LUTON - 7

[LTNman]

Luton is looking for IATA Level 3 status. This is their case

( edit- wrong link see below)

Interesting report commissioned by the airport about existing capacity in all the different parts of the airport. It is really detailed and includes the following:

APRON CAPACITY

This layout provides, depending upon which MARS stands are included, up to 33 stands that are routinely available for commercial passenger and supporting operations. A 10% surplus is retained to accommodate unexpected movements, operational spare aircraft and aircraft visiting for maintenance, and therefore 30 stands are routinely available for commercial passenger operations. In addition to these stands further apron areas are provided for general aviation and cargo operations.
The principal apron areas (Main, North and East Aprons) are accessed from the taxiway “loop” Alpha-Echo-Delta. This taxiway network was modelled to operate in a one-way flow configuration with clockwise circulation employed for Runway 26 operations and anti-clockwise when using Runway 08. During off peak periods it may be possible to operate a two-way flow. However, to avoid conflict during busy periods, a one-way flow was modelled at all times.
All commercial aircraft are parked nose-in requiring push-back to depart. Push-back from the main and northern aprons effectively blocks the free-flow of aircraft taxiing to other stands.

Conclusion
The analysis suggests that the critical constraints are central security and immigration. Even with the proposed expansion, central security capacity is on the verge of being inadequate to sustain the determined one-way runway capacity. With the significant morning out-bound wave as all based aircraft depart, typically at higher than average passengers per aircraft, there is a risk that security capacity would be exceeded leading to either passengers missing their flights, or aircraft being held on stand with consequent delay experienced within the apron-taxiway runway network. Equally, the capacity of the immigration facility may be exceeded during busy arrivals periods. This would increase queuing time through immigration but would not impact runway capacity.

Conclusion
URS observed that the capacity of the road network serving the central terminal zone is approximately 1,000 one-way vehicles per hour. This equates to approximately 850 passenger vehicle movements excluding staff and other non-passenger vehicle movements. This suggests that there is just about sufficient capacity providing declared capacity limits are observed. Any over scheduling will result in congestion in the highway network.

[Falcon666]

LTNman
Opening up your link gave us Isle of Man Airport Infrastructure.Interesting reading but not what we expected!

[LTNman]

Sorry, cut and paste the following words and do a google seach.


CAPACITY ANALYSIS OF LONDON LUTON AIRPORT WITH REFERENCE TO COORDINATED DESIGNATION


You should get a Leigh Fisher PDF file

[Dannyboy39]

I didn't have a clue what an IATA Level 3 Airport was, so I Googled it, and this came up, which I assume LTNman was alluding to...

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/2707/dft-2012-22-capacity-analysis.pdf

[LTNman]

That's it:ok: So the airport has 30 stands available with 10% spare. So how many aircraft night stop? I am sure it isn't 30.

As the report states there is more to capacity than just stands.

[Dannyboy39]

To summarise...

-Outbound passenger traffic is far more stretched than inbound passenger traffic. This is due to a low level of current capacity at central search. Due to passengers not checking bags in, check in capacity is seen to be sufficient.
-Surprised to read that baggage reclaim carrousels are sufficient to meet demand. Suppose that's fair enough, but what happens if one of those break down?
-Encouraged to read that the airport for the summer season is increasing capacity for immigration; a marketing ploy?
-Runway capacity can be increased slightly utilising existing capacity, although it outlines the problematic nature of "backtracking" and a non-full parallel taxiway, as well as problems with Taxiway Bravo.
-Recommended a decrease in seperation from 5nm to 4nm.
-Highlights the complexity of local airspace and the sharing/coordination of departure and arrival holds/procedures with Northolt, City and Stansted.
-Additional capacity can be sought from non-overnighting aircraft movements.
-The peak of the peak, is an hour before the morning peak begins.

Not a lot that we didn't really know already to be honest.

[Buster the Bear]

Luton Airport testing out new navigation system - News - Herts Advertiser (http://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/luton_airport_testing_out_new_navigation_system_1_1963066)

[Falcon666]

Buster,
More details are available on the airport web site including the expected new routings.
Only slight deviations though!

PS under RNAV in invester section

[Dannyboy39]

He will never be satisfied until the day the airport closes...

Spokesman for Hertfordshire Against Luton Expansion (HALE), Andrew Lambourne of Flamstead, said: “We are going to give the trial a fair chance but in terms of noise, there is only a small percentage of planes taking part in the trial – only about 40 per cent of westerly departures.”

[Lee Baker Street]

What I am wondering is should us folk in South Luton also be contacting the airport on every departure or arrival flying over head? As Mr Lambourne correctly states; About 40% of departures fly in his area but South Luton is subject to 100% of departures. It seems so strange that Mr Lambourne receives so much attention yet resides at least 4 miles away from the airport yet by far the majority of folk including myself, with aircraft climbing out on full power above our homes, generally do not take notice of the aircraft. In fact sometimes my partner asks is the airport operating? Maybe the airport when taking statistical data on complaints should factor in locations of respondants and measure that against those actually living next to the airport at the runway ends who do not complain but are subject to the loudest aircraft sounds.

[Falcon666]

Noticed the Masterplan link on the Airports website is now disabled.
Seems strange that they don't want to promote it anymore given that the 2001 development brief is still there and they are still taking representations!
Wonder what LBCs position is regarding Albertis offloading its Airport assets having signed an extension to the lease.What are their options?

[LTNman]

I would think it all depends how the contract was written. I have read here in the past that Luton had the option to cancel the contract in I think 2015. When this was threatened Abertis said they would demand £300m in compensation.

So does the contract allow Abertis to sell their concession seeing that they did not buy it but gained it when they took over TBI? If it does is it written into the lease that the new operator has to be approved by the owners of the airport first? What if the new operator does not want to expand the airport could the council block it by invoking the 2015 rule? I think lawyers will be carefully reading the small print in this one.

[Buster the Bear]

What pathetic reporting, even announcing the death of the wrong local councillor!

Anti-noise groups to field candidate in election bid - Business - Luton Today (http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/business/anti-noise-groups-to-field-candidate-in-election-bid-1-4885664)

[Dannyboy39]

Well I live almost next door to that candidate and I hear barely anything. Some days when the wind is blowing in the right direction, you hear nothing at all.

On Saturday a leaflet came through the door, no doubt from one of these anti-noise groups, concentrating mainly on the doubling of night noise. I threw it in the bin without reading the full leaflet.

What I want to know is - what do these people want? Would they rather the airport knocked down for housing?!

[LTNman]

He won't be getting my vote and I live half the distance that he does from the airport.

[pabely]

Solution:
Close ASDA, TUI HO, Vauxhall and in fact most of Wigmore who commute to the M1, job done - what a plonker!

It does make me laugh, first miss reporting by a reporter who works for Watford Observer and gets spin from St.Albans rag, now even Luton reporters cannot get their facts right.....

[Lee Baker Street]

Dear all,
There is currently a competition in a newspaper for Welwyn and Hatfield to guess the correct number of routes from Luton by Easyjet. There is a choice of 33, 66 or 99 routes.

But from my studies there should only be 32 which includes routes up to and including the end of this month (March). Once all routes are operating and taking into account seasonal summer routes there are in fact 38 routes in total? Can someone enlighten me how it is supposed to be 33 routes? I can not work it out...

[LTNman]

The completion of building work is in sight for the RSS Jet centre / Ocean Sky’s new FBO located around the former flying club. Temporary fences are still in place but permanent fences have now been erected. The good news is that they are the wire mesh type and not the wooden sound barrier fences that are installed around the cargo apron.

Work is still taking place on the new aprons and concrete is still being poured.

I will post some photos when the temporary fences located on the new aprons have been removed thus bringing the aprons into the airside part of the airport. Also there are still temporary fences around the entrance to the FBO and across the old access road

There was speculation here that this work would all be completed for the Olympics but it has been a slow old slog getting this far.

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

LTNman - It wasn't speculation that the new facilities would be completed in time for the Olympics; I recall that the claim was made in Ocean Sky's Press Release at the time:rolleyes:

[pabely]

Do we know when they need to give up the South Stands?

[LTNman]

They only lease 1 or 2 stands out of the 5 south stands anyway so there will be not that much extra capacity when they move.

Their new car park was getting its markings today. Their apron next to stand 9 looks complete now but work is still taking place on their bigger apron.

[LTNman]

There was a time that one flake of snow on the runway, taxiway or stand would close the airport until it was removed. I don't think the airport has been snow closed this year. After seeing this video has the airport policy changed?

Luton airport snow blizzard 11 February 2013 - YouTube

[pabely]

We arrived back from Sharm the same night, the flight was late because of a snowclo the previous day, the TOM got diverted to STN.

Full marks to LGW today......even if passengers could not get to the airport:eek:

[runway08]

Seems to be a lot of free hours with very few airline movements at the moment. Is this just because of the time of year?

[Buster the Bear]

Same for most airports, there are quiet periods until the summer schedules kick in.

[pabely]

Are there not only 3 south stands 20, 21 & 22 with various L & R? During busy times Ocean Sky use 2/3 of them subject to an ATP and cargo 737.
They might have missed Olympics but should be fully up and running for Champions League Final at Wembley this year.

Should be fully ready for IATA Level 3 status with all central stands in use....Wizzair take note for more Night stopping.

[pabely]

What can I say?

Complaints over Luton Airport (http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/business/complaints-over-luton-airport-s-plane-crash-facebook-post-1-4892976)

[Buster the Bear]

Posted by someone with no operational experience of an airport, nor any sense of safety within the industry in my opinion. What alarms me is how they were allowed to post that and why the poster thought it appropriate! Astonishing....

[Minnie the Moocher]

Facebook + Gauche Marketing sometimes = a lethal cocktail...

A much better example is this: https://www.facebook.com/poznanairport

Daily weather updates. Up to date 'spotter' photographs. Airport news. And, at times, a little bit of marketing puff...

Minnie.

[Expressflight]

What would be really interesting for LTN is something on the lines of the excellent 'London Southend Airport Then & Now' on facebook.

[Powerjet1]

Airport puts the record straight on noise

[pabely]

But the facebook cockup reaches the national press...

Luton airport apologises after posting photograph of plane crash on Facebook page - Home News - UK - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/luton-airport-apologises-after-posting-photograph-of-plane-crash-on-facebook-page-8534646.html)

[Dannyboy39]

Well this is pretty categorical...

Airport sets the record straight on noise - London Luton Airport (http://www.london-luton.co.uk/en/news/1/217/airport-sets-the-record-straight-on-noise.html)

Although I guess this report will be ignored by the NIMBYs, just like the Argentianians dismissing the Falklands vote.

[LTNman]

RSS Jet centre / Ocean Sky’s new apron next to the main apron took its first biz jet today. A Gulfstream was parked on the former Britannia Airways operations site.

Looking at their bigger apron today from the departure lounge it is clear there is still around a month’s work left before it will be ready to open.

I will try and take some photos tomorrow.

[Buster the Bear]

LTNman we need your photos.

[runway08]

The noise protesters were rather embarrassing. After all their uproar they manged to band together about 20 people, Some in robes. If that stunt was to garner support I have no doubt it failed miserably. People were looking at them like they had just escaped from a mental hospital. 75% of them look like they are pushing 100 anyway.. give it a year or so and they wont be a problem.

Its ironic I am yet to find a person living in Luton moaning about the noise.. Seems to be toffs from Hertfordshire crying about nothing. Lutons Population seems to be pro because we need work, Unions are pro.. Council is pro.. Besides these few cretins I don't really see much opposition.. If people were so vehemently opposed and their life was ruined by noise they could have managed at least a bus load of protestors no?

Major fail.

[LTNman]

They were looking for publicity which they got as the BBC sent along a reporter.

[Lee Baker Street]

I counted 75 people present in the protest and concluded most of them are retired folk. In turn they enjoyed singing a nursery rhyme- twinkle, twinkle little star, which suggests to me they might be an amalgamation of a choir and anti-airport campaigners on a day trip and fact finding trip to Luton. At about 12.55 they disbanded and then went shopping.

[boeing_eng]

Here's a pic taken from the inside of one of the new RSS ramps...

http://i48.tinypic.com/3465lvo.jpg

Also Monarch's new A320 G-ZBAA arrived yesterday sporting "sharklet" winglets

http://i47.tinypic.com/72epno.jpg

[runway08]

The BBC sent a reporter.. hold the front page.. or maybe 30 seconds on local news.. cant remember which it was :ok:.

75 eh? I must have missed a few.. when they were posing for a photo the number was in its twenties for sure.. Like you said they were mostly ancient and the looks they got for their strange day out singing songs and ringing bells was hilarious.

Oh well as long as the old folks had a good day out at the Arndale ..

That Monarch with the sharklets looks rather smart.^

[LTNman]

Before

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4165/p1000990r.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/p1000990r.jpg/)

After

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/3005/p1030244ao.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/p1030244ao.jpg/)

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/78/p1030236o.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/p1030236o.jpg/)


http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/9092/p1030254um.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51/p1030254um.jpg/)

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2103/p1030245h.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/p1030245h.jpg/)

[easy]

still miss after work drinks at the flying club :{

[LTNman]

Site of the former flying club that will soon become another apron. (note the temporary fences crossing the apron)

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/6994/p1030243f.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/p1030243f.jpg/)

[pabely]

Oh.. the Flying Club Bar, many a happy evening/morning spent wasted....

[LTNman]

Hard to believe this was once the approach road to the old terminal

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/705/p1030248u.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/28/p1030248u.jpg/)

This is how it was when the approach road was originally closed so the new terminal could be built. The lamp post on the left is the reference point in both photos. Note the traffic lights for the aircraft crossing

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/385/04050001a.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/46/04050001a.jpg/)

[pabely]

I remember it well, just stroll up right and do a flight plan....

[Buster the Bear]

Very interesting, thanks LTNman, it certainly has changed!

Flight plans being filed in the old wooden ex terminal.

[LTNman]

I see there is yet another hotel application been submitted. This time it is for an 8 story hotel located on the former Mondi Packaging premises. Location map can be seen on document 14. PlanNet - Luton Borough Council (http://www.eplan.luton.gov.uk/plannet/search.asp?authentication=LBC191006-Wg&ID=13/00145/FUL&StartingRecord=11).

The website is always off line overnight

There is another hotel application for land further up the hill oposite the Ibis

[runway08]

I gather none of the Hotel companies can get planning permission to build one of those huge hotels that reach up high into the sky? It seems there is a huge need for hotel rooms yet 4 or 5 little ones pop up here there and everywhere instead.

[Lee Baker Street]

Does anyone know what Luton's passenger figures are for February?

[pabely]

Can't see it on CAA Web site.

[TBSC]

Adria will not resume its "seasonal" LJU-LTN service.

[davidjohnson6]

In late spring 2012, I arrived at the terminal around 5:45 am for a 7 am flight, and found it took over an hour from joining the queue near the check-in desks to clearing the security hall - it took about 30 mins in the queue just to reach the bottom of the main staircase. At the time, I recall all security lanes open and staff advised it was quite normal with no particular systems failure on the day. I recall also Ryanair passengers being told to use a separate gate for screening.

I know Luton airport has a history of underinvestment, but does this kind of queue length still occur, or has the root cause of 1+ hour delays now been solved ? Luton is my local airport and I prefer to use it if possible, but wondering if I need to choose an alternate London airport to avoid being treated like s--t

[compton3bravo]

May I suggest David that you left it rather late to arrive at 5.45 for a 7am flight. Should you not have given yourself more time say 5am at the latest to get through security, etc and relaxed for a bit and had a coffee, etc. knowing that you were there in plenty of time for your flight and the last time I was there in early February the traffic was beginning to build up at 4.45am for a 7.20 flight and I wasn´t treated like s**t!

[LTNman]

The airport opened a peak time only Security Zone 2 last year which reduced the queues. The issue was that passengers had to follow the signs and leave the new terminal and re-enter the old terminal at the former SilverJet entrance. Once cleared passengers found that they then had a long walk to the main departure lounge and then equally another long walk if their gate was back by the exist of Security Zone 2.

This is far from satisfactory and shows the urgent need to get on with the building over of the bus station which will allow a much bigger security area to move downstairs.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6189/p1000907e.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/716/p1000907e.jpg/)

[Alloy]

The last place I want to linger is the crowded Luton terminal, 1 1/4 hours seems quiet appropriate to me.

[Buster the Bear]

For a 07:00 departure, you would need to be at the gate by 06:30, so arriving in the tinminal at 05:45 is rather cutting it fine. I guess all London airports would have lengthy queues at this time of the morning.

[Expressflight]

Security screening at SEN tends to be the exception to that in my experience, although the lack of an early train to get there for one of the first departures is still annoying.

[davidjohnson6]

One of Luton's major airlines closes checkin just 40 mins before departure. This seems incompatible with expecting to have to spend over an hour queuing for security.

Methinks some people are just too accustomed to Luton's low standards. I believe the CAA would take a dim view of security queues regularly being an hour at regulated airports like Gatwick

[pabely]

Gatwick South was a breeze when I last used it thanks to the new area upstairs. It was crap in BAA days.
These problems need more investment, hence the Terminal Expension plan.

[Lee Baker Street]

Let’s not forget that SEN only have a few flights first thing in the morning and one or two per hour, throughout the rest of the day, I have read many articles regarding the speed of progressing passengers through LCY but when you consider the average passenger load is about 45 as opposed to Luton’s 136 it is hardly surprising. From all my years of flying, I stick to the ‘standard’ which is to arrive at the airport a minimum two hours before a flight.

[LTNman]

Seems to just an early morning issue although that is no excuse but with the overflow security area in use the queues become manageable. Just a shame that Luton is a victim of its own success.

[pabely]

Any new stand numberings for the new VVIP complex as there will be two new areas?

[gilesdavies]

To be fair to David I think he raises a valid point about security and I don't think getting to the airport, one and quarter hours before departure is cutting it fine, especially if you are only travelling with hand baggage!

Many Low Cost Airlines only open check-in two hours before departure and can easily take 30+ minutes to drop the bags off and boarding passes (That is the same at many airports)...

So, by the time you have done check-in, you are in the realms of queuing at Security at around the same time David is, who has just turned up with his hand luggage.

Im not on here to knock Luton again, but I think us LTN fans forget, how much better facilities can be and are at other UK airports. Was at East Midlands the other week on a 6.30 departure and sailed through security in less than five mins and Birmingham a few weeks earlier and took no more than ten-fifteen minutes.

Birmingham is only marginally quieter than Luton and East Midlands is a fair bit more, but both airports were busy at the time and just shows they can manage their security queue flows at peak times and have enough lanes open to match demand.

[LTNman]

Any new stand numberings for the new VVIP complex as there will be two new areas?

Nothing NOTAM'ed yet

Birmingham is only marginally quieter than Luton and East Midlands is a fair bit more, but both airports were busy at the time and just shows they can manage their security queue flows at peak times and have enough lanes open to match demand.

Yes but what is Luton like now when Security Zone Two is open as davidjohnson6 was talking about his visit last spring before it opened?

[Powerjet1]

Well, I last travelled through Luton on Monday, 4 March at 0530, near the peak time for queues, with a flight at 0715, and I have to say, I was quite surprised how easy it was getting through security. Yes, it was very busy, but all the gates seemed to be open, and there certainly wasn't any waiting on the stairs, 15 mins max to to reach the departure lounge. On my return, a few days later, we arrived back at 19.50, and ok, the airport was reasonably quiet, but from aircraft steps to the pick up zone, including luggage retrieval, was 20 mins. I think that was a record for me. I had no complaints and was probably lucky to some extent. The challenge for the airport is to make that more the 'norm' and that probably wont happen until the terminal expansion is approved, and an enlarged security is moved downstairs.

[Dannyboy39]

Well there is one major stakeholder suffering because of queues, other than the passenger - and that is London Luton Airport.

Its within their interests to get passengers through security quickly; it gives them more time to go shopping. No doubt the airport gets a % of all sales.

[Buster the Bear]

Absolutely Dannyboy.

[compton3bravo]

The February 2013 passenger statistics have now appeared on the CAA website. A total of 578,646 passengers used the airport down 0.5 per cent on 2012. The rolling 12 month figures is 9,599,744 up 0.8 per cent.

[Dannyboy39]

A lot of departures into Israel today ahead of the Passover festival. A couple of charters into Eilat-Ovda, as well as the normal routes into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

Will the El Al B777 be putting in an appearance in the next few days?

[runway08]

Naw just 767-300's as far as I am aware.

I notice a thomas cook 757 flight due tonight from tel aviv is now cancelled.

[gilesdavies]

Will the El Al B777 be putting in an appearance in the next few days?

Just done a search on El Al's booking website, doesn't look like El Al are increasing capacity as much as they have previous years, with no multiple daily frequencies next week, but it could be possible flights are booked up and not showing in the booking engine as sold out.

BUT, Wednesday's flight LY312 with a departure time of 12.30pm from LTN is showing as a 777-300!

All the other flights which are showing as having seats available this week are scheduled to be 767-200/300's...

[rutankrd]

73W - is a Boeing 737-700NG !

[gilesdavies]

73W - is a Boeing 737-700NG !

I have no issue with people correcting me, when making a valid point, but when the person trying to correct me, cannot even be bothered to verify the information, that annoys me and pure laziness!

Just to confirm what I posted earlier is correct, I have cut and pasted the information from El Al's website!

Flight 1 Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Departure: 12:30 London, United Kingdom - Luton
Arrival: 19:25 Tel Aviv Yafo, Israel - Ben Gurion International, terminal 3


Airline: El Al Israel Airlines LY312 e Duration: 4:55
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200/300ER

[rutankrd]

Mr Gilesdavies

Apologies thought I had linked it.

Anyway telex print out actually says a B762 on Wednesday with a 763 on Thursday.

[gilesdavies]

Mr Gilesdavies

Apologies thought I had linked it.

Anyway telex print out actually says a B762 on Wednesday with a 763 on Thursday.

My apologies too, I shouldn't posted in frustration!

You could well be right about the aircraft type then, if you have access to industry related systems... I could only go by the information in the public domain, and that being the El Al website.

[LAX_LHR]

Amadeus and Sabre system says it will be a B777-200 on 27th.

[compton3bravo]

At a quick glance looks like Ryanair´seem to be operating an increasing number of ´W´ patterns - i.e. the first Dublin this morning (Monday) and a Malta during the week. With the start of the summer timetable it will be interesting to see how they pan out. Good for the airport in extra pax and not taking up stands overnight.

[Lee Baker Street]

Hello gilesdavies,
I thought your request for info regarding this flight was interesting. I found one site stating the flight will be on a Boeing 767-200 and according to SeatGuru the service will be operated by a Boeing 777-200! Like yourself I am none the wiser!

[LGS6753]

Flights now showing as a 777-200 tomorrow morning and an Arkia 757 late afternoon.

[LTNman]

For passengers wanting to catch a coach between the airport and London Victoria there was the Green Line. Then easyBus started up in competition and the two services merged. Always thought it was free enterprise but it seems that it was a contract awarded by the airport. Now it will be run by National Express who will lay on 150 services a day!

International Trade / National Express celebrates Luton Airport and US contract wins THEBUSINESSDESK.COM (http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidlands/news/447916-national-express-celebrates-luton-airport-contract-win.html?news_section=273986)

[gilesdavies]

I don't think Greenline are going anywhere and this move by National Express is just really to introduce some more competition on the route...

Greenline's website states a new bus timetable, which only came in effect on the 24th March, so seems like they are here to stay. Download the PDF from the below link:
http://www.greenline.co.uk/uploadedfiles/Services/South_East/SELN757_240313_010213.pdf

I would imagine the Airport will possibly market the National Express option to London as their preferred bus operator on the route and give them the convenient bus stops outside of the terminal. If they are people that wanted NX to come to LTN.

When the press release states buses up to every 10 mins at Peak Times and up to 150 buses a day. I wonder if these will be dedicated buses to this route, or if they will just divert more buses to and from the Midlands and North travelling up and down the M1 to call at the airport?

If you have ever been to Milton Keynes Coachway, which is a major National Express stop at Junction 14 of the M1, I would imagine they have a similar number of buses calling there each day and with similar frequencies. None of these are dedicated MK to London services, and just buses stopping enroute as they go North and South on the M1 to their final destinations.

[LTNman]

At the moment National Express don't even claim they operate into London from the airport

Our services arrive and depart from bays 4, 5 and 6 situated in the front of the terminal building.

We run the following services direct from London Luton Airport:

Service 707 to Northampton, 7 times a day
Service 737 to High Wycombe and Oxford, 8 times a day
Service 767 to Leicester and Nottingham, 9 times a day
Service 777 to Coventry, Birmingham up to 11 times a day
Service 787 to Cambridge, 10 times a day
Milton Keynes, 29 times a day
Stansted Airport, 27 times a day
Heathrow Airport, 20 times a day
Gatwick Airport, 10 times a day

[Lee Baker Street]

Hello gilesdavies,

I think the dates for the next El Al 777-200 arrivals are on April 2nd 10.55am and April 5th 08.55am.

[Powerjet1]

Easy increasing Tel Aviv flights to 11 wkly for W13/14, up from 9 this winter. Also, El Al have 6 wkly for the same period, up from 2/3 this winter. Quite an increase in winter capacity. This summer sees a big rise, due to a substantial increase by EL AL, especially in the peak summer months.

[pabely]

This increase in EZY TLV is at the expense of another route or are we seeing an additional aircraft or better utilization in Winter?

[gilesdavies]

This increase in EZY TLV is at the expense of another route or are we seeing an additional aircraft or better utilization in Winter?

Don't be silly, easyJet add capacity to Luton with more aircraft... You have more chance of pigs flying! :ugh:

Sharm El Sheikh seems to be down to 3 times a week up until January and then increases to five times in February (the schedule this winter was sixe times weekly)... So I'd imagine this is where the capacity is being taken from to free up Tel Aviv.

This chopping and changing of schedules and frequencies at Luton with easyJet is getting tiring now.

Im getting pretty frustrated with trying to book a flight and every year noticing the schedule is constantly getting chipped away. Limiting the days you can choose to fly, compared to the previous year!

Even though Luton is considered a "London" airport, the schedules offered by easyJet and Ryanair, definately more in-line with regional UK airports. Reducing frequencies to a destination, in favour of flying to more places.

Go back a few years ago when Ryanair increased their base at the airport to four 737-800's, they only flew to twelve destinations, they now fly to in-excess of twenty with the same equipment. Dublin is a good example, where they use to fly five times daily, now were down to two or three a day.

I noticed the other day, easyJet announced a new route to Bergen in Norway from Gatwick. They seem happier to fly from there, with direct competition from Norwegian and BA. Luton is scream out for some Scamdanavian woutes. :rolleyes:

[OltonPete]

Surely this is a part-release?

I have never seen anything like it and although Monday, Thursday and Friday seem okay the Tuesday and Wednesday flights even in November seem awful.

On a January Tuesday and Wedneasday BHX matches Luton on Geneva with just one flight - it must be provisional?

Aberdeen 4-5 a week, Amsterdam 2 on some days with EDI and GLA just 3 mid week.

I know the post Christmas holiday period does see cuts everywhere but I checked some late November dates and although not as bad it does seem down on previous years. If anybody has time to check the Tuesday and Wednesday November flights to confirm but I am only finding 20-25 flighst a day.



Pete

[Dannyboy39]

Easy increasing Tel Aviv flights to 11 wkly for W13/14, up from 9 this winter. Also, El Al have 6 wkly for the same period, up from 2/3 this winter. Quite an increase in winter capacity. This summer sees a big rise, due to a substantial increase by EL AL, especially in the peak summer months.

Something has to give, surely? Is there really the demand for the number of services?

Would be a huge loss to Luton in my opinion, if El Al decided to leave the airport, due to the fact easyJet will undercut the full service offering.

[Keyvon]

Wizzair is to cease Lodz by the end of May.

[FRatSTN]

Have you guys not seen Stansted's EasyJet schedule!? I don't think Luton is anything to worry about in comparison. Let's hope you're right that it is a part-release. 6 a/c at Stansted to say the least is outrageous. I don't think they're right yet though since Mondays had 15 early departures and only 10 late arrivals in Luton in January.

But myself from Leicester, OltonPete in Solihull and gilesdavies in Northamptonshire... we need not worry! If this is EasyJet's new way of serving London, we all have Southend as our alternative! What a lot of good that is for us!:rolleyes:

[FRatSTN]

If anybody has time to check the Tuesday and Wednesday November flights to confirm but I am only finding 20-25 flighst a day.

No but I have departures on Tuesday 14th January 2014 below:

0645 AMS
0710 CDG
0735 BFS
0805 GVA
0840 FAO
0840 GLA
0845 EDI
0900 TLV
1210 MAD
1415 SXF
1500 CDG
1520 AMS
1710 BCN
1715 GLA
1810 EDI
1830 DTM
1900 BFS
2000 EDI
2055 GLA

That is not right at all. Monday 13th January 2014 has 41 departures, compared to 19 on the 14th:eek:

[Lee Baker Street]

I checked out all departures from Luton on Tuesday 12th November and Wednesday 13th November 2013. Tuesday totals 23 and Wednesday 26.

[Dannyboy39]

Was that your letter in the H&P this week? Was a good read.

[Lee Baker Street]

I confess I am the airports most staunch supporter via the local papers and hated by the likes of LADICAN, HALE and the others! :) But if you look back at many of my comments over many years I always complained that the anti airport brigade purposely misinform the general public. Fortunately (though after me I should point out) the airport very recently raised this issue too, so I must be doing something right? Evidently those anti airport campaigners have gone mysteriously quiet? I wonder what they are currently planning...:confused: But I will be waiting for them! :=

[Buster the Bear]

So to get all the extra Romanian and Bulgarian folk in, are there additional 'one way' routes planned?

[LTNman]

They have been arriving at Luton for years. I kid you not, the large hoop gold earrings, head scarfs and general clothing gives them away as they head on foot down the hill with their luggage, as many of them can’t afford a bus fare.

I have yet to see any of them walking back up the hill with their luggage. Maybe they are here to stay or they have made enough money selling clothes pegs and lucky heather to afford the bus fare for any short trips home.

[Ramper1]

Does it really matter how many departures they have, cause you don't fly them anyway, so why complain. They are a business after all and they are doing the right thing by following previous years statistics and cutting back in unnecessary flights. TLV is a very lucrative and good earner for them hence why the route has seen expansion both at LTN and MAN. Stop moaning about the cutbacks, unless you actually fly the routes concerned, you really have no right to complain.:ugh:

[boeing_eng]

Both the new RSS stands are now in use (only an Atlantic ATP on the South Stands today)

Looking from landside to airside the new stand numbers are 80 (L/H) & 81 (R/H)

[jdcg]

Regardless of what one thinks about current EU policy on freedom of movement, do we have to have pejorative references to Bulgarians and Romanians (actually anti-Roma prejudice generalised across whole populations) on the forums? I have known a number of Bulgarians and Romanians who have been living and working (very hard) here for years already. I also know lots of English people who don't work at all and don't appear to want to.

[Buster the Bear]

The perception as given out regularly by HM Govt is that thousands will arrive in the UK with a 'hand out' booth at the end of the red carpet (EU freedom of movement rules), I just wondered how big the booth would have to be in the tinminal and are we talking about miles of red carpet?

I am hearing that the new RSS stands are 'not that big'?

[LTNman]

They are alot bigger than what Signature will end up with

[LTNman]

A1248/13 NOTAMN
Q) EGTT/QMPCS/IV/M /A /000/999/5152N00022W005
A) EGGW B) 1303300001 C) 1304180001
E) TWO NEW ACFT PARKING STANDS 80 AND 81, ESTABLISHED FOR RSS JET
CENTRE ADJ TWY ECHO
CREATED: 29 Mar 2013 19:01:00
SOURCE: EUECYIYN


RSS/ Ocean Sky's second apron. South stands are now empty.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6083/p1030312f.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/p1030312f.jpg/)

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9941/p1030298k.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/526/p1030298k.jpg/)

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9867/p1030310i.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/p1030310i.jpg/)

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/690/p1030302x.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/201/p1030302x.jpg/)

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9485/p1030311x.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/560/p1030311x.jpg/)

[Dannyboy39]

I gather the south stands are going to be used more for commercial passenger traffic ahead of the summer season?

Isn't there a bit more land around President Way that could be utilised better for hard standing?

[LTNman]

I can't see the south stands being used for boarding passenger flights for at least a couple of years if not longer. The pinch point is passengers passing through security. Until that is fixed extra stands are pointless. The South Stands will more than likely be used for aircraft that are not required to fly for a few days or are in for maintenance thus creating space on the hangar line.

As for President Way apart from the new Signature hangar which is being started this year there is no spare land that I know about.

[pabely]

Maybe South Stands for overflow on charters, Champions League coming up where their might be a few nightstops.

President Way, only if you move the road plan and eat up Car Parking, reducing other income, and that moves you nearer to residentual housing which will create issues etc.

Only thing would be to move the 'tidy tip', Long Term Car Car, now thats an option.....?

[boeing_eng]

I am hearing that the new RSS stands are 'not that big'?

They are certainly not big and LTNMAN's wide angle photo's are deceptive!

The tug drivers are going to be very busy with careful juggling required to make the most of the space and I think half a dozen G550's or Global's will pretty much fill-up most of the space unless cramming in is performed!!

[LTNman]

There is a plan to knock down building 56 and square off the new apron.
This is how it is now with the new west and east apron and building 56 at the top. The plan shows 12 aircraft including two 737's. They also have their ex-Monarch hanger to park aircraft.

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1508/43561681.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/11/43561681.png/)

[LTNman]

Maybe South Stands for overflow on charters, Champions League coming up where their might be a few nightstops.

I have a photo of eight 727 and MD80 type aircraft double parked on the south stands so expect to see the same.:ok:

[pabely]

Sterling, Dan-Air, diversions or another big charter day?

I remember a snow day & another fog day at LGW brought lots of DanAir & Laker. Of course DanAir had a base here then so it was a natural place to divert to.

[LTNman]

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/1476/footballcharters.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/580/footballcharters.jpg/)

My photo has appeared here before so apologies to those who remember it.

Taken in the days when Luton also had 2 finger stands. The event was a football charter. I can remember that returning passengers never went through the terminal and were taken straight to their aircraft on the coaches they arrived on.

Not sure if the building on the right is the spectators building or the domestic terminal that was built but never used. I seem to remember the spectators building was made out of wood but I think it went through a transition when the domestic terminal was built.

Edit. Just found another photo taken from the lighting tower showing Concord as is passes a very crowded spectators area. The wooden building was a nice shade of yellow! No south stands in those days just a mass of grass.

It was a cheap family day out visiting the spectator’s area at Luton. You could have a meal and visit the bar plus there was also a small shop selling aircraft magazines etc.

[boeing_eng]

The pic looks like the visitors for the European Cup Winners Cup final on 12/05/93

It's hard to believe this was twenty years ago!......I remember it well and recall a Martinair DC-10 landing deep on 08 and only just stopping in the 26 turning circle with reversers and brakes howling!

[pabely]

This years invation will be French, German, Spanish, Italian or Turkish?:E

[gilesdavies]

Another day of bad press for Luton Airport...

Looks like the fees have gone up from £1 to £2 from today, but have generously increased the drop off time from 10 to 15mins!

Not sure if this has been discussed previously, but not read about it on here.

They had the airport on BBC 3CR this morning, and the airport didn't come out well, when they were interviewed and trying to justify the increase... The general consensus from listeners was how greedy the airport was been and were just out to milk the passengers.

The airport tried to justify this, by saying how they offer a free 30 mins in the Mid-Stay Car Park, and passengers will be whisked to the terminal in 60 seconds by bus! This also blew up in the airports faces and had listeners calling in saying how they have waited 20 mins for a bus in the past and also you do not need 15 mins to drop passengers off!

Not a good marketing day for the airport, and trying to deceive regular loyal and local passengers by a marketing department using smoke and mirrors is not a good move!

You can listen to the interview here, and fast forward to about 1hr 55 into the show:
BBC Three Counties Radio - The JVS Show, 02/04/2013 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015ympj)

[LTNman]

The word spin comes to mind after hearing the show.

[gilesdavies]

The word spin comes to mind after hearing the show.

Very Very True...

The problem the press department stupidly didn't realise or under-estimated was they were broadcasting to Herts, Beds and Bucks, which contains probably the airports most frequent and loyalist users of the airport and are fully aware of how the existing Drop Off Zone works and that parking at the Mid-Stay Car Park isn;t as straight forward as the airport claimed.

Especially when travelling with a family or lots of luggage!

If the marketing department had broadcast to an area not familiar with the airport, then listeners would probably have bought what they said.

[LGS6753]

An interesting article on Wizzair:

Wizz Air: why Europe’s second lowest cost producer may be looking for fresh capital: IPO time? | CAPA - Centre for Aviation (http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/wizz-air-why-europes-second-lowest-cost-producer-may-be-looking-for-fresh-capital-103429)

Says that LTN is their largest operation (would they wish to upset that by moving it elsewhere?) with 63,360 seats per week, 36% larger than Budapest, in at number two.
It also says that at LTN, EasyJet is number one with 47.9% of the seats, followed by WZZ (27.8%) and Ryanair (17.1%). No surprise there!

[Eddie Ginley]

jdcg,

I am in full agreement with you.

This has been going on for some while and is a bit tiresome.

I wish the mods would put a stop to it...

Fast Eddie

[Eddie Ginley]

"Not sure if the building on the right is the spectators building or the domestic terminal"...

Nice retro shot...

The building on the right is what was referred to as the "Executive Terminal" and was lightly (or never) used as such. It was certainly used as an exhibition area for Airport open days around that time as I recall, and I remember using it (with a hi-lo provided by the Airport) as a back-drop in a photo-shoot for a Vauxhall piece I did for a motoring magazine in 1994-ish...

It was of course later passed over to easyJet when they started Ops at LTN, expanded / painted orange and has been referred to as "easyLand" ever since.

Interesting that there is no sign of the Spectators' Building in this image. That was situated to the left of the Exec' Terminal in this picture - and thus clearly hadn't been built then of course.

When I started working at LTN full-time in 1996 "Speccies" was there and in use (but not much it has to be said). Apparently none of the operators that took the lease on the Cafe and Bookshop were really able to make it pay, and I especially remember that the "Spectators' Car Park" situated there had some very dodgy entrance barriers which worked on a token system and which were easily errmmm... 'manipulated' - so little revenue was generated there either. Hence it's eventual demise :O

Fast Eddie

[Eddie Ginley]

...and of course "Speccies" eventually made way for the Ocean Sky FBO facility there.

No element of "Speccies" structure was incorporated into the FBO, indeed there was a 'void' in that area for a while at least (2003 - 2005-ish? - anyone remember better than I do?). Because I know for sure that for a week or so during that time easyJet erected a marquee there for the press launch of their new LTN - Berlin-Schonefeld route.

Just a little bit of Airport history for the record...

Fast Eddie.

[gilesdavies]

It also says that at LTN, EasyJet is number one with 47.9% of the seats, followed by WZZ (27.8%) and Ryanair (17.1%). No surprise there!

I am surprised Ryanair only provide 17.1% of the airports annual throughput, as that only equates to about 1.6 million passengers per year, considering they have four aircraft based at the airport and people have mentioned flights operating in from other bases.

Birmingham airport also has four aircraft based there and someone in the Birmingham forum posted this below post giving all the rotations of these four aircraft based at the airport:

MONDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR2812 12:30 Montpellier
FR3902 13:50 Malta
FR9162 14:20 Barcelona
FR3742 15:40 Fuerteventura
FR1109 15:45 Londonderry
FR1449 16:00 Lanzarote
FR666 16:25 Dublin
FR2153 20:55 Alicante
FR672 22:00 Dublin
FR1254 22:05 Katowice
FR2155 22:50 Murcia
FR2157 23:35 Malaga

FR3901 06:25 Malta
FR3741 06:35 Fuerteventura
FR1448 07:00 Lanzarote
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR2811 08:10 Montpellier
FR1108 12:55 Londonderry
FR9163 14:45 Barcelona
FR2152 14:50 Alicante
FR1253 16:35 Katowice
FR667 16:50 Dublin
FR2154 17:05 Murcia
FR2156 17:10 Malaga
FR673 22:25 Dublin


TUESDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR2163 08:35 Palma de Mallorca
FR2157 08:55 Malaga
FR1464 09:40 Milan-Bergamo
FR1999 11:30 Perpignan
FR3712 11:35 Faro
FR749 11:50 Gdansk
FR9162 12:40 Barcelona
FR666 14:45 Dublin
FR2153 14:50 Alicante
FR1122 16:40 Tenerife-South
FR9474 16:45 Barcelona-Girona
FR2712 21:05 Ibiza
FR672 21:40 Dublin
FR735 22:50 Bratislava
FR1213 23:05 Bydgoszcz
FR2155 23:50 Murcia

FR748 06:30 Gdansk
FR1998 06:50 Perpignan
FR1121 07:15 Tenerife-South
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR2152 08:45 Alicante
FR2162 09:00 Palma de Mallorca
FR2156 09:35 Malaga
FR1463 10:05 Milan-Bergamo
FR9473 11:55 Barcelona-Girona
FR3711 12:00 Faro
FR9163 13:05 Barcelona
FR667 15:10 Dublin
FR2711 15:10 Ibiza
FR734 17:25 Bratislava
FR1212 17:55 Bydgoszcz
FR2154 17:55 Murcia
FR673 22:05 Dublin


WEDNESDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR2157 08:25 Malaga
FR1083 11:05 Barcelona-Reus
FR1215 13:40 Kaunas
FR2163 14:45 Palma de Mallorca
FR9162 16:00 Barcelona
FR1129 16:05 Gran Canaria
FR666 16:25 Dublin
FR1449 16:40 Lanzarote
FR1466 16:45 Krakow
FR1109 17:20 Londonderry
FR672 22:00 Dublin
FR1254 23:05 Katowice
FR2150 23:15 Alicante
FR1085 23:45 Rzeszow
FR2153 23:50 Alicante

FR1082 06:10 Barcelona-Reus
FR1128 06:45 Gran Canaria
FR1214 07:30 Kaunas
FR1448 07:40 Lanzarote
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR2156 09:05 Malaga
FR1465 11:30 Krakow
FR1108 14:30 Londonderry
FR2162 15:10 Palma de Mallorca
FR9163 16:25 Barcelona
FR667 16:50 Dublin
FR2151 17:10 Alicante
FR1253 17:35 Katowice
FR1084 17:45 Rzeszow
FR2152 17:45 Alicante
FR673 22:25 Dublin


THURSDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR2157 09:05 Malaga
FR3712 11:35 Faro
FR9162 12:05 Barcelona
FR2163 12:10 Palma de Mallorca
FR1464 12:40 Milan-Bergamo
FR666 13:30 Dublin
FR2712 13:30 Ibiza
FR1122 16:45 Tenerife-South
FR1097 17:00 Trieste
FR2155 19:05 Murcia
FR2153 20:35 Alicante
FR1109 22:20 Londonderry
FR672 21:40 Dublin
FR1213 23:05 Bydgoszcz
FR735 23:55 Bratislava

FR2162 06:35 Palma de Mallorca
FR1121 07:20 Tenerife-South
FR2711 07:35 Ibiza
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR2156 09:45 Malaga
FR3711 12:00 Faro
FR1096 12:05 Trieste
FR9163 12:30 Barcelona
FR1463 13:05 Milan-Bergamo
FR2154 13:20 Murcia
FR667 13:55 Dublin
FR2152 14:30 Alicante
FR1212 17:55 Bydgoszcz
FR734 18:30 Bratislava
FR1108 19:30 Londonderry
FR673 22:05 Dublin


FRIDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR3712 11:20 Faro
FR1254 12:00 Katowice
FR2153 12:25 Alicante
FR1109 15:45 Londonderry
FR1449 16:10 Lanzarote
FR666 16:25 Dublin
FR3742 17:00 Fuerteventura
FR2150 17:30 Alicante
FR1083 17:40 Barcelona-Reus
FR672 22:00 Dublin
FR2812 22:25 Montpellier
FR9162 23:15 Barcelona
FR2157 23:25 Malaga
FR3902 23:59 Malta

FR2152 06:20 Alicante
FR1253 06:30 Katowice
FR1448 07:10 Lanzarote
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR3741 07:55 Fuerteventura
FR3711 11:45 Faro
FR1082 12:45 Barcelona-Reus
FR1108 12:55 Londonderry
FR3901 16:35 Malta
FR667 16:50 Dublin
FR2156 17:00 Malaga
FR2151 17:55 Alicante
FR2811 18:05 Montpellier
FR9163 18:05 Barcelona
FR673 22:25 Dublin


SATURDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR9474 08:00 Barcelona-Girona
FR749 11:50 Gdansk
FR1464 13:05 Milan-Bergamo
FR2155 13:45 Murcia
FR1122 16:10 Tenerife-South
FR2257 17:25 Malaga
FR1999 17:30 Perpignan
FR666 18:05 Dublin
FR3712 18:55 Faro
FR2163 19:35 Palma de Mallorca
FR2153 20:00 Alicante
FR672 23:00 Dublin
FR1213 23:05 Bydgoszcz
FR2157 23:35 Malaga
FR735 23:55 Bratislava

FR748 06:30 Gdansk
FR1121 06:45 Tenerife-South
FR1463 07:00 Milan-Bergamo
FR2154 07:45 Murcia
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR9473 08:25 Barcelona-Girona
FR1998 12:50 Perpignan
FR2152 13:55 Alicante
FR667 15:30 Dublin
FR2156 17:10 Malaga
FR2256 17:50 Malaga
FR1212 17:55 Bydgoszcz
FR734 18:30 Bratislava
FR3711 19:20 Faro
FR2162 20:00 Palma de Mallorca
FR673 20:25 Dublin


SUNDAY
FR662 07:30 Dublin
FR2157 09:15 Malaga
FR1449 11:20 Lanzarote
FR1215 12:35 Kaunas
FR1085 12:45 Rzeszow
FR2163 13:55 Palma de Mallorca
FR9162 15:50 Barcelona
FR1129 16:10 Gran Canaria
FR1097 18:20 Trieste
FR1466 19:35 Krakow
FR2153 19:35 Alicante
FR2712 21:05 Ibiza
FR672 21:40 Dublin
FR1109 22:50 Londonderry
FR2150 23:20 Alicante
FR1083 23:40 Barcelona-Reus

FR1214 06:25 Kaunas
FR1084 06:40 Rzeszow
FR1128 06:50 Gran Canaria
FR663 07:55 Dublin
FR2162 08:20 Palma de Mallorca
FR2156 09:55 Malaga
FR1448 11:45 Lanzarote
FR1096 13:25 Trieste
FR1465 14:20 Krakow
FR2711 15:00 Ibiza
FR9163 16:20 Barcelona
FR2151 17:15 Alicante
FR1082 18:45 Barcelona-Reus
FR1108 20:00 Londonderry
FR2152 20:00 Alicante
FR673 22:05 Dublin

Based aircraft: 4
Destinations: 27
Total weekly flights: 218 (109 arr/109 dep)

With that amount of traffic, the airline is able to feed BHX with about 2.2 million passengers per year. While Ryanair at Luton is down by 600,000 passengers.

I thought it might be down to the aircraft at Luton flying sectors, but this doesn't seem to the case, as both bases fly to the Canaries and Malta, which are about the longest sectors.

Also the above only shows sectors flown by Birmingham based aircraft and if other Ryanair aircraft from other bases serve Birmingham, the passenger numbers for the airport will be higher. But the figure for Luton is for ALL Ryanair flights, regardless of the bases they are flown from.

So it would seem Luton based aircraft are not utilised as highly, the load factors are weaker or the aircraft at Luton do a lot more W flights than other bases.

[Buster the Bear]

Thanks LTNman and others, I guess if the Autair helicopter hangar was removed, this would significantly boost parking options. Good to see a 'real' 737 parked there!

[Expressflight]

gilesdavies

Isn't the DUB route operated by a DUB based aircraft in the BHX schedules you posted?

[Hangar6]

Indeed it is a Dublin based a/c

[OltonPete]

Obviously a Luton thread and I don't want to hijack it with BHX stats but to add a bit of context to the BHX schedules.

Some of flights quoted are only one month therefore just 4or 5 return flights such as te Friday Faro, Sunday Lanzerote, Saturday Malaga (might be July & Aug) plus LDY on a Thursday is Jun-AUG as is BCN on Tu/Th.

Dublin is mainly Dublin based aircraft except for two on a Saturday.

They have filled the gaps better this year other than Thursday morning but remember last winter had up to 13 based with some days just one or two operating however they have definitely upped the flying from other bases.

The August schedule is the equivilant to having six based.

Pete

[FRatSTN]

Yes it was me who posted Ryanair's weekly timetable for Birmingham. I have their timetable for each day of the week in August (the busiest month) for all of Ryanair's UK bases except Stansted just because it's so large and time consuming to sift through. The schedule gilesdavies reposted is ALL Ryanair flights at Birmingham in August, not just from the 4 aircraft based there.

BHX has 218 total weekly FR flights whilst Luton is slightly behind at 210. I think Birmingham does have more additional flights for August so they are virtually neck and neck for much of the summer.

I can post Luton's weekly FR schedule if anybody would like to see it but I don't think it's neccessary to. Also remember that Birmingham tends to be smaller than Luton in terms of FR traffic through the winter months.

With that amount of traffic, the airline is able to feed BHX with about 2.2 million passengers per year. While Ryanair at Luton is down by 600,000 passengers.


Birmingham will go nowhere near 2.2 million FR passengers p.a. East Midlands is a lot larger at 366 weekly flights with 8 a/c in August as well as some non-based aircraft flights and Ryanair said in October 2012 that 2.3 million passengers would use FR from EMA in 2013. They also estimated 2.4 million at Manchester, 2.1 million at Liverpool, 1.8 million at Edinburgh and 1.4 million at Prestwick when announcing new routes from there some months ago.

Whilst Prestwick has 4 a/c also, there are quite a few less non-based a/c operating from there so 1.6 million for the whole of 2013 for both Birmingham and Luton is about right.

[LTNman]

All change for bus services from airport to capital - Business - Luton Today (http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/business/all-change-for-bus-services-from-airport-to-capital-1-4979381)

Just had a quick look at the timetable. Coaches run through the night and from 03:30 they run every 10 minutes from London.

Bus operator Arriva says it is “extremely disappointed” after losing the contract to run bus services from Luton Airport into London.

The Green Line 757 service has run on the route for more than 30 years, but will no longer include the airport from May 1.

A new National Express service will now run between the airport and the capital, but will not serve Luton town centre.

The company says its new A1 service will mean “faster journey times, more frequent services, and more seats available at peak times”. There will be coaches every 10 minutes at peak times, with 150 services to and from the airport every day.

Coaches will have free WiFi, power sockets and business-class legroom

A spokesman for London Luton Airport Operations Ltd (LLAOL) said such services were regularly reviewed. Other bus services to Luton town centre were available, he added.

A National Express spokesman said: “Our new A1 service is entirely dedicated to Luton Airport and is designed in a way that will best serve our airport customers. In providing this bespoke service we aim to improve Luton Airport’s connectivity and consolidate its reputation as a leading UK airport.”

Paul Adcock, managing director for Arriva’s Shires region, said: “At the moment we can confirm that a service between Luton town centre and London will continue to operate. There is likely to be a change to the timetable, and further updates will be available in the next few days.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for the support.”

[Nyerp]

I heard be will be starting wat-man this summer and wat are in discussions to start wat-ltn with a number of different airlines.

[gilesdavies]

Well I think the new bus service between the airport and London is sad news, not just for the airport, but also for town itself...

Greenline have done a great job serving the airport and even grown over years the meet the demands as the airport has grown.

I find it hard to understand why two bus operators cannot co-exist and compete against each other on the same route, and I maybe wrong, but to me it comes across as greed on the airports part, and have chosen the operator who has offered them the most money!

I didn't realise the airport got involved in things like this and thought public transport to and form the airport would be decided by the individual operators, and not that the airport could kick an operator off a route.

Surely both operators could co-exist, both operating slighty reduced timetables, for example every 20 mins at peak times, but with each operator departing at alternate 10 minute intervals and every 30 mins at other times operating alternately every 15 mins.

Greenline have offered very good value fares too, with tickets for only £15.50 for a period return. Looking on National Express' website, the cheapest fares are £12.50 each way...

I highly doubt Luton, will be able to sustain the current frequency of buses to London without the stop at the airport, and would expect Greenline reduce the service to something like hourly or half hourly at peak times.

[davidjohnson6]

giles - I take a slightly different view... The coach almost identically replicates the route of the train service - Brent Cross is near Hendon, Finchley Road is near West Hampstead. The train service in my opinion is pretty good - I can't see a need for a Luton-London high frequency coach as well. A pay-the-driver one way ticket from London to Luton airport at £17.50 for a 1 hour coach ride seems very expensive.

[Kinder]

Ryanair to cancel LTN-VNO route from May 13.

Wizz operates LTN-VNO 7x weekly in winter, 9x weekly spring/autumn, 11x weekly summer peak.

Maybe new routes to come, as they will get ton of spare capacity as LTN-VNO was 7h block daily route?

[boeing_eng]

A rumour I heard today which apparently came from a handling agent is that Wizz will use the South Stands fairly soon. A win-win situation as the main apron gets very congested during the purple wave each morning!

[FRatSTN]

Ryanair to cancel LTN-VNO route from May 13.

Wizz operates LTN-VNO 7x weekly in winter, 9x weekly spring/autumn, 11x weekly summer peak.

Maybe new routes to come, as they will get ton of spare capacity as LTN-VNO was 7h block daily route?

The route is just moving back to Kaunas. It will operate to the same schedule as Vilnius.

I wonder if it means Gatwick will be axed from Kaunas in the near future, it's still currently on sale though.

[LTNman]

...and of course "Speccies" eventually made way for the Ocean Sky FBO facility there.

No element of "Speccies" structure was incorporated into the FBO, indeed there was a 'void' in that area for a while at least (2003 - 2005-ish? - anyone remember better than I do?). Because I know for sure that for a week or so during that time easyJet erected a marquee there for the press launch of their new LTN - Berlin-Schonefeld route.

Just a little bit of Airport history for the record...

Fast Eddie.

This was the last Spectators building before the final closure. Seem to remember it was incorporated into the Harrods FBO as it faced the south apron. The place was the pits and very cold with an open corridoor. Maybe it was knocked down as Fast Eddie says.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3616/03080006.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/03080006.jpg/)

[pabely]

This does bring back some memories seeing the spotters and families on asunny day. I remember an old chap with a blue cycle who seemed to hang out atall the north London airports (seen at Stansted, Elstree, Denham & Leavesden) before I was old enough to fly myself.

My dad, using Luton flying club used to take me all round to areas we couldn'tdream of nowadays!

[TSR2]

Just out of curiousity, what is the aircraft in the background of your nostalgic picture. I recognise the tail colour scheme but cannot bring it to mind.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

It is the Twin jet Airbus A319.

[LTNman]

I see that the Anti-Luton Airport noise candidate got just 3% of the vote in the Wigmore ward council by-election. People living in the Wigmore ward live the closest to the airport. The airport is also part of this ward.

[pabely]

I see the local Hatfield/Welwyn rang has been showing how great their localcouncil is, describing Luton airport noise in the same breath as an airplanecrash! R.I.P. Hatfield Airport - one of the greatest homes of British aviation.

Their worry is the B653 - Get behind the A505 re-routing project andHerts/Beds all benefit! Better infrastructure attracts companies and thus jobs!

[Powerjet1]

Reasonable CAA stats for March. Pax up 5.6% to 715,403 with the rolling year up 1.1% to 9.63m.

[gilesdavies]

Reasonable CAA stats for March. Pax up 5.6% to 715,403 with the rolling year up 1.1% to 9.63m.

I would imagine Easter was a major contributing factor for this, as Easter usually takes place in April...

So to balance it out, April figures might look a little disappointing on the surface.

[LTNman]

I see the south stands have been pressed back into service for parking executive jets. No idea which FBO is using them as all the FBO parking areas seem to be at bursting point.

There has been as Canadian Air Force Airbus CC-150 Polaris (A310-300) parked on the new RSS Apron today making this the biggest aircraft so far to be parked on the former flying club site.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Signature stop leasing stands 16 and 17. There were so many aircraft parked on there today I lost count.

[pabely]

Is there a need for SIG to stop leasing S16 & S17 yet?

[LTNman]

No not yet, the main apron will gain stands when the hangar line is re-marked up.

I can't see how Signature will manage without stands 16 and 17 being used for executive jet parking. It might be the case that instead of the airport leasing the stands out to Signature that the airport gains all the fees from aircraft parked on these stands.

Depending on what the airport charges to use these stands might influence how many executive jets use the airport in the future.

[Powerjet1]

See that the new "north" entrance to Luton Airport Parkway station was opened today by local MPs. Should make life a little easier for passengers, especially those utilising the services of the new, adjacent Hampton hotel.

[vintage ATCO]

Bunch of people outside Putteridge Bury (on the A505 on the way to Hitchin) at lunchtime with placards 'No More Night Flights'. Have they moved the airport?

[LGS6753]

Vintage -

I hope you told them they could use day flights next time they fly from Luton...:}

[pabely]

Does Putteridge Bury have any on-site accommodation? Student flats on busy roads in town would be more of any issue!?

[LTNman]

There was a London Luton Airport Consultative Committee meeting there today.

[Dannyboy39]

I was in Redbourn yesterday and aircraft were departing from Runway 26. Aircraft were periodically departing over the village at approx 3,000 feet amsl. There was barely any noise; certainly not at a meaningful level that would affect quality of life.

So where do the NIMBYs find their irritating noise from?

[LTNman]

Lawn mowers

[ericlday]

Screaming kids and barking dogs !!!

[Lee Baker Street]

With the warmer days now upon us, I can vision plants finally opening up and showing off their colourful arrays of lushness whilst butterflies make their contributibution to pollination enthusiastically. As they do so, they steer clear of hungry birds of prey whilst gently soaring over the village greens where the elite sip from their champagne glasses below. Swat! Poor might’s should have steered clear of Flamstead and Harpenden gardens, for any sound generated by anything that moves in the air is considered an irritant.

[Buster the Bear]

Can I assume the Marketing Dept are on the phone, telex, email etc organising the Munich - Luton airlift for later this month?

[davidjohnson6]

Buster - I remember seeing a telex machine in 1996 but don't recall seeing one since. Are they common at Luton airport ?

[TSR2]

What's going on in Luton later this month that would be of interest to the good people of Munich ?

[ericlday]

A game of football at Wembley that may include a certain team from Munich after last nights first leg semi final.

[Buster the Bear]

I forgot, a fax machine as well! The tinminal should be heaving in theory!

[TSR2]

Thought that game was towards the end of May.

[LTNman]

UEFA Champions League and F1 Grand Prix Weekend

ACL, as the UK slot coordinator, will have an effective coordination process in place to manage traffic over the weekend of the 24th-26th May. During this weekend additional air transport demand is anticipated at the London Airports due to the UEFA Champions League Weekend being held at Wembley and the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco.

In partnership with the London Airports we will put in place the procedure attached to deal with the additional demand. This will be applicable to all flights including General and Business Aviation.

ACL will use DFS to match flight plans to coordinated slot times, failure to comply will result in flight plans being suspended. In addition to the information provided on the briefs you may also see a NOTAM and AIP SUP - S 018/2013 published with regards to this event.



UEFA Champions League Final Slot Allocation Procedure 2013
Page 1 of 3

For the attention of air carriers operating air services to London Airports between the 24th May and 26th May for the UEFA Champions League Final.

Subject: UEFA Champions League Final 2013 in London

To whom it may concern,

The UEFA Champions League Final will be hosted at Wembley Stadium in London on the 25th May, which will lead to additional demand at London Stansted, London Gatwick and London Luton Airports.
For the period of the 24th May till 26th May, ACL will be implementing a slot allocation procedure to ensure punctual airport operations to aid efficient and effective utilisation of airport capacity.

All slot application requests (SCRs) will be collected on to the 2nd May once both teams have been announced. Once slot requests have been received ACL will process the messages and then refer all flights to the designated airport. The airport will then reply back to ACL after a referral process and ACL will respond back to the air carriers. In terms of dates please see below

Date Action
30th April
First team announced
1st May
Second team announced
2nd May
Slot applications received & ACL begins coordination
6th May
UK Public Holiday (ACL closed)
3rd & 7th May
Airport Referrals
8th May
ACL advises carriers of slot times

[pabely]

EZY Dortmund -> LTN looks likely to be maxed out after tonights result! I wonder if Lufty will call another strike over the period as well!!

[LTNman]

This appeared yesterday on the Greenline website.

Green Line 757 - Change to Arrangements

From the 1st May there may be a change to the way our Green Line service collects you from and takes you to London Luton Airport. Any change will come into effect from 1st May 2013 at Midnight, 00.00 am.

At this time we are still unable to confirm what may happen but we will ensure you reach the airport or connect you with our coach service to London. A link via another vehicle may be necessary to connect with our coach.

To keep updated please keep in contact with us by one of the following channels

Twi*ter ***
Facebook ***
Phone ***
24 hour mobile ***

We apologise for not being able to offer more detailed information at this time but will keep the channels listed above updated on a regular basis, updates will also appear on a daily basis on this web page.


We thank you for your patience.

No mention that National Express won the contract and have allocated the Luton- London service the flagship route number A1. I would think that most passengers will not have a clue as to what is going and will continue to use GreenLine. Maybe GreenLine will run a shuttle coach service to Luton Town Centre where the London service will start and end.

Greenline are still showing a timetable beyond May and are still selling tickets.

[LTNman]

Unusual sight today in the North West corner, outside the Gulfstream hangar. With its tail up against the fence TUI has parked a 757 with the airlines markings painted out. With the South Stands only occupied by a single Monarch Airbus no doubt there is money to be saved by parking in a FBO area.

The last time I saw a TUI/Thomson/Britannia Airways aircraft parked there was when the airline parked up some Bristol Britannia's for scrapping.

[LTNman]

I see the meagre seating in the departure lounge has been cut as much of the central area surrounding the retail area has itself been converted to retail use. If you don’t want a coffee or a current bun it might be the case of standing room only.

The food area next to Boots the Chemist which was called Est… has now closed and will become a Frankie and Benny’s outlet which opens in May.

Downstairs Cotton Traders has now closed and is being replaced by the Yellow Ruler or some such similar name.

[LTNman]

I see the council have still not set a date to look at the planning application for the expansion of the airport. Wonder if this has something to do with the possible sale of the lease to a new owner.

Will this will ever be built?

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9964/newterminal.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/843/newterminal.jpg/)

[canberra97]

I have to admit I am not big fan of LTN airport but looking at the plans for extending and modernising the current terminal I think they look very good and I hope they go ahead as I think it will transform the airport experience and is much needed for the airport.

All the pictures showing the terminal improvements look very good although not ideal due to the lack of space in the CTA.

[Buster the Bear]

I understand that Darwin Airlines are expected to announce a UK based operation soon. No airport stated yet, but I would have thought a Saab 2000 to Waterford and Galway twice daily to each would be an ideal fit? They were good well established routes until Aer Stobart pulled off.

[stuart hammond]

New base 2014 Cambridge, as per Inghams preview 2014 brochure.regardsStuart

[LTNman]

It seems that Greenline are not going to give up their London coach service without a fight.

UPDATE - 29th April 2013
From the 1st May there may be a change to the way our Green Line service collects you from and takes you to London Luton Airport.

The change comes into effect at Midnight on Wednesday 1st May 2013.

There are no changes to the timetable departures from London. The coach will now terminate at an offsite car parking facility were you will be transferred to a shuttle bus. The shuttle bus will take you to the airport, the journey is only 5 minutes long. The transfer journey is free of charge. Please see map for directions between the terminal building and the bus stop.

For your return journey, you will go to stop 12 and the shuttle bus will connect you again with the coach to London.

Our staff will be on site to ensure a swift and easy transfer.

They go on to mention that they are dropping their fares and also show a map of the pick up point which is the private coach stop in the car drop off zone.

GREENLINE - Green Line 757 - Change to Arrangements (http://www.greenline.co.uk/757change/)

[Pain in the R's]

So with both National Express and Greenline now running services to London there are up to 10 services an hour peak and 148 coaches in each direction a day.

Add to that the 7 trains an hour to London operated by First Capital Connect and East Midland trains I would say that Luton Airport has the best public transport links to London after Heathrow.

[Buster the Bear]

Cambridge! Had a look at Inghams on-line, no mention of Cambridge? Can you post a link Stuart Hammond please?

[gilesdavies]

I might be totally misinterpreting it, but to me it more or less comes across Greenline have been banned from operating on the airport premises...

I appreciate the airport is more or less private property, but surely in this day and age of open markets, the airport cannot ban a bus operator from operating there and restricting the markets to it's passengers.

The reason why I have come to this conclusion, is the way the Greenline website goes to the effort of pointing out it will be another operator transferring them to the terminal!

Greenline are owned by Arriva, and they have their own local busses running to the airport and can only assume Greenline are banned from using these buses to transfer ticketed London passengers to the terminal too.

I just hope Greenline can make this sort of service work, and would be sorry to see them go, as they have been loyal to the airport for years. But when they cannot sell tickets on the airport property and passengers have to transfer buses, when there is a direct non-stop service available to London, they will be having a serious disadvantage.

This deal by National Express, must be some series wonga for the airport!

[davidjohnson6]

National Express have been running a London Victoria-Stansted coach for years - the walk-up one way price has been £10 for the last few years. Greenline have wanted £17 for a one-way walk-up fare for London-Luton
Suddenly, Greenline decide they can offer London-Luton for £10 as well.

Sounds to me like a bit of competition has finally stopped a monopolist overcharging.

[airhumberside]

Inghams website, brochure request, then view online the L&M 2014 Preview brochure

[LTNman]

I might be totally misinterpreting it, but to me it more or less comes across Greenline have been banned from operating on the airport premises...

I think they have been banned but it gets better. Easybus runs joint services with Greenline, and let us remember that many of the Greenline coaches are in easybus colours but that arrangement ends tonight. From May 1st Easybus are starting up their own minibus service to Baker Street, which is one of the stops on the Greenline service. So Easybus can operate into the CTA but Greenline can’t.

Luton is now up to 14 coaches an hour at peak time!!!:eek: Thats one coach departure every 4 minutes to London. If you add the railway shuttle bus which is 6 busses an hour that brings it down to a departure every 3 minutes.

I wonder who will give in first?

Luton Airport - London to Luton transfers - easyBus (http://www.easybus.co.uk/london-luton)

.

[gilesdavies]

Easybus runs joint services with Greenline, and let us remember that many of the Greenline coaches are in easybus colours but that arrangement ends tonight. From May 1st Easybus are starting up their own minibus service to Baker Street, which is one of the stops on the Greenline service. So Easybus can operate into the CTA but Greenline can’t.

I honestly checked easyBus'es website lastnight and was giving the same advise as Greenline on their new arrangement to get people up to the terminal...

Has this change by easyBus literally happened overnight?!

I wonder if this is panic measure by easyJet/easyBus, as they knew the new Greenline arrangement would be unacceptable to passengers, having to transfer on to another bus. Maybe they have scrambled a few buses from the Gatwick and Stansted routes to operate the Luton route.

National Express have been running a London Victoria-Stansted coach for years - the walk-up one way price has been £10 for the last few years.

Well before you knock Greenline, National Express are clearly cashing in on passengers at Luton... The internet fare is £10.50+£1 booking fee, and you can guarantee walk on fares are going to be more than this!

The internet booking fees for Stansted and Gatwick with National Express in £6.50+£1 booking fee!

[LTNman]

Easybus minibus service to and from other London airports have really bad 1 star reviews. Easybus reviews | Customer reviews of Easybus (http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.easybus.co.uk)

[LTNman]

Bus company Arriva says it is taking legal action over its Green Line 757 service being “excluded” from serving Luton Airport.

Last month we revealed the company had lost the contract for the route between the airport and central London.

National Express would instead provide the service from May 1, Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL) said.

But Arriva says it has learned a second bus company will also be running between the airport and the capital.

Heath Williams, regional managing director, said: “Competition in the bus market is important both for passengers and the industry. “The decision to prevent Arriva – but potentially allow other operators to serve the airport – is confusing for both operators and customers. It prevents a level playing field for bus operators, something which we are challenging strongly through legal proceedings against LLAOL, and is not in the best long-term interest of passengers.”

Fares had been reduced and the 757 would now call at Airport Carparkz in Eaton Green Road, he added.

A spokesman for LLAOL said: “Following an open and competitive tender process we aim to further strengthen this vital transport link in partnership with National Express who will operate the route from May 1, and deliver improved services for airport passengers.”

Luton Airport bus ban ?not in passengers? interests? - Local - Luton Today (http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/local/luton-airport-bus-ban-not-in-passengers-interests-1-5045767)

[gilesdavies]

Good for Arqiva, I hope they win this one!

National Express and Greenline were allowed to co-exist previously, this is just a money making exercise by the airport, where they give exclusive access to one of these two operators and reap the rewards!

I wonder how much NX are paying for this arrangement and wonder if the airport is receiving a cut in all the tickets sold?!

Like a said yesterday, NX are ripping off passengers using the airport, charging fares which are far higher than those they operate between London and Gatwick and Stansted. On these routes they offer lead in fares of £6.50 and lead in fare for Luton is £10.50!

[pabely]

So the fun starts with slots and airport requests.....

[LTNman]

Luton report for this summer for number crunchers

Airport Coordination Limited - Reports/Statistics - London Luton Airport (http://www.acl-uk.org/reportsStatistics.aspx?id=98&subjectId=42)

including

AIRLINE MOVEMENTS
easyJet 20659
Wizz Air 11286
Ryanair 6180
Monarch 2882
Thomson 1950
Blue Air 618
European Air Transport 564
Flybe 524
El Al Israel 456
Atlantic Airlines 298
Others 180

AIRLINE SEATS
easyJet 3324492
Wizz Air 2031480
Ryanair 1168020
Monarch 562948
Thomson 387158
Blue Air 100116
El Al Israel 97014
Flybe 40872
Others 4,505

Also reports on runway and terminal capacity throughout the day for the summer season.

[LTNman]

Airport Coordination Limited - Capacity Declarations (http://www.acl-uk.org/default.aspx?id=125)

Selected info here but for full report download link.

Cargo Flights

Cargo flight scheduling will be subject to the following aircraft parking limitations, any movements over and above these limitations will be by prior arrangement only.

2x Size 5 (A300, B767)
1x Size 6-7 aircraft (A330, 747) may be accommodated by prior arrangement. Some specific Size 7 aircraft types, namely A346 and B773, cannot be accommodated under any circumstances.
Size 8 aircraft (A380, AN124) cannot be accommodated under any circumstances
Size 1 aircraft (twin props/exec jets up to SW4) are excluded from any limitation.

Other Flights (not operating through FBO facilities)
Scheduling will be subject to the following aircraft parking limitations, any movements over and above these limitations will be by prior arrangement only.
4x Size 5 (A300, B767)
3x Size 4 (B757)
11 x Size 3b (A321)
6 x Size 3a (B738 with winglets)
3 x Size 2b (up to A320)
5 x Size 2a (up to A319/B737 without winglets)
Total 32 aircraft

3 stands Size 3b (A321) are kept as stand reserve and not made available for scheduling purposes without specific prior agreement
Total 35 stands
Permitted Variations

London Luton Airport Scheduling Declaration for Summer 2013
3 additional Size 5 (A300, B767) can be accommodated through the use of MARS stands but there would be a temporary reduction in capacity of 6 Size 3a/3b (B738w, A321) aircraft.
2 additional Size 4 (B757) can be accommodated through the use of MARS stands but there would be a temporary reduction in capacity of 4 Size 3b (A321) aircraft.
A single Size 6 (except A345) or Size 7 (MD11 only) aircraft can be accommodated through the use of MARS stands but there would be a temporary reduction in capacity of 3a/3b (B738w, A321) aircraft.

Restrictions

Some specific Size 7 aircraft types, namely A346 and B773, cannot be accommodated under any circumstances.
Other Size 6 and size 7 aircraft (A345, B747 variants) can be accommodated by prior arrangement or in emergency situations. Such accommodation will result in temporary reduction in capacity for 3 Size 3a/3b (B738w, A321) aircraft.
Size 8 aircraft (A380, AN124) cannot be accommodated under any circumstances.
Size 1 aircraft (twin props/exec jets up to SW4) are excluded from any limitation.

Maintenance Flights

Movements of aircraft visiting for maintenance may be accepted over and above the parking limitations shown above but only if early removal into a hangar is guaranteed.

FBO handled Flights

FBO facilities have their own aprons which are self-managed and therefore outside of the above restrictions. Aircraft operators planning to operate through FBO facilities must ensure that the FBO is able to provide them with aircraft parking. Parking of FBO handled aircraft outside of FBO controlled and operated aprons will be strictly by prior arrangement only and may be refused.

[Falcon666]

LTNman
Thanks for the statistics link.
Highlights a few interesting points.
1) the decline of Monarch at LTN
The stats even include Munich which has now gone for the summer.
Existing routes have not been increased as far as I am aware.
They proudly display a banner on the HQ claiming more routes with daily flights, unfortunately none are now from Luton.
Seems like a move further north to BHX is having a detrimental effect on Luton

2) Wizz have Cravlova , Arad and Sibiu on the list.
There was a rumour of Sibiu starting in July but not confirmed.
None of these destinations are bookable on the Wizz website.
Dubrovnik is also on the list after not operating last year but again not bookable at present.
Maybe Wizz have found more lucrative routes for the summer and the first three routes may appear later in the summer schedule.

All in all doesn't look like any overall increase for this summer at LTN

[Dannyboy39]

Walking past the apron this morning, I saw the tail of what I thought was a Cathay Pacific aircraft sitting outside H61, alongside the Sunwing aircraft. As I say, I only saw the tail of the aircraft; any idea which aircraft this was and what it was doing there?

[Teaboy24]

Probably Hamburg Airlines A.320 which has been around last couple of days. Similar tail scheme to Cathay.

[Lee Baker Street]

I noticed that no figure was shown for Ryanair service to Kaunas though they are taking bookings for this from Luton. In addition I noticed that this summer season has produced at least a further 270 thousand extra seats which is very good.

I am old-school and therefore dissaponted with Monarch who have reduced their offerings from Luton. In particular on some current services they offer 2 or 3 flights per week whilst at Gatwick they offer the same service 2 or 3 times per day! Without any prompt from me a friend stated that he was unable to fly from Luton on a service that Monarch once served. He is now going to have to fly next weekend from Gatwick!

[jdcg]

Went through LTN last week (for lovely trip via BTS to Slovakian countryside - FR flight packed both ways). Security is still abysmally slow - even during off-peak.

[LTNman]

From the Greenline website.

For your return journey, you will go to stop 12 and the shuttle bus will connect you again with the coach to London.

Our staff will be on site to ensure a swift and easy transfer.


Actually I did not see anyone from Greenline at the airport today directing passengers. Maybe they have been banned from the CTA? All the Greenline signage has been removed and National Express are now using the old Greenline bus stops. Four National Express employees in yellow jackets were mopping up any potential Greenline passengers although there was a queue by the coach stop in the drop off zone for the shuttle bus to the new Greenline start point.

http://imageshack.us/a/img811/5605/p1030330cm.jpg

[jdcg]

Can't see that the Greenline service can compete that way really. If they served a different London destination (say, Liverpool Street like all the STN buses, as the Victoria route is a pain if you live in East London) would they be allowed direct access to the CTA as they wouldn;t be replicating the NatEx route?

[Buster the Bear]

Coach Wars....YAWN!

[pabely]

Race to protect jets from looming ash cloud threat - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10040812/Race-to-protect-jets-from-looming-ash-cloud-threat.html)

Didn't Easyjet do some testing whilst everyone was grounded in 2010? Are they involved again?

[Buster the Bear]

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund fans prepare to travel to Stansted Airport for Champions League Final at Wembley - Football - Saffron Walden Reporter (http://www.saffronwaldenreporter.co.uk/sport/football/bayern_munich_and_borussia_dortmund_fans_prepare_to_travel_t o_stansted_airport_for_champions_league_final_at_wembley_1_2 179922)

[LTNman]

Might be the case that Luton picks up the crumbs again.

[TSR2]

Mmmm ... In the interests of 'harmony' I would have thought that the two sets of fans would be routed through different airports.

[Dannyboy39]

6,000 fans on Ryanair isn't 90,000 or whatever their combined allocations are. (From personal experiences of Wembley, both teams will get less than a third of the total capacity!)

I'd also gather there isn't the parking space available at Luton either - it is the summer season now.

[LTNman]

Each team is getting 24,000 tickets. Those south stands look rather empty most of the time.

[Buster the Bear]

I am sure Luton Airport Marketing team are on the case!

[takingoff]

Very regular user of Luton airport and always preferred using the airport to Stansted.

This new National Express service seems totally over priced, one way it's £15 to Luton Airport while from the same stations Victoria and Golders Green to Stansted it ranges fom £6.50 - £8.50 (advanced tickets) one way for a journey which from Golders Green station is 10 miles longer! Surely this isn't a competitive model, also worth bearing in mind the Stansted service is more regular too.

The way it's working out it will be cheaper to travel by train on first capital connect rather than use the National Express service, Luton losing out on this.

[Lee Baker Street]

takingoff, I just checked the National Express website;

I can travel on May 15th from London Victoria to the following destinations and here is a breakdown:

London Gatwick DEP 07.30 duration 1 hour and 25 mins cost £6.50
London Stansted DEP 07.15 duration 1 hour 45 mins cost £6.50
London Luton DEP 07.00 duration 1 hour 20 mins cost £15.00

This has to be a scandal!

Is the current leaseholder of the airport taking the mick out of passengers using Luton?

[McGoonagall]

You may as well get the train. Using an Oystercard to Mill Hill Broadway and then a single to the airport (including shuttle bus) is £14.90 off peak and two quid more in the peak. Damn sight faster too.

[takingoff]

The reason why I see this as a thorny issue is that the vast majority of Luton’s passengers live in and around London. Again the majority of these people work ‘in town’ meaning they would have to use public transport into work meaning the need for a car unless you have family is pretty slim. I know in other parts of the country you need a car to get around but in London, provided you live near the tube, train or a decent bus link you really don’t. Besides it’ll cost me £200 to park a car outside my residence alone!Therefore people are required to use public transport to get to the airport and maybe between Luton airport and National Express they know they have a captive market and to an extent can charge whatever they like.£6.50 to get to Stansted compared to £15 to Luton says it all for me, especially when Stansted is a 25 minute longer journey! It would just appear that they are ripping people off!

[davidjohnson6]

What are the rules on access to the bus stations at Luton and Stansted airports ? Is it genuinely open access (ie a bus operator need only publish and operate to a timetable and a bus stand will be made available) or does the airport owner / operator get to impose access constraints or make the bus company pay rent on the use of the bus parking bay ?
I can make my own guess - if you have knowledge would be interested in replies but not keen on listening to other people's wild guesses

[LTNman]

The CTA road network is private property.

[pabely]

Dassault Falcon Service ? an Establishment at London Luton Airport (http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/10939170/dassault-falcon-service-an-establishment-at-london-luton-airport)

Was this not at a FBO in Hampshire?

[Buster the Bear]

Bored with the lack of news from Luton, I know nothing about this airline, 1958 at Blackbushe this was taken.

http://i43.tinypic.com/1zl98ow.jpg

[vintage ATCO]

They were prevalent at Luton in the early 60's. All Rapides IIRC.

[johnnychips]

I know nothing about this airline, 1958 at Blackbushe this was taken.

Buster, why are you talking/posting like Yoda? Are you going to transmute from a Bear to an Ewok?

[gilesdavies]

Bored with the lack of news from Luton,

Totally agree...

I think the situation at Luton is a little concerning...

You read the other forums and there seems to be a flourish of new routes and airlines expanding.

I don't think the passenger numbers this summer are going to be too good. Reading that document of the number of seats available, the situation with Monarch looked a little depressing.

None of the airports faithful airlines are expanding, while they grow elsewhere at quite a pace! Would anyone know if the airport actively marketing itself to airlines to operate into Luton and suggesting routes where there is known demand, or is the airport sitting on its hands?

In many respects were not seeing any major cuts, but there are routes which airlines could easily pick up and become a instant success, but no one seems willing to bring them to the airport. Routes that come to mind for me are Waterford, Galway, Cork and Dubrovnik...

For example, FlyBE are going to be operating to Waterford from Birmingham and Manchester this summer. I am sure if Luton was to offer them an incentive they would gladly fly the route, but instead this summer Isle of Man (IOM) and Jersey routes are both getting their frequencies trimmed further! IOM is down to 5x weekly and Jersey is down to 3/4x a week, hard to believe IOM use to be operated twice daily in times gone past.

If Abertis are going to sell the airport operating contract to a new company, I wish they and the council just got in with it and reached an agreement. Then we can bring in a new operator, that wants to actively promote the airport, get on with the expansion and hopefully attract new routes and airlines.

[davidjohnson6]

giles - how much space remains at Luton for aircraft to be based overnight, and can the terminal in its present state cope with any more passengers during the early morning rush ? Furthermore, when will the builders have substantially finished all the expansion works ?

[Level bust]

The airport does not just need operators basing aircraft overnight. What they need are flights filling the rest of the day. There is plenty of capacity during the rest of the day for someone to come in, whether they be existing operators doing 'W' pattens or non based operators, such as Flybe doing routes such as Galway.

[FRatSTN]

EasyJet only seems to have eyes for Gatwick, Southend, Manchester and Edinburgh it would seem nowadays where most other bases are either stagnating or declining. Luton is not alone where EasyJet is concerned. I'm actually more concerned with the decreasing number of EasyJet services at airports such as Stansted and Liverpool (and maybe Luton this winter unless the timetable is sorted out from the complete mess it's in) just because they are brining more aircraft and routes to Southend, Gatwick and Manchester. I struggle to find why they can't expand in sympathy with existing frequencies and routes from neighboring airports, rather than just shift planes from one place to another and duplicating more routes. Perhaps if/when they get a big aircraft order, they may be more hope for major expansion from airports such as Luton.

Monarch is perhaps most concerning for me in Luton's case. Whilst I don't know if it's been pointed out, the loss of the Munich route in the summer has been replaced by other flights (I know there's now a flight to Faro replacing to Monday service, but unsure about other days of the week). Longer routes such as Sharm El Sheikh, Dalaman, Larnaca etc. utilise aircraft for longer periods whilst shorter routes to Spain and the Balearics have not been increasing in frequency. This along with the W pattern in Gibraltar may suggest that aircraft are not as able to fly so many weekly rotations as in recent years, ultimately reducing passenger numbers. The biggest concern for Luton is losing aircraft to new/emerging bases such as Leeds, East Midlands and Birmingham not that we've seen any of that yet though as I understand.

Ryanair are very samey year after year at Luton. Capacity remains very stagnant and routes are very odd choices in my view, just a scramble of odds and sods they don't have at Stansted and routes that they have served for years and years. eg. They only serve Girona, Reus and Murcia in Spain, perhaps Ryanair's three oldest Spanish destinations. Every other UK Ryanair base now serves Alicante, Malaga, Palma etc. Perhaps the most concerning is that Luton seems to have been left behind. It looks more like the typical Ryanair base 10 years ago. It hasn't really grown or modernised into today's typical Ryanair base. I don't really expect any major growth after so many years of the same sort of stuff, having said that I don't expect any decline really either. As far as I know, they are slightly up this summer but really not much with the same old routes and 4 a/c.

No worries really with Thomson, they will in fact have one extra roation a week next summer along with the slightest bit more at Stansted (since a 4th rotation on Mondays in now May-Oct not only Jul-Aug) along with growth at Gatwick and Southend. Hats off to Thomson, they are clearly doing well since they seem to be able to increase at all London airports year on year!!!

Wizz Air is the interesting one. At one time, any new route that Wizz added to it's network served Luton nearly straight away. More recent additions such as Tulza in Bosnia, Szczecin in Poland or Craiova in Romania still exclude Luton and instead fly to other areas of Northern and Central Europe. We've heard rumours of a new service to Kosice, Slovakia, yet that still hasn't been confirmed. Could Wizz finally also start stagnating at Luton. The Lodz route has also been axed. They seem to have much more focus now on their home market, Budapest, since Malev went bust. Have they ran out of early morning slots and instead looking at other times of the day, are looking at different markets? The threat is because Wizz are not a based carrier at Luton, they can play around with routes and capcity much more easily.

Luton is very fortunate though to have 5 strong carriers, 3 of which have their HQ at Luton. Whilst it now virtually has nothing else (even FlyBe seem to have nothing in the winter and nothing from Blue Air yet), I can't see Luton losing too much capacity but I do think it will always be these 5 carriers serving nearly all of Luton's traffic. Routes lost from carriers like Aer Lingus Regional or even going back to Transavia or Sky Europe have not been replaced. Overall, "stagnation" is perhaps the best way to describe Luton at the moment!

[Dannyboy39]

giles - how much space remains at Luton for aircraft to be based overnight, and can the terminal in its present state cope with any more passengers during the early morning rush ? Furthermore, when will the builders have substantially finished all the expansion works ?

During the summer season, the airport cannot cope during the morning rush at current levels. Security and immigration is already well over capacity.

The building work hasn't even started because the planning application STILL hasn't gone in yet. Its all gone very quiet on that front; the operators are trying to terminate their lease. Once the works are done in the long term, the airport will be far far better for passengers. Security and immigration capacity will be doubled, there will be approx 6-8 new gates and possibly another 15 stands able to hold B737/A320 aircraft.

I think part of the problem is the airport's fees. Thomson and Monarch are probably basing/parking up aircraft in other locations because its too expensive to leave it on the apron for "long" periods of time. Understandable through supply and demand.

However, El Al seem to be very happy with their current arrangements at Luton. They've recently been operating B772s during Easter and expanding their services weekly.

[gilesdavies]

I agree, I think the situation with Monarch is quite concerning...

It is not just a case they have moved frequencies away from LTN, they also are reducing capacity this summer with more of the flights operated by A320 as opposed to A321.

It just goes to show what faith Monarch have in EMA, the base is being operated by two A321's, and more A321's have gone to Birmingham too!

Charter traffic at Luton has literally collapsed over the years and I think this is where the airport could focus a lot of attention... I appreciate the whole travel industry has been consolidated in recent years, but it is embarrassing the airport has virtually no presence with Thomas Cook any more, other than Thomson selling them a few dozen seats on their aircraft. Thomas Cook has a presence at virtually every other UK major airport and again I quote EMA where two A321's are based this summer and also Thomson also has a larger presence there, with I think four aircraft this summer.

The airport needs to take a step back and maybe look at other regional airports (instead of London Airports) and see how they are attracting traffic.
Especially when you consider the airports size and the facilities they have, which is far more on par with the likes of Bristol or East Midlands, than the other London airports which have multi billion pound terminals and room to expand.

I think part of the problem is the airport's fees.

If the airports fees are expensive compared to other UK airports, then shame on LLAOL! The airport needs to take a reality check, pretty damn quick before they start hemorrhaging traffic, like what has happened at Stansted. It needs to face facts that it is not an airport with greatest of facilities, it is not going to attract high yielding traffic and can only attract certain traffic/market types.

If the likes of Wizz Air, Ryanair or easyJet are reaching the end of a set price contract for using the airport and they are then expected to pay the going rates, which if they are higher than other UK airport, the management might be in for a shock from these airlines!

Also the airports approach to growth, is shocking! The airport first exceeded the nine million passenger number mark back in 2005 and here we are eight years later, with still no plans submitted for growth for the airport and just lots of talk and pretty computer images.

The terminal can only comfortably handle ten million, but if these plans had been in place back then for this growth, the airport could be a different picture today. Where airlines would have been happy to move to or expand at Luton, knowing the facilities to cope with demand are in place or being developed.

I don't think we will see any growth from easyJet until this has happened, they have been vocal in the past about the airports current facilities and transport links, but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears at the airport

[FRatSTN]

The difference is that East Midlands has no EasyJet at all now, far more embarrasing in a way than Luton having no Thomas Cook. Whilst Ryanair has grown to an impressive size at East Midlands, much of the traffic is very seasonal where Jet2 for instance has added an aircraft every summer since 2010 (it will have 5 in 2014) but barely operates the equivelent of 1 aircraft in the winter.

I don't think Luton will want to go down that route of seasonality so best to think as a London airport serving Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Warsaw etc. with the likes of EasyJet and Wizz Air rather than a regional airport focusing mainly in seasonal bucket and spade flights with amuch emptier terminal in the winter.

There is exceptional demand in the East Midlands for package holidays to Palma, Tenerife, Corfu etc. The fact that East Midlands Airport serves a regional area rather than focusing on a specific city has made it difficult for it to attract anything but flights to the sun for the local area (I think that's the main reason why EasyJet left, they are focusing more now on business travel and they like their big cities). There's not a great deal of business travellers at East Midlands, only really with FlyBe and the Ryanair Dublin route, Luton has more potential for that so I think that's the only reason why there is less chartered traffic. Also remember TCX, TOM and ZB have big Gatwick bases and TCX and TOM both at Stansted (both of which use Stansted as a dissapointingly small base.)

[Dannyboy39]

Thomson and Monarch can't really compete in terms of price and frequency at Luton against easyJet on the same routes.

Up at the Northern bases of EMA, MAN and LBA, there is no meaningful easyJet competition, whereas more than half of the commercial movements at Luton are orange buses.

[davidjohnson6]

What's the latest with the new exit from the train station to Kimpton Road ? Has it opened yet, or still delayed ?

[Powerjet1]

Opened a couple of weeks ago.

[Buster the Bear]

Flybe maybe considering the sale of their Gatwick slots, would they move to Luton or City?

According to the Eastern Daily Press, Stansted and Gatwick have been working with all the interested parties involved with the Champions League Final being held at Wembley and are now the two designated airports for the German fans to use!

[gilesdavies]

According to the Eastern Daily Press, Stansted and Gatwick have been working with all the interested parties involved with the Champions League Final being held at Wembley and are now the two designated airports for the German fans to use!

So the nearest airport to Wembley which is no more than 30-45mins away on a clear road, has nothing to do with the Champions League traffic. While airports that are easily 1.5hrs drive away handle all the traffic?!

Probably a simple case that one airport is to deal with Dortmund traffic and the other Munich...

Another joke on the airports part that they have no space or facilities to handle aircraft parked up for most of the day, or the shear number of passengers while London's other airports can cope with their normal traffic as well as the football traffic!

Luton is meant to be least congested of the London airports, but that is only true if the facilities were in place, where it is actually probably the most restricted! It might have the runway availability, but nothing else...

Instead the management company and council just cream off of the profits, making do with facilities and infrastructure that were implemented nearly a decade ago and make do with them. While other airports far busier that have evolved over recent years, cope with additional ad-hoc demand.

I get so frustrated with these opportunities just going by, seeing it get mis-managed and the airport isn't half the airport it could be!

[compton3bravo]

Come on Giles, don´t be so damn pessimistic. Do you really expect the airport to invest in huge sums just for the very occasional one-off of a European Soccer final at Wembley! I am sure they will get some traffic but it has always been the case that Stansted and Gatwick get the bulk of the traffic. Stansted is running at just under 50 per cent capacity at the moment but I am not sure how Gatwick is going to cope slot wise but the ATC guys should be able to help us there.
I do not know if you were around in the early 1990s when there were two finals at Wembley and although Luton took some traffic the bulk again went to Stansted at Gatwick. The South stands were used as well as Stands 16 and 17 which were commercial stands and the cargo ramp was used as a bus depot waiting to take passengers to Wembley. Can you imagine that happening now what with elf and safety and security etc. Also there was a lot less business jet traffic in those days and no easyJet and just one Ryanair 737 based so there was a lot more room.
In business you must look after your regular customers i.e. Monarch, easyJet, Wizzair etc. plus I disagree with you about the lack of equipment etc. that is up to the handling agents and not the airport.
Regarding any expansion by the based airlines Monarch have seen an opportunity at Birmingham, EMA and Leeds to step in after the demise of BMI Baby and easyJet pulling out of EMA. Whether it will work only time will tell, but I do think personally having nine aircraft based at Birmingham is a little overkill. Regarding Ryanair they have slightly increased their ´W´ pattern flights this summer; Wizz are increasing the number of weekly departures and the loss of Lodz has nothing to do with Luton - a Wizz decision to pull out of the Polish airport. easyJet sees Gatwick where it can make more money than any other London airport and the airline is increasing the number of business people who use their services so it is only natural that twice a day to Barcelona, Madrid etc from Luton makes sense. The continuing success of the Paris Charles de Gaulle route from Luton has surprised a lot of doubters with passengers using the service for business, interlining and not just for pleasure.
As for sun routes the Midlands and North of England are a different market - for instance it has been noted on another forum that Manchester has 10 daily flights to Palma alone in August (lovely island Majorca but remind me not to go anyway near in August!). So then Giles remember the UK and most of Europe are struggling so you cannot expect large increases in passenger numbers year on year and cheer up!

[Buster the Bear]

Whilst I agree you do not want to upset the airlines that are already operating from Luton, the chance to make a few quid out of the Champions League Final obviously was not tempting enough? One would hope that the same attitude is not prevailing whilst courting other airlines and routes. I guess all this comes at a time when the future of the operation is in 'limbo' with LBC?

Prior to the new' Wembley, Luton was always heavily used as a point of entry and exit for supporters and including a time before the tinminal was open.

As for Flybe, I wonder if Stansted have been on the phone?

[LGS6753]

What LLAOL is interested in is executive jets, and it's been very successful in attracting both FBOs and visitors. They get full landing fees & charges, can be parked close together in smaller spaces and don't require terminal space. Ideal!

However, in aggregate they take up a lot of space, and by the nature of their operations tend to be parked more than airliners are. So LLAOL will be successfully targetting their 'bizjet' customers, and allowing the German fans to go elsewhere.

[Dannyboy39]

Because of the shear number of supporters that will be flying over from Germany, its pretty inconceivable that no supporters will be using Luton - they will get a proportion of the traffic, I'm certain. Even at an under-used Stansted and Gatwick, there isn't enough parking spaces to fit all these aircraft in.

[compton3bravo]

Plus the Monaco Grand Prix, the BMW Golf at Wentworth plus Rugby and Football play-offs taking place the same weekend and E-Base at Geneva early the following week. Great planning!

[pabely]

I think it will all fit together, we have had such events before. Isn't that why things are being Co-ordinated with slots?

[pabely]

So where did all the Chelsea supports go? One flight here, one to LGW and nothing to STN, or was it just easiler to boat it or sheduled?

[compton3bravo]

I think you will find that there were six charters out of Gatwick 2 Jet2, 2 Thomas Cook and 2 Monarch, a Small Planet was cancelled. Looking at the easyJet website practically all there flights to/from Amsterdam from London airports on Tuesday and Thursday were sold out. Still seats available for Germans travelling to London next week from both Dortmund and Munich but very very - up to 500 Euros one way - expensive. Also Ryanair say they were inundated with REQUESTS about flights still have many seats available on their extra services to Stansted. Ryanair state 23 extra flights - don´t forget that means 12 or 13 inbound and the same number outbound - its called spin you know!

[LTNman]

I see a company called Lux Jet is offering a scheduled service from Luton to Cannes, Palma and Ibiza using Cessna Citation’s on Mondays and Fridays. Seats cost between £1400 and £1800 return depending on destination.

[McGoonagall]

Well, if you had the money.... Parking at Signatures hangar, welcomed by the pilots, six seats, no cabin crew, help yourself to Champagne and canapes, chat to the flight deck in the cruise, excellent flight times, no security hassles... It would be a no brainer.

Just the little matter of the price. :{

[pabely]

Looking like maxed out weekend if all enquiries get booked for the FBOs this weekend.
Obviously not bothered about Liners Charters which are mostly LGW and STN.

[pabely]

Gulfstream expands European network - Corporate Jet Investor (http://corporatejetinvestor.com/articles/gulfstream-expands-europe-202)

[LTNman]

Find it hard to believe but I am hearing that Luton has not secured a single charter flight for Saturdays game so there will be plenty of space for all those extra exec jets on the south stands.

[boeing_eng]

Signature are already using the South Stands today for overflow parking

[LTNman]

I wonder why Luton is so popular with the business jet community while Stansted seems to struggle despite all the space they have for private jets?

[pabely]

Because it's an airport people want to go to and what it offers?
Remember Location, Location, Location is everything and booking agents have the choice of how many operators now from LTN? Don't know the exact figures but don't Hanger8 and LEA amongst others have significant operations now yet based somewhere else?
If LTN had the space we most probably have facilities for Jet Aviation, Signature always leads due to its depth of international operations, a lot of investment in US at the moment and more to come in Far and Middle East.

[toledoashley]

Looks like Munich has had another cull for the Winter - only weekends and only through the main skiing period (late December onwards).

[Falcon666]

toledoashley,

Yeah unfortunately very predictable from Monarch these days.
Still can't believe they dropped Larnaca for the winter but were keen to jump on the SSH bandwagon with everybody else.
We used Monarch a lot in previous years but all this chopping and changing means you can't book with any confidence anymore.

[Dannyboy39]

Monarch have very little brand identity outside of the United Kingdom, unlike their loco competitors. Don't understand why the airline continue to chop and change before a route can try and mature a tad.

Their routes to the traditional destinations date back 20-30-40 years, so they have built up some affinity with the locals.

[pabely]

I'm told it could be 150+ BizJets on the ground on Saturday afternoon along with alot more drop & dash.
No room for Charter liners then!

[ericlday]

Does that number generate more revenue for the Airport than a handful of liners ?

[pabely]

These sort of charters require lots of coaches (to pick up/drop off where), overtime for security & handling and get put straight through so spend very little cash.
FBOs on the other hand lease extra stands and sort everything out. Income from this landing and navigation fees all for very little hassle to the normal operation.

[Falcon666]

So with the proposed sale of Flybe slots to Easy I wonder if the airport might get them to re introduce Waterford next year as it has been highly rumoured to happen and maybe a couple of other routes------or as others over in Essex are hoping its a up and move to STN for Flybe

[gilesdavies]

So as expected FlyBE have sold their Gatwick slots to easyJet, but no mention of them transferring these routes moving to another London airport like Luton.

BBC News - Flybe sells Gatwick take-off and landing slots to Easyjet (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-22629518)

There is still however time, as the routes will continue until March 2014...

Even though Luton is pretty rammed and lacking space to park planes over night, there is always a chance they could start up flights to Luton operating from the base where the routes could fly from.

easyJet dominates Luton on the routes domestically, there could be room for some flights to Manchester, Belfast City, Newcastle, Gurnsey and possibly a morning and evening flight to Inverness. While the Jersey and IOM routes could be increased to daily or even maybe twice daily!

[EI-BUD]

easyJet dominates Luton on the routes domestically, there could be room for some flights to Manchester, Belfast City, Newcastle, Gurnsey and possibly a morning and evening flight to Inverness. While the Jersey and IOM routes could be increased to daily or even maybe twice daily!


easyJet have done STN NCL and it was axed, so cannot see LTN NCL being any more attractive.

BHD LTN would not make sense given that they wont see a competitor enter BHD onto that route, moving it over again, would make an establish route BFS LTN attractive to FR. Besides why would they dilute the current offering that supports up to 320s on some flights. Good loads and yields. GCI wont happen with easyJet 319, wouldnt work?

[gilesdavies]

easyJet have done STN NCL and it was axed, so cannot see LTN NCL being any more attractive.

BHD LTN would not make sense given that they wont see a competitor enter BHD onto that route, moving it over again, would make an establish route BFS LTN attractive to FR. Besides why would they dilute the current offering that supports up to 320s on some flights. Good loads and yields. GCI wont happen with easyJet 319, wouldnt work?

Hey EI-BUD, sorry if I didn't explain myself properly...

I was talking about FlyBE transferring some of their London ops to Luton, not easyJet increasing their presence more on the domestic front from Luton.

I was talking about a diluted version of their current Gatwick ops, where a number of routes might work if they flew into Luton, while not competing head to head with easyJets routes from the airport.

I think NCL, MAN and BHD could work with 2 or 3 flights a day. Also INV at different times to the easyJet flight. One or two daily flights to the likes of GCI, JER and IOM could also work. Then throw in a daily flight to Waterford too!

I am probably been far too optimistic, but I was told the other day I was being negative! :\

[FRatSTN]

It would seem by the words from FlyBe in today's various articles that they will leave the London market. I could be wrong, but we will probably have to wait at least until Summer 2014 flights go on sale before anything regarding FlyBe moving to another London airport.

I would have thought though that Stansted would be the most likely option since there is virtually nill presence of domestic services now other than Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I can see STN - BHD, GCI, IOM, INV, JER, NQY, NCL all having strong potential for them and one or two other new additions since there is much less direct competition (only the International Airport in Belfast is served now and Ryanair doesn't and is extremely unlikely to start flying these routes). Perhaps they could finally bring CDG to Stansted, but again I'm perhaps being too optimistic also!

I can't see there being a 2 or 3x daily service to Newcastle or links to Manchester working from Luton though. I would be surprised even to see 2 or 3 flights a day to the Isle Of Man or Jersey. Manchester and Newcastle have both been served from Stansted before, in which the latter certainly had a market in order to sustain 2 daily A319's on the route for several years. Sadly, APD is the main reason for the loss of these domestic routes and for that reason, may never be picked up by FlyBe or anybody else for that matter.

[EI-BUD]

I can see STN - BHD, GCI, IOM, INV, JER, NQY, NCL


I'd really like to see BHD getting a STN link back; it has quite a history,

Air UK did daily F100 on the route in the past, in 90s (if I recall)
Not sure if JEA/BE did it in the intervening time, as they did do a BFS STN with BAC 1-11
Air Berlin double daily F100 and 737 (up to 7k pax pm)
Ryanair up to 5 daily 738 (up to 31k pax pm)
bmibaby up to 2 daily 733 (up to 10.5k pax pm)
The outlook is quite bleek for the domestics now that BE are stepping away from routes that will struggle to get another airline, without an airline who can give transfer connections as LHR and LGW will not be accessible. BA did NQY in the past ex LGW, without FR in the market, and without BE, perhaps BA might look at a double or single daily 319, I imagine a late LGW NQY then nightstop and an early NQY LGW could provide business man with a flight and connecting passenger with a good opportunity to feed into the long haul and other flights from LGW.

EI-BUD

[Buster the Bear]

"The primary focus for our growth in London for the next few years will be Stansted," added Mr O'Leary. He said the new Stansted owner – Manchester Airports Group – had been a "breath of fresh air".

I understand that Flybe will not be leaving the London market, but will likely be a smaller operation from an airport well north of the Thames. This could possibly mean additional aircraft at Luton, but not Flybe.

[LGS6753]

More economic illiteracy from FRatSTN:

I would have thought though that Stansted would be the most likely option since there is virtually nill (sic) presence of domestic services now other than Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Stansted is in the middle of the countryside. People don't live there in large numbers. Connections are worse than at LHR, LGW and LTN, and that's the reason why domestics - which have continued from other London-area airports - have failed at Stansted.

The only reason that BEE have to select Stansted is that there is no competition. And that means no-one else has made a go of these routes from rural Essex.

Actually, I don't think BEE will base at Luton either. They will probably reposition themselves as a regional airline, connecting the UK's regions, which they do well. Their largest bases are SOU and EXT, both of which are classic regional centres. The best LTN can hope for is a Waterford link - the traffic is there - but that alone wouldn't justify opening a base.

[Dannyboy39]

I see a Virgin Little Red A320 was parked up earlier, obviously diverted from LHR. Any other diversions into LTN?