London Stansted: General Airport News, Updates & Discussion

[Ray Finkle]

To be purchased by MAG for £1.5billion according to BBC.

Stansted Airport being sold to Manchester for £1.5bn

 

[Aviador]

I think this is a good move for the Manchester airport group especially with the growing problem of runway slots at Heathrow, Stansted will only get busier in the years to come.

 

[lysander]

MAG is, I understand, still controlled by local authorities around Manchester. That they are so successful rather makes a mockery of all the claims being made for "privatisation".

 

[News Guru]

tansted starts campaign for long haul flights

Stansted Airport will this week call on businesses from across the East of England to work together to deliver direct long-haul services from the airport as it kicks off a major market study of long distance flying from the region.

Stansted will contact over 300 of the region’s top companies to develop a detailed picture of their travel requirements which will provide a base of evidence to show airlines the strong demand for business travel within the region and the opportunities that exist to serve these routes from Stansted.

Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Busines ... z2mbUzu1jJ[/textarea]

 

[News Guru]

Stansted Facelift Targets Long-Haul Elite as MAG Benefits

Manchester Airports Group plans to pitch its London Stansted low-cost hub to a host of long-haul carriers over the next 18 months in a bid to broaden the appeal of an asset that spurred first-half earnings 78 percent.

Operating profit at MAG, which owns Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports, rose to 108.2 million pounds ($178 million) in the six months to Sept. 30 from 60.8 million pounds a year earlier, with the London terminal, bought on Feb. 28, contributing 31.5 million pounds of the gain.

MAG is pursuing plans to bring intercontinental carriers such as Dubai-based Emirates to Stansted in the wake of deals to boost flights operated by discount carriers Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA) and EasyJet Plc. (EZJ) Valet parking, fast-track security and airport lounges are among enhancements being introduced to draw full-service players to the airport 35 miles north of London.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-2 ... s-mag.html

 

[Jerry]

Easyjet A319 operating flight U23246 LJU-STN was diverted to CGN because of a bomb threat. The aircraft was evacuated of it's 151 passengers and an unaccompanied item of luggage was destroyed as a precaution. Several passengers were arrested by the police.
http://www.airlive.net/breaking-col...-u23246-immediate-landing-due-to-bomb-threat/

 

[juliet-fox-9]

Stansted Airport fire forces terminal evacuation - BBC

All departing flights from Stansted Airport have been cancelled until midnight after a bus caught fire outside the terminal.

 

[juliet-fox-9]

Interesting opinion piece arguing that STN's bad rep is undeserved.

Stansted, on the other hand, is far more pleasant than airport snobs would have you believe.

The airport does boast its own train station, just 30 minutes from the Victoria Line at Tottenham Hale, or a little longer into Liverpool Street, and is currently gleaming from an £80 million redevelopment of its terminal building, originally designed by Norman Foster.

The Essex airport now offers as wide and impressive a range of food and drink options as its south London brethren. Sure, it is a smaller airport, with just the one runway, though the walk through duty-free is as long as a second, but it welcomes 26 million people a year and its growth rate is higher than that of Gatwick. It will reach its current cap of 35 million in five years and has applied for permission to raise its capacity to 43 million, just two short of Gatwick today. Last year, flag carrier British Airways announced it would begin flying from Stansted for the first time in its history.

Stop being an airport snob! In defence of Luton and Stansted

 

[paully]

We used Stansted for the first time ever last September..To be fair we had a Jet2 flight early afternoon and it wasnt peak. We allowed plenty of time, were straight through security and found ourselves amused by the long, long walk through the shopping centre..Very odd. We did get somewhere to sit in the centre area and had no trouble getting a table at one of the many restaurants. We found the mono rail to the gate to be a novelty. The staff we encountered were helpful and polite.
Now that said..I would hate to be going through at peak times and or the `early morning wave`..and looking at the facilities I can well see where all the complaints come from. We would deffo use Stansted again but not if it involved peak time flying.

 

[IanFarquharson]

Stansted up 5.8% in March 2018
1,986,842
26,140,257 for rolling 12m
Ian

 

[juliet-fox-9]

Heathrow vs Gatwick: Could the winner be...Stansted?

Stansted's growth will surpass all other London airports, with a 12.1% year-on-year increase in demand for runway slots, compared with 1.4% at Heathrow, and 2.1% at Gatwick.

Stansted will welcome five new airlines this year - Primera Air, Emirates, WOW air, Air Corsica and Wideroe - serving destinations ranging from New York, Washington DC, Boston and Toronto to Dubai, Corsica, Reykjavik and Kristiansand (Norway).

The airport will also be transformed with a new £130m arrivals terminal.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-woman-part-stansted-15-2311385

15 people have been convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court of 'endangering an aerodrome'. They tried to prevent an aircraft carrying deportees at Stansted from taking off.

 

[BlueManc]

Drone footage of STN

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/378408/stansted-to-appeal-against-rejection-of-expansio

Stansted Airport is to appeal its local authority's decision to reject its expansion planning application last January. The expansion would enable the airport to handle 43 mppa, an increase from the current 35 mppa cap.

The appeal has been made to the national Planning Inspectorate.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/378408/stansted-to-appeal-against-rejection-of-expansio

Stansted Airport is to appeal its local authority's decision to reject its expansion planning application last January. The expansion would enable the airport to handle 43 mppa, an increase from the current 35 mppa cap.

The appeal has been made to the national Planning Inspectorate.

STN's appeal against its local authority's rejection of its planning application is now under way. Full details can be found in the linked newspaper report at the end of this post but this is a precis of the history of the application and the current status of the appeal.

In 2018 STN's local authority - Uttlesford Distriict Council (UDC) - then Conservative-dominated voted to approve STN's planning application that would allow the airport to grow from 35 mppa to 43 mppa.

The following year the Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) won control of the council and members voted to return the application to the planning committee (I didn't know they could). This time they rejected the application despite their own planning officers recommending approval as did independent legal advice.

MAG, the STN owners, mounted an appeal and the public enquiry element of the process began last month before three planning inspectors.

According to MAG's QC at the enquiry an opposition group calling itself Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) was the driving force behind UDC's decision to revisit and subsequently reject the application.

SSE has now fallen out with UDC which it says has withdrawn most of its objections. SSE will now only submit written evidence to the enquiry because it believes the enquiry should be halted until it can be held in the normal way and not remotely as it is doing. The inspectors warned SSE that written evidence would not carry the same weight as oral evidence.

MAG's QC told the enquiry that, "SSE have played the role of Pied Piper in relation to Stansted’s application and have led UDC’s planning committee over the metaphorical cliff.”

The QC went on to say, “UDC’s case has now contracted to the extent that it accepts that the appeal should be allowed and planning permission granted. Its focus is now clearly upon the structure and content of any accompanying planning conditions." He also told the enquiry that,
"Stansted Airport considers the behaviour of UDC and SSE to be unreasonable and warns now that when the evidence is complete it will be seeking compensation for any wasted costs which it has been obliged to bear in prosecuting this appeal.”

It appears then that local authority is facing up to reality and making only token gestures in its response to the airport's appeal, albeit SSE is still making bullets from the sidelines (although paper ones now) that it demands the local authority should turn into real ones and fire.

Incidentally, there is an undoubted pattern emerging with airport planning applications. At LBA, BRS and STN each of the local authorities' professional planning officers recommended approval of the applications but at BRS and STN the local planning councillors overruled them and plumped for rejection, although now it seems that the STN local authority is soft-pedalling.

Stansted Airport inquiry: 'Pied Piper' SSE accused of 'leading council over a cliff'

Stansted owner MAG launches fight to win consent for growth to 43m passengers a year with scathing attack on SSE vice-chairman Brian Ross.

www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk

 

[Coathanger16]

Sounds promising. Any idea when any kind of final decision will be made?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Sounds promising. Any idea when any kind of final decision will be made?

The appeal enquiry is scheduled to last until April but because SSE is submitting written evidence rather than witnesses who can be cross-examined it's expected to end earlier.

It's then a case of how long the planning inspectors will take to make their final decision, although it's more likely that the secretary of state will 'recover' the appeal and decide the outcome himself, in which case the planning inspectors will submit recommendations following their enquiry which the minister must take into account although he is not bound by them.

If the appeal is allowed opponents could still apply for a judicial review but of course that only looks into the lawfulness of the way a decision was
made by a public body, ie the procedure, and not the decision itself.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The public enquiry has ended over two weeks early with opponents and supporters believing that the local authority has failed to substantiate its case in the face of the airport owners' appeal.

The planning inspectors will make known their decision in three months time. It's being widely speculated that not only will the airport win its appeal but that the local authority will be ordered to pay a seven-figure sum in costs because of its 'unreasonable behaviour'.

Residents set to pick up the bill for council's Stansted planning inquiry 'failure'

Airport owner MAG seeks costs from Uttlesford District Council as hearing into passenger expansion refusal ends early.

www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk

 

[Seasider]

I think LCC will be happy with their decision regarding LBA.

 

[LS@MAN]

Used Stansted for the first time in about 10 years last Monday...flying Ryanair to Toulouse.
Security was efficient, around 12/13 lanes open and through in 10 mins! Hard to believe the airport has the same management as Manchester!

Once airside, it was no surprise to find absolutely no where to sit or even stand! Carnage on a Monday afternoon in June...I can't imagine what July & August school holidays will bring!
However, I wandered around and ended up walking through a tunnel/bridge towards one of the piers, found some seats in the tunnel/bridge to read and relax for about an hour.
On the way back to the main terminal area, I was asked by a member of staff to see how boarding pass...I questioned this and he said that in this area arrivals & departures mix. I was very surprised by this statement! Anyway, after I confirmed with my boarding pass that I was a departing and not an arriving passenger, he let me go back into the main terminal area.

Are there any plans for a terminal extension or more seating?

Finally made my way to Gate 26 around an hour before the flight, thanks to a check on the airport's website...busy in this area too but watching the Ryanair movements, it looked quite an efficient process for most flight with Blue handling. Our flight was around 20 mins late due to late arrival of the aircraft from Luxembourg.

All in all, not the worst experience, but I won't be using it in a hurry again!