Airline passenger news and views

London Luton Airport has announced a plan to increase its capacity to 18 million passengers per annum, which represents about 6.5 million more than its current maximum capacity of 11.5 million passengers per annum.

The new project, entitled futureLuToN:Optimisation, was proposed on the 17th of January 2012 and will need consultation and approval before it can be formally launched. Luton seeks to put forward a planning application around April.

According to the airport, it will create 6000 new jobs and attract millions of pounds of investment. While futureLuToN:Optimisation plans to use the existing runway, a plethora of improvements are expected on other fronts including taxiways, aprons, road network, airport car parking, passenger terminal and piers and parking stands for aircrafts.

Luton seeks to base this growth on the expansion of its low cost traffic, in light of the exponential growth low-cost carriers experienced in the last years. The airport is already the headquarters of easyJet and provides a strong base for other low-cost carriers like Ryanair or Wizz Air.

With governmental concerns of a possible capacity shortage in the London area by 2020, coupled with heated discussions on whether to build a new runway at Heathrow or a brand new airport - of which discussions are still currently underway -  futureLuToN:Optimisation is likely to be welcomed.

Luton Airport is the fifth biggest passenger airport in the United Kingdom and the fourth largest serving the London area after Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Gatwick Airport receives around 33 million passengers annually and Stansted Airport about 18.3 million passengers per year. With this new project, Luton might enter in fierce competition with Stansted, especially if it focuses on expanding its low-cost traffic.

'We're at the very beginning of a journey that builds on the tremendous success we have seen through the last decade and will ultimately bring huge benefits to Luton and the wider region - with jobs and much-needed income', according to councilor Robin Harris, chair of London Luton Airport Limited (LLAL), which is the organization that owns Luton airport on behalf of Luton Borough Council. The airport also promises to deal responsibly with resulting extra noise and traffic.