have here by easyJet that their unit cost is higher than FR. Equally they are not will to get into a price war where FR will stick it out. Such activity is unsustainable and make commercial sense, typically to avoid.

It's dog eat dog , there is a pecking order, and carriers avoid picking spats with bigger competitors. easyJet won't put it up to DY, FR, Wizz and they are on the fence with VY.

Equally easyJet are happy to fight hard where they can win, eg v EI, BE etc.

Easyjet compete comfortably with FR on markets where they are well established and the 2,have a stable yet sustainable frequency. Eg common routes ex BRS, LPL, MAN etc. worth nothing that in many of these UK markets easyJet is bigger.

[FRatSTN]

I accept that people are entitled to their opinions but this is taking the p*** isn't it? I think people should consider the fact that STN is still undergoing a lot of construction work before coming on here and mouthing off about what a terrible experience they've had or making ridiculous statements like "no wonder EZY are abandoning". Anyone who genuinely thinks that reasoning is at all true is deluded.

By the end of the project there will have been:
An increase in Security lanes from 18 to 22
70% increase in seating compared to the original layout
A broader range of shops/restaurants to suit more passenger markets
a brand new Escape business lounge

Plus...
Continuous efforts to improve rail links with support from the Davies commission
A new 329 bed hotel being approved from Uttlesford District council.
Plus almost a 12% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers.

Oh yes, those are the facts!

Those of you who's airport experience is made so outrageous by a 5 minute walk through a Duty Free shopping area really need to get over yourselves! You are not "forced through shopping malls". Hundreds, if not thousands of airports do exactly the same thing.

Also note that bmaviscount's experience was "just before christmas", I'm just curious but was it 22nd December??

[NickBarnes]

Stansted is getting better, but has a hell of a long way to go:ok:

[LTNman]

I see Stansted is getting a shed load of Gatwick diversions.

[wallp]

I guess STN is best placed to accommodate most diverted flights. A few going to LTN also it seems

[Captain_Caveman]

FRatSTN: General public do not think about the long benefits when they are inconvenienced by building works. They think about what's best for themselves at the time. If they think they had a bad experience last time then it generally has an effect on their choice for their next decision. Just ask shop owners / shopping malls... (Some might argue STN is already this) it can take a significant length of time and advertising on behalf of the shop/centre to get the trade back once redevelopment work has been completed.

[STN Ramp Rat]

Captain Caveman ~ price determines almost everything at the low cost level. the passengers will easily forget.


as to EZY reducing the STN flying program, they have a finite amount of aircraft and will put them where they can make the best return, they have a lot of LGW slots to use and for them LGW is better than LGW. RYR cant get the slots at LGW so will continue to focus on STN for their London hub, they will operate some flights at LTN just to keep STN on its toes or to extract route development money from the LTN Airport.


personally I dislike the shopping centre but if STN has the best price/schedule then I will live with it as the alternative is a two hour journey to another airport.

[Bagso]

Is there a site which lists all the DIVs that Stansted received the other day from LGW ?

Im also curious as to how many stands STN had avalaible over the timescale of the incident

and whether the increased volume affected RYR movements ?

Just curious !

[MANFOD]

Is there a site which lists all the DIVs that Stansted received the other day from LGW ?

Im also curious as to how many stands STN had avalaible over the timescale of the incident

and whether the increased volume affected RYR movements ?


I think I can guess why you might be curious. Me too!
Possibly one of the spotters forums will have the information.
It was mentioned on another site that STN did eventually shut up shop.

[commit aviation]

Bagso
I can tell you STN took 9 diverts in total - all narrow bodies.
No major impact to the operation but it was challenging dealing with the additional baggage offloads & arranging onward transportation.
We have taken more during previous incidents & have suffered for it.
So there is a policy & once we hit the agreed level we NOTAM no more except emergency traffic.
Hope that helps.

[Bagso]

Many thanks.

Most confess I thought it was a lot more than that.

Just quite suprised that LTN took 12 given the size of the place compared to STN. Even BOU took 5.

[pabely]

Remember LTN is no stranger to EZY, MON & TOM - all based airlines and procedures in place to take them, crewing etc.

[STN Ramp Rat]

BBC News - Stansted delays after Ryanair plane error (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30673605)

Passengers at Stansted Airport were delayed by up to an hour on Sunday after a Ryanair plane dropped arriving passengers off at a departures gate. A Stansted spokesman said the flight from Lisbon arrived at 9:20 GMT and that the passengers had to be processed through departures security before moving to the arrivals lounge. This caused delays but the airport was "slowly" returning to normal, he said.
Stansted is to hold an investigation into the incident, he added.


seems strange, were the doors just set wrong? reading other stories online I suspect they had to evacuate the departures lounge but I cant confirm that

[ATNotts]

Passengers at Stansted Airport were delayed by up to an hour on Sunday after a Ryanair plane dropped arriving passengers off at a departures gate

Is it actually within the power of Ryanair to "drop passengers off" at any gate?? Let alone, the "plane" rather than the airline making that decision? I appreciate that smart technology is the rage today, but I had hoped they hadn't yet given Boeing 737s the power of thinking for themselves!!!!

Honestly, sloppy journalism is certainly alive and well and residing at BBC Broadcasting House - I suppose the reporter was some cub, on duty whilst the "transport correspondent" was at home with his feet up.

[LTNman]

I have arrived at Gatwick where it was the norm if parked at certain gates to walk through the departure lounge. Think I have also done that as well as Glasgow.

[The96er]

I have arrived at Gatwick where it was the norm if parked at certain gates to walk through the departure lounge. Think I have also done that as well as Glasgow.

Only arriving of a domestic flight maybe. All arriving international flights are separated from departing passengers.

[STN Ramp Rat]

"Is it actually within the power of Ryanair to "drop passengers off" at any gate??"


I think it might be in the powers of Swissport to set the gates incorrectly feeding arriving passengers into the departures channel although that is not necessarily what happened.
update 18:18 ~ the daily mail (that well respected piece of ......) is quoting the airport as saying " a small number of passengers managed to get into the departures lounge" It looks like a door problem rather than a staff problem

[TOM100]

I would imagine some of the FR pax may have got into departures which would (a big security no no btw nowadays) rendering the departure lounge and all pax within 'non sterile' requiring a departure lounge sweep and pax in it being re-screened ouch

I believe that is what is supposed to happen anyway. Sounds like a handling agent or airport worker left a door open sending pax down the departures route rather than thru the correct door thru arrivals route.....

[LadyL2013]

I have done this several times at LGW from International flights.

[LTNman]

My flight was from Canada into Gatwick. We definitely walked through the departure lounge of what I would call the round sub terminal of the south terminal as it was only the week before that I flew out from the same gate.

[Level bust]

Up until a few years ago this was indeed the case at the South Terminal satellite, but (I assume D of T) now require all inbound international passengers do not mingle with the outbound ones.

[Skipness One Echo]

All arriving passengers into the UK from overseas have been segregated from departing passengers for decades. This happened just after the North Terminal at Gatwick was opened, T4 at LHR was designed to keep them apart. You may walk past the departing pax at the Gatwick Satellite but you were kept apart by glass screens.

[Level bust]

I wouldn't say decades, certainly 15 years or so ago arrivals into Gatwick satellite mixed it with the departing passengers.

[Level bust]

I wouldn't say decades, certainly about 15 years ago arrivals were still mixing with the departing passengers at Gatwick's satellite.

[LTNman]

Agreed, my experience was in the last 20 years and probably around the 18 year mark.

[Skipness One Echo]

That's interesting, I was sure the legislation was brought into place in the early 90s. Anyone confirm?

[Level bust]

It may well have done, but I think the problem at the Gatwick South Satellite was all the passengers going both ways had to use the same shuttle to the main terminal. I seem to remember (and I can't remember when) they had to do major work to keep them separated, and I haven't flown from the satellite for quite a few years, I think you now walk to the main terminal.

[01475]

In 2002 I arrived at Gatwick on an Edinburgh flight and found the walkways set up to direct people towards a departing Ukraine Air International flight. Didn't seem to be a big issue then, the cabin crew just turned us around.

In 2003 they had started photographing arriving domestic passengers to make sure the same person walked out the other end, and building work to keep people separate had started

[Fairdealfrank]

That's interesting, I was sure the legislation was brought into place in the early 90s. Anyone confirm?
AFAIK, segregation of international arriving paxfrom departing pax goes back further.

Segregation of domestic/common travel area arriving pax from departing pax is more recent, hence recent reconfiguration of airside at EDI, GLA and LHR-1 (and others?).




In 2003 they had started photographing arriving domestic passengers to make sure the same person walked out the other end, and building work to keep people separate had started
Caused delays and congestion at LGW-1! Is it still going on or has the pier been redevelopped?

[The96er]

Segregation of domestic/common travel area arriving pax from departing pax is more recent, hence recent reconfiguration of airside at EDI, GLA and LHR-1 (and others?).


There is no requirement to separate arriving Domestic passengers with departing passengers in the U.K. Arriving CTA passengers ARE required to reclear security.

[southside bobby]

Another excellent month for Stansted pax figures..December + 18.5% for an extra 250,000 on the month,making the 12 month moving total now just a fraction shy of the 20M mark...Cargo also +30% on the month....

[LTNman]

Well done Ryanair me thinks :E but at the end of the day it doesn't matter which airline is being used. A great result for Stansted.

[sam dilly]

I travelled into Stansted this afternoon at about 13.30, huge queue at immigration, only 1 in 3 of the electronic gates functioning, lines back to transit train from the manual passport checks. The line supervisor at the Electronic gates didn't really seem to care, and stood there with his hands in his pockets.
Not a very nice experience at all, and not one I really appreciated.

Come on Stansted get your act together, abolish queus, make it your 2015 resolution.:=

[whitelighter]

Hard when it's HM Gov boarder force who decide how many staff to put on, not a stansted management.

[Callum Johnstone]

A suggestion that Ryanair may provide feed for future long haul services out of Stansted:

Ryanair mulls route-sharing with longhaul carriers - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/11361160/Ryanair-mulls-route-sharing-with-longhaul-carriers.html)

Logistically is this possible with the current set-up at STN? And would Ryanair want to pick up the tab for missed connections? It seems bosses at STN need this more than FR does, to reinforce the idea that it can be a viable London hub.

[Skipness One Echo]

No serious person believes LGW can be a hub for London let alone STN. It's a fantasy.

BAA built the new STN to be *exactly* that and found out you can't buck the market, even less true today in a less regulated environment.

[AndyH52]

Surely Ryanair would be hoping to do for long haul what they did for short haul and create new markets? I agree that talk of 'hubs' is misleading as a hub only works with 'spokes'.

[Skipness One Echo]

Surely Ryanair would be hoping to do for long haul what they did for short haul and create new markets?
The numbers don't stack up anywhere as well as they do for short haul, the competitive advantage against the exisiting legacies isn't huge and is hard to scale. That they'd have done it by now is the best clue :)

[Bagso]

Stansted has NO long haul , so the obvious place to look at this is Manchester !

[PLAMALTN]

I flew STN-CGN on Tuesday 27th and must say that I was pretty impressed on the whole. :ok:

I haven't flown from STN in a long while but the new security area was very good and from arriving off the train to being sat in departures was 10mins. The only downside to this is like most airports these days, you are fighting off the orange faces trying to sell you perfume.

Lots of work going on in the terminal and it was crowded but not a major issue.

Arrival saw us back on 15mins ahead of schedule and within 20mins sat back on the train.

I'm not sure how long CGN has been served by Ryanair but loads were very poor, 38 on the outbound, 29 inbound.

All in all, Stansted gets a :ok: from me and I will certainly be back in the future.

[southside bobby]

Yet another incredible percentage increase @ Stansted for January....Pax numbers + 28%....Moving 12 month figure now breaches the 20M mark for a total of 20.3M.....

[daz211]

M A G have done an amazing job,
I only hope that they are getting on with talks between some long haul airlines to add some new and existing destinations to the departure boards.

I hear the the NQY flights with Flybe have been upgraded to daily and I wonder if we can expect anymore routes from Flybe possibly MAN ?

[insuindi]

STN-CGN has been served by FR since beginning of the winter timetable - and there is an open fight by various carriers on the DUS/CGN-LON market (and if you so wish you could throw DTM and NRN into the mix). fares are rock-bottom, particularly as LH-Group decided to defend their CGN-STN business with 17Euro one-way fares ex CGN. 4U's lowest is usually 33 Euros across its network portfolio.

On DUS-STN 4U entertained largely empty aircrafts as well since opening the route also for the winter season, but succeeded in fighting off Darwin/AB/Etihad on the DUS-STN route now.

[Bagso]

Has capacity actually gone up 20+ %

OR

Were the flights last year simply empty and now they are full again !

[Seljuk22]

FR decided to use their planes for flying during the winter period and not like the last year to ground. That's why we see an increase at STN as well as FR passenger numbers.

[Angels-One-Five]

True,

But FR are only flying them because there is demand.

I'm kit sure what your point is? Are you saying STN traffic is 'only' increasing because FR are flying more planes and that's a bad thing?

[BasilBush]

I don't think that Seljuk was drawing any particular inference. It is inarguable that for a number of years Ryanair have grounded a fair number of planes during the winter, and that this winter they have reversed this trend. In part this can be attributed to the economic recovery (ie increased demand) but credit should also be given to MAG, who have entered into a new commercial deal with Ryanair that makes it easier for the airline to turn a profit during the quiet winter months.

Evidently this has shifted the economic balance between keeping aircraft in service year-round and grounding them during the winter.

We should expect to see some reduction in these stellar growth numbers as we move into the summer season. It will be interesting to see at what level the growth rate eventually settles - if STN continues to grow at anything like the present rate it won't be too long before it overtakes MAN again!

[FRatSTN]

Growth will slow in the summer months but should still be significant.

FR will continue growing traffic, BE are coming in, TCX expanding with long-haul flights in July and August plus the odd increase by other airlines.

If only EZY were not continuing to disappoint by cutting flights again this year.

[pabely]

I wouldn't think BE will be great, never seen any direct advertising about in IOM. I think it is only a concession to get better deals at other MAG airports, will it last next year?

[FRatSTN]

Well BE have today increased NQY to daily from May - September so would assume at least that route must be selling well.

[owenc]

I was in Stansted in October on a Friday and it was fairly empty. The last time I was there before that were tons of planes like one taking off every minute.

Will be back in March.. Will be good to see how its improved.

[pamann]

Negativity on the Stansted thread is so predictable. Had BE set up camp at Luton it would of course be a roaring success. :rolleyes:

Any way it's great news that FlyBe have increased frequency on the NQY route, going from 3 weekly, to 4 weekly, to daily now peak season. :ok:

Would be good to know how the TCX longhaul routes are selling, but I guess that info is top secret. Would be great to see an extended season from them for Summer '16. I guess for that we'll just have to wait and see.

Great stuff Stansted! Let's hope there's more to come. :D

[compton3bravo]

INARGUABLE - that is a new one for me Basil - explain please! Also I heard a Police Inspector on the TV the other day to find out the CAUSATION of the accident. Can someone speak proper English please, like wot I try to do!

[Pain in the R's]

I only hope that they are getting on with talks between some long haul airlines to add some new and existing destinations to the departure boards.Well they had talks with La Compagnie which didn't go to well as La Compagnie decided that Stansted and its association with Ryanair made Stansted just too low cost for their New York service.

Surprised that upmarket Luton stole the new route from under the nose of MAG after all the comments from MAG about their assault on the long haul market. Clearly something went wrong with their negotiating position.

If you strip out the Ryanair factor the airport would have substantially less passengers than that airport that is next to the M1. Ryanair might be Stansted's biggest customer but it is also their biggest millstone around their neck.

[Angels-One-Five]

Why strip out FR.

If you strip EZY out of Luton, or BA out of LHR then both airports would lose a significant amount of pax.

Being the biggest base for europes largest and most successful airline is indeed a real sh!tter

[BasilBush]

Quote: "INARGUABLE - that is a new one for me Basil - explain please! Also I heard a Police Inspector on the TV the other day to find out the CAUSATION of the accident. Can someone speak proper English please, like wot I try to do!"

Sorry compton3b, I will try not to use unnecessarily highfalutin words in future. You could also have picked me up on using 'inference', also a posh word. A hundred lines for me....

[AirportPlanner1]

I wonder if it was a case of MAG not wanting La Compagnie, rather than the other way around. Think about it, if you have aspirations of a sustainable long-haul network and previous operators have for whatever reason fallen by the wayside, would you want the association with a small player with a model that at best looks shaky?

Don't get me wrong I wish La Compagnie well, but I think STN and MAG feel they have bigger fish to fry and don't want a potential failure on their hands. I mean, why mention STN at all in your publicity unless you are pi$$ed at something?

[FRatSTN]

I get the impression that STN wouldn't be too disappointed about not getting La Compagnie. I would imagine their ambition is to get long-haul flights that are more mainstream.

Also their priority at the moment is the Terminal redevelopment, MAG have said they don't expect getting long-haul (other than the few TCX flights this summer) until at least 2016. Makes perfect sense really, why would a long-haul or full-service carrier want to come in before the facilities designed for them are completed?

[Seljuk22]

I think the main reason for this passenger growth is due to FR.
FR is not flying because there is (30%) more demand this winter compared to the last winter - they are flying because it makes (now) sence to fly, as they think they won't make any (big) loss due to... lower fees, lower oil prices etc.

There was demand the last winter but the don't offer flights as they knew they would not make any money. FR can easily fly and fill planes from FRA, MAD or other airports but they won't make any money from those airports (right now). Once fees goes down (or they will receive some cash), they will be there and figures will increase as well on those airports (see BRU or soon CPH). As they don't, STN should be happy about this and enjoy the increase to over 20M a year!

[TOWTEAMBASE]

I think la compagnie not coming to STN isn't a great loss, I hear the aircraft was impounded in NWI in the not too distant past because they hadn't paid for the paint job. and there is also a reason that TOM didn't want it any more, and now it's going to fly the pond !!!

[daz211]

Anyone know what this flight was ? TOM975 was SFB-STN
B757 landed at STN 22.12 Sunday 15th.
Is it a one off or a ferry ? Just strange to see so thought I'd ask.

Also I see British Airways has BA3317 DOH-STN at 0700 16th
Is this a freighter or pax flight its a B77X.

[whitelighter]

Is the BA 777 the Qatar Freighter? In from Doh and now Qatar are part of one world alliance they picked up the old GSS/BA freighter business.

And the 757 could well be the Titan 757 returning from a charter or replacement service as they often fly back in on other operators cs

[daz211]

I see Easyjet have announced Stansted to Monastir for summer 2015 :ok:

[FRatSTN]

Nice to finally see a new route from EZY but isn't a very significant boost and are still noticeably fewer flights than last summer.

[pamann]

Just wondering why Monastir and not Enfidha? All the UK charter carriers moved their operations from MIR to NBE a few years back. Is this the only UK - MIR route now to exist? Strange choice IMO

[FRatSTN]

Doesn't really surprise me. Having been to Enfidha Airport last year, it really doesn't have the low - cost carrier in mind. You can tell it was designed as a premium airport, all air bridges and I would imagine a horrifically expensive airport. Have always thought Monastir would be a better choice for EZY when they eventually started Tunisia. I dare say FR would use Monastir too if they came to Tunisia, certainly not Enfidha.

[pamann]

Have to disagree with you there FRatSTN

Enfidha was built as a gateway for the Tunisian beach resorts surrounding Hammamet, which is some distance from Monastir by road. It was always intended that the charter operators would use it as their gateway once opened. It was never designed for premium traffic.

The whole 'low cost airports can't have airbridges' is a myth. It doesn't determin whether an airport is low cost or primarily for premium traffic. What does determine this is the airlines that use them.

Come on you should know this. Wouldn't Luton have them if that was the case? After all it's full of flag carriers like El Al and Tarom. They would be gold plated too seeing it's now a 'boutique airport' :}

[FRatSTN]

Enfidha Airport was designed as a premium airport as it was actually originally planned to be a 2nd hub for Tunis air before becoming a gateway for holiday flights. I know there's more to it than air bridges but its quite an unusual airport and gives the impression that it must be an incredibly expensive airport for the airlines. Having been there trust me it is not an airport I'd expect to really see EZY or FR at. That could change in future but not surprised EZY have gone for Monastir over Enfidha. Anyway, back to Stansted...

[canberra97]

pamann

Excellent reply well done :ok:

[FRatSTN]

Pamann

I hadn't seen the Wiki page but rather remember it from the time. You've given your view and I've given mine and obviously don't agree, why the outrage?

This is after all a thread about STN, people coming here expect to see topics about STN. That should be pretty simple out of respect rather than your idea it seems of waiting for a mod to tell you off.

Bar the fact that I'm struggling to see where your superior knowledge is coming from, I also don't think it's for you to tell me to watch my "on-line tone"... considering you also are not a moderator.

[pamann]

Right for starters; my question has everything to do with Stansted, seeing it asks a question about a newly launched route to Monastir.

Secondly; Your response is scripted from Wiki, unless you have a photographic memory, I very much doubt you'd read it sometime previous and memorised it. Have you read the whole of wiki? Are you some kind of aviation oracle?

Lastly; your attitude stinks in your replies tonight. You don't need to be a MOD to determine that! Don't forget some of us on here have backed your posts up in the past and supported you. It's a long way to fall down when you have no support.

So my question remains.

[FRatSTN]

...and perhaps unsurprisingly nobody else has attempted to answer it. Neither does anybody on this forum need support like it's some kind of football match.


Good to see the Mayor and the Chancellor's announcement of the "West Anglia Task Force" looking at improved rail links to/from Stansted, or rather along the London-Stansted-Cambridge Corridor (LSCC). Findings to be reported next spring...


?West Anglia Task Force? to study options for improving London-Stansted-Cambridge rail links - Business - East Anglian Daily Times (http://www.eadt.co.uk/business/west_anglia_task_force_to_study_options_for_improving_london _stansted_cambridge_rail_links_1_3964922)


George Osborne and Boris Johnson signal improved service for train passengers from Cambridge | Cambridge News (http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/George-Osborne-Boris-Johnson-signal-improved/story-26058640-detail/story.html)

[compton3bravo]

Do you think it might be to do with an election which is due in three months, old cynic that I am, seen and heard it all before.

[compton3bravo]

Could you further expand in a reasonable manner FR on your thinking on why Enfidha is not suitable for ´´low cost´´ operators please. While you are at it maybe the operations department at Jet 2 would lke to know your reasons as well as they have chosen to operate to the airport this year.
Best stick to Ryanair me thinks!

[FRatSTN]

Not really, can't think of what else needs saying tbh and I'm not going to just change my mind because other people don't agree. But whether LS use NBE or not is irrelevant to what EZY do.


Also might be interested to see that EZY is designated carrier on the route, so could be part of the agreement that they use MIR.


“EasyJet is a designated airline on the UK-Tunisia Air Service Agreement and is therefore able to operate flights to Monastir."


EasyJet to launch Tunisia flight | News | Travel Trade Gazette (http://www.ttgdigital.com/news/easyjet-to-launch-tunisia-flight/4695261.article)


Now can I very politely ask that we now put this topic to bed?

[daz211]

Long-haul flights to key business destinations in America and the Middle East could be in place at Stansted by next year.

Andrew Harrison, managing director of Stansted Airport, told the News that he envisages securing their first long-haul carrier by 2016.

During March, Mr Harrison will fly to the United States to promote the region to airlines in a bid to secure flights to destinations like New York.

He said: “Our focus is now starting to shift onto some of the carriers we don’t currently have. I am keen to bring in long-haul to destinations that businesses in Cambridge want to use.”

A corporate liaison manager has recently been employed to help approach the airlines, help them understand the potential and secure deals.

For the first time last year, Thomas Cook Airlines announced some long-haul flights from Stansted – only for the summer – to holiday destinations like Orlando, Las Vegas in the USA and Cancun in Mexico, starting in July.

But Mr Harrison hopes to secure its first long-haul carrier to be used by businesses and passengers all year around the world.

He said: “We have had advanced conversations with a number of different carriers. We have got them interested in Stansted again.

“For businesses in the Cambridge area there is always a range of different destinations that they want – but New York is clearly a major one.

“Also in the biotech sector Boston is always talked about, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

[LTNman]

He said: “Our focus is now starting to shift onto some of the carriers we don’t currently have. I am keen to bring in long-haul to destinations that businesses in Cambridge want to use.”

For businesses in the Cambridge area there is always a range of different destinations that they want

I wonder if London Stansted will change their name to Cambridge Stansted as they seem to have given up marketing the airport for London.

“We have had advanced conversations with a number of different carriers.

Like La Compagnie:E

[eggc]

MAG is working very hard for STN. I'd rather have one of the big US carriers tempted to STN than La Compagnie that's for sure, and it'll happen sooner or later. I'd really stop trying to compare willy sizes with STN if I were a LTN fan...it'll become depressing for you, IMO.

[Fairdealfrank]

Long-haul flights to key business destinations in America and the Middle East could be in place at Stansted by next year.

Andrew Harrison, managing director of Stansted Airport, told the News that he envisages securing their first long-haul carrier by 2016.

During March, Mr Harrison will fly to the United States to promote the region to airlines in a bid to secure flights to destinations like New York.

He said: “Our focus is now starting to shift onto some of the carriers we don’t currently have. I am keen to bring in long-haul to destinations that businesses in Cambridge want to use.”

A corporate liaison manager has recently been employed to help approach the airlines, help them understand the potential and secure deals.
The triumph of hope over reality? It's been tried before umpteen times, even after Cambridge became a high-tech centre.

Is there enough business in Cambridge to support this? The rest of the south will use the more comprehensive longhaul offering at Heathrow.

For the first time last year, Thomas Cook Airlines announced some long-haul flights from Stansted – only for the summer – to holiday destinations like Orlando, Las Vegas in the USA and Cancun in Mexico, starting in July.
That's more like it, yes, this makes sense.


“For businesses in the Cambridge area there is always a range of different destinations that they want – but New York is clearly a major one.

“Also in the biotech sector Boston is always talked about, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
Probably right, a trans-Atlantic carrier will start, but won't stay very long.


I wonder if London Stansted will change their name to Cambridge Stansted as they seem to have given up marketing the airport for London.
Sounds very FR-ish, "Cambridge-South".


MAG is working very hard for STN. I'd rather have one of the big US carriers tempted to STN than La Compagnie that's for sure, and it'll happen sooner or later. I'd really stop trying to compare willy sizes with STN if I were a LTN fan...it'll become depressing for you, IMO.
Some say harder than for Ringway!

[eggc]

I'd disagree slightly with your last comment Frank...the massive £800m Airport City about to start sprouting up, too many new routes to list and on the verge of announcing sizable terminal redevelopments...MAG are just as serious about MAN as they are STN, as they should be. MAG will pay off for STN in regards to LH eventually.

[FRatSTN]

It's just a case of wait and see.

But one thing I would say is that both the micro and macro environment regarding long-haul at STN will be quite different now compared to how it was in 2007/8 when STN lost most of its long-haul.

And I think the less said about the effects of BAA's total mismanagement of the place, the better!

[Fairdealfrank]

I'd disagree slightly with your last comment Frank...the massive £800m Airport City about to start sprouting up, too many new routes to list and on the verge of announcing sizable terminal redevelopments...MAG are just as serious about MAN as they are STN, as they should be. MAG will pay off for STN in regards to LH eventually.
Fair enough eggc, stand corrected about MAG and Ringway, but remain unconvinced about Stansted longhaul.

[SWBKCB]

Our focus is now starting to shift onto some of the carriers we don’t currently have.

If this is accurate, and a large amount of spade work hasn't already been done, 2016 seems optimistic for any start.

[southside bobby]

The excellent pax growth continues with February`15 figures showing a 24.6% increase over Feb`14 for a total on the month of 1,469,727...Busiest February for seven years.....:ok:

[pamann]

FR 3x weekly to Castellón from September :ok:

[LTNman]

It would seem that North London airports rock:ok:

[Seljuk22]

please delete

[Seljuk22]

FR growths by 10% next winter
Welcome to Ryanair! (http://corporate.ryanair.com/news/news/150311-london-stansted-winter-2015-schedule/?market=en)

[anna_list]

http://www.acl-uk.org/UserFiles/File/STN_S15_SOS.pdf

Seats and movements are up 9% on last summer. An additional 1.2M seats are on sale.

Easyjet have reduced by a further 12%, but this is offset by increases from FlyBe, Thomas Cook and Germanwings. The real growth is from Ryanair (+11%), adding 1.3M seats on their own.

[FRatSTN]

Not a bad schedule for STN for winter 15/16.
Still disappointing in size as would be expected but are increased frequencies on AMS, BFS and GVA.
SOF makes a come back from December (would seem they are keeping it as a ski route) but nothing to RAK and CPH.
Same number of based aircraft but overall slightly up on this year.

[sam dilly]

Stansted again shoots itself in both feet.
No longer is a bulk baggage service provided, even though it was a charged for service.
The airport wants long haul business, it wants quality traffic, but no help whatsoever with baggage, and finding a £1.00 for a small unbalanced baggage trolley is nearly as difficult as finding somewhere to spend a 1p
I cannot believe that this service has been dropped, does STN really only want FR +EZY, do quality carriers count for nothing.
Sam:(

[G-APDK]

From a reliable source in the "cargo area" it has been posted on a local e-group that China Southern will be starting a 3x week cargo service from mid June with B777fs from CAN (Guangzhou). Even more variety in the cargo area.

G-APDK

[FRatSTN]

Good to see TCX are expanding their long-haul programme from STN in 2016.

Cancun:
16th July - 20th August 2016: 1x weekly; Sat

Las Vegas:
21st July - 25th August 2016: 1x weekly; Thu

Orlando-Intl:
17th July - 29th August 2016: 4x weekly; Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun
20th & 22nd May 2016
21st & 23rd October 2016

This year I believe they have 15 long-haul flights in total, so quite a nice increase. Well done to STN/MAG and thank you TCX.

[TOWTEAMBASE]

G-APDK

Another 777F is hardly variety, QR already drop them in. Now QR adding and A330F would be a nice change :)

[G-ANPK]

TOWTEAMBASE
Ask and you will get-:
QTR A330F FLIGHTS
Qatar are starting two perishables flights per week from ACC from Sunday May 3rd.
Details at the moment are as follows.
Sundays:
QR8411. 1625.ACC-STN.
QR8412. 1800. STN-OSL.
Tuesdays:
QR8411. 1715.ACC-STN.
QR8412. 1840. STN-OSL.
At the moment the allocations are as follows but this far in advance things can easily change.
03/05 AFF. 05/05 AFY. 10/05 AFY.
12/05 AFH. 17/05 AFG.


Can`t see what`s wrong with the Chinese 777`s, some people are never satisfied !!! when we do get new routes opening up into EGSS


G-ANPK

[GrahamK]

Thomson launching STN-CUN and STN-SFB for S16 on the Dreamliner

[pamann]

Any idea of frequency of these two new routes?

Shame it took TCX to lead and test the water for TOM to follow in their success. TCX are going 4x weekly on the SFB route in peak season. To think that only last year this was a completely untapped market.

[canberra97]

TOWTEAMBASE

I think he meant variety as in cargo airlines serving the airport NOT aircraft types, having China Southern amongst the line up of cargo airlines serving STN adds to the variety unless you prefer the 737s of Ryanair.

Having new airlines at STN cargo or passenger regardless of aircraft type is called variety!

I think you know exactly what he meant.

[Captinbirdseye]

More News in the local press that Tom to start long haul from 2016

http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/Long-haul-routes-Stansted-Airport-Florida-Mexico/story-26360496-detail/story.html

[adfly]

Below are the details for each route:

Cancun 1x weekly (Tues) operates from 3rd May-21st June, then from 26th July-22th October.

Orlando Sanford 1x weekly (Weds) operates from 4th May-22nd June, then from 27th July-26th October.

Good to see Stansted gaining some long haul routes from TOM and TCX.

[crewmeal]

According to Airline Route TCX long haul flights will operate using a 757. Guess they'll have a tech stop in Canada first.

[pamann]

Well done MAG and TOM :ok:

These destinations are long overdue and will be a welcome addition to the departure boards at STN.

Just a shame it's been a hotter topic of conversation over on the Luton thread, but then that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. :E

[pamann]

Airline route is incorrect, as per discussion on the Belfast thread RE: BFS-LAX same issue.

All MCO/LAX/CUN flights ex STN with TCX are to operate with A330.

[FRatSTN]

Thomas Cook Airlines website appears to be highlighting flight dates for all routes in Summer 2016 although no times showing and nothing yet bookable (other than long-haul). If accurate, there seems to be even more from them at STN in 2016...

Looks like new routes are to Bourgas and Gran Canaria but for July and August only as well as Sharm El Sheikh which looks to be operating the whole season.

Also extra flights in July and August to Antalya, Corfu, Enfidha, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife.

If this is the case there's going to be quite a lot of TCX at STN in July and August 2016 what with the increased long-haul programme also.

Seems only Izmir has been dropped.

[Steviec9]

Can anyone tell me if all Irish arrivals are still bussed from plane to terminal to avoid UK Border Control and mixing with other non CTA arriving passengers? I use priority boarding on FR rather more for the quick exit it allows. The bus transfer negates this.

[FRatSTN]

Flights are now on sale and are indeed those short-haul increases for STN as posted above.

This means through July and August in 2016 STN will have:
2x TOM 737's
1x TOM 787 (Tues and Weds only)
3x TCX A321's
1x TCX A330

Combined they will operate up to 81 departures per week.

I think if anybody told me only a year or two ago that TOM and TCX 2016 schedules were to look like this I'd never of believed them.

Well done again and thank you TCX, TOM and MAG.

[LTNman]

A good result for the airport.

[dc9-32]

would I be right to assume the Thursday TCX to ACE in September is an A321 ?

[FRatSTN]

would I be right to assume the Thursday TCX to ACE in September is an A321 ?

You would yes, it is an A321.

[Cabincrewifly]

Yes it's still a bus.

[Steviec9]

Cabincrew - thank you