London Luton Airport (LTN/EGGW), United Kingdom

Just 20 miles from London's northern fringes, London Luton Airport (LLA) is a success story in British civil aviation. Founded in 1938 as Luton Municipal Airport, its history is characterised by additions and alterations, and having ridden high on the waves of first the holiday charter market and latterly the low-cost carrier revolution.

The adjoining large town of Luton has suffered the loss of several large-scale employers over recent years and LLA is a vital component of the local economy. It directly employs just fewer than 500 people, with 8,000 jobs estimated to be supported by the airport's presence.

In spite of past reversals like the 1974 collapse of holiday company Clarksons / Court Line, Ryanair transferring operations to Stansted and the failure of Debonair, also centred on Luton, LLA has experienced a long-term trend of increased business. The ten years up to 2006 saw passenger numbers increase by around 400%.

LUTON OPERATIONS

LLA has many elements in its business mix. Now eclipsed by low-cost operations, Luton maintains its long-standing association with holiday charters through key operators Monarch, Thomsonfly (formerly Britannia), First Choice and Thomas Cook. Monarch Aircraft Engineering is one of the largest of several such facilities located at LLA.

Luton is the original base and headquarters of EasyJet, Europe's fourth-largest carrier, and the largest operator at LLA. Although it announced closure of its call centre in 2007, the airline has established a maintenance facility in former Britannia premises.

After transferring operations to Stansted several years previously, low-cost market leader Ryanair continues to build up its LLA hub. Other carriers that have contributed to the dominance of low-cost flights at LLA are Wizz Air, Thomsonfly, Monarch (scheduled) and Sky Europe.

With easy access from the London conurbation, LLA is one of the UK's main centres for business aviation. Harrods Aviation and Signature Flight Support are the main providers of the airport's extensive support services. Although a move to London Heathrow was considered, business-class airline Silverjet started with a service to Newark Liberty International and has built private terminal facilities at LLA.

NEW TERMINAL AND SITE REVISIONS

The mid-1990s saw significant developments in hand like enlarging the terminal, a new freight facility and control tower. A new road greatly improved access via the short tunnel under a taxiway and giving better road connections towards the M1 motorway. The tunnel includes space for a people-mover / tramway connection (currently maintained by a free bus shuttle) with Luton Airport Parkway railway station, about a mile distant.

Owners Luton Borough Council triggered a substantial transformation of the site when they launched a public private partnership in 1997. London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL), later to change ownerships early in its 30-year projected lifespan, was to provide £80m funding for a redevelopment that included the new £40m terminal opened in 1997.

The distinctively styled building faced the 1985 terminal, many of the functions of which it has replaced, notably in July 2005 when the upper story became the main airside lounge and retail / catering area. Connecting the new terminal to the central core severed the previous road access to the airport, completing the reorientation of traffic towards the south-west.

The project also created more departure gates, aircraft stands, with repositioned customs and immigration. More operational flexibility resulted from the completion of a circuit of the central area by taxi-ways.

FUTURE EXPANSION PLANS

In contrast to the incremental changes over many years, in 2005 the operators announced a programme that would radically reshape, enlarge and reposition London Luton in the airport market.

Responding to the 2003 white paper 'The Future of Air Transport' that identified a growth potential up to 30 million passengers a year by 2030 (it was 8 million in 2003), airport operator TBI published their master plan costed at £1.5bn in October 2005.

Their radical vision included a second runway – the current one being retained for taxiing and emergency use – being built to the south-east side of the existing perimeter that would have pushed into farmland and small communities, also involving extensive reshaping of the hilly landscape.

A new terminal and control tower also formed part of the plan which was to powerfully reignite long-standing opposition to increased air traffic at Luton.

This was most vocal around the rural eastern end of the airport that would be most affected by the development and ensuing aircraft movements.

Unexpectedly, the operators announced in July 2007 that, in view of uncertainty over the scale of returns within the balance of their 30-year tenure at Luton, the Master Plan was withdrawn.

Demetrio Ullastres, chairman of the LLAOL parent company, said that they were 'committed to the delivery of facilities that meet the needs of our customers and at the same time fulfil our shareholder expectations. Therefore, we have decided that our proposals should focus on making the most of the existing airport site'. New development proposals were said to be forthcoming.