Luton Airport is planning to increase its capacity to 18 million passengers a year and improve efficiency in a bid to capture some more of the demand at London’s airports, especially since the Government is adamant there won’t be a third runway built at Heathrow, and the Thames Estuary Airport is just a dream at the moment.

Luton is already a popular low-cost gateway for easyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air and others, and it has also made a mark for itself as THE place for biz jets visiting London. On any given day there are up to a hundred biz jets present (admittedly a number are based, or are in for maintenance). So to expand on this seems a good idea.

This article states the airport will look to “consider where modifications are required to optimise capacity, including taxiways, aprons, piers and parking stands, the road network, car parking and the passenger terminal.”

It’s not clear when these changes will take place – presumably it will need a lot of planning. But I anticipate one of the improvements they’ll look to add is a full-length parallel taxiway for the runway, which will instantly increase the hourly capacity of the runway.

According to a report today, building a new London airport in the Thames Estuary is becoming more and more likely, with David Cameron showing significant interest.

This is a major u-turn from previous statements, and it seems we might just get this development. The government has also reiterated that Heathrow will definitely NOT get a third runway.

Naturally there are still a lot of skeptics about the project, especially since it will take many, many years to approve, plan and build, during which the problems at Heathrow and other London airports won’t go away.

What are your thoughts on the plans?

London Southend Airport is really taking off. After years living in the shadows of London’s other airports, the once-popular airport is now on the way back up.

Although for many years it’s been a place to find mouth-wateringly rare aircraft in storage and between owners (which to some extent continues to this day), the airport finally has some scheduled routes to shout about, and a bunch of new infrastructure being built ready for this year’s London Olympic Games. Southend is one of the closest airports to the games, so I expect it will be pretty busy around that period.

Here’s an update on the airport’s growth and plans:

- Runway extension has now been built, with the taxiways all improved and new lighting added. Full runway will be in operation from March.

- Scheduled services to Ireland have started with Aer Arann.

- easyJet begin routes to 9 European destinations from April, with 3 based Airbus A319 aircraft.

- The new control tower and railway station (with fast links to London) have been opened.

- New terminal under construction, to be opened in February. Extended apron and stands almost complete.

- New Holiday Inn under construction at the airport.

I’ll be visiting this year to check out the new facilities and to see what the viewing situation is like with the new roads, runway, hotel and terminal. You may want to schedule a visit to Southend during the Olympics as I think it will get quite busy.

Why not send us a trip report if you use one of the new easyJet routes?

Although we haven’t yet had anything like the snowfall experienced over the past two winters here in the UK, airports across the country are nevertheless preparing so that they don’t experience the same problems.

Belfast City George Best Airport has invested  in two £500,000 in two snow clearing machines from Norway. The huge apparatus can remove 6 inches of snow from the entire runway in less than an hour.  Seamus MacMahon, Belfast City Airport’s Senior Fire Officer, is pictured receiving the equipment from Jan Eric, Service Engineer at ØVERAASEN.

So this airport, which is a vital link close to the heart of Belfast for business passengers in particular, should remain open should the white stuff appear again!

Storage airports are a big draw for enthusiasts, giving them the chance to catch up with airliners before they meet the scrapman, or as they rest in between jobs. Quite often they’re stored a long way from their home, giving the spotter something unusual to see without travelling so far.

When you think of storage airports, chances are you’ll think of those in Arizona, California and New Mexico, where the desert keeps airliners in good condition. But in the UK we have a number of airports where you can go see stored airliners. Here are the top 6:

1. Kemble, Gloucestershire (Map)
Kemble has recently rebranded itself as Cotswold Airport, in honour of the area of natural beauty in which it resides. It’s located in south-west England, around 2 hours drive from London. Here you’ll find a steady stream of airliners coming to be scrapped, from B737 and A320 to B747. It is also a base for Lufthansa Technik, who deal with a lot of BAe 146/Avro RJ aircraft.

2. Lasham, Hampshire (Map)
Mainly a rework centre, where airliners come to get new identities, Lasham is nevertheless a place where you can often find B727, B737, B757 and A320 airliners in open storage. It is around 30 mins drive from London, and not far from Farnborough.

3. Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire (Map)
Home to the famous Cold War Jets Collection, including a DH Comet and Victor. Bruntinthorpe is also a place where airliners are scrapped. Recent examples include RAF VC-10′s and KLM B737s.

4. Cardiff, Wales (Map)
Cardiff Airport in southern Wales is a storage and maintenance base for British Airways. Recently, members of their B747-400 fleet have been stored here, and even scrapped.

5. Exeter, Devon (Map)
Near the south-west coast of England, Exeter is a small regional airport and home to Flybe. It is a place where aircraft are stored and maintained between operators – particularly those leaving the Flybe fleet, such as BAe 146, EMB-145 and DHC-8  aircraft. There are also some used as fire trainers.

6. London Southend (Map)
One of the fastest growing airports thanks to its new terminal and routes, London Southend is also a busy place for aircraft maintenance and storage. You’ll see a lot of B737 and A320 aircraft getting new identities, and BAe146/Avro RJ aircraft in storage.

British Airports Authority (BAA) has finally made up its mind as to which of its Scottish airports it is going to sell. It had been told it had to, much like it was told to sell a London airport and got rid of Gatwick.  They have chosen Edinburgh, and will now set in place the process of selling it to another operator.

This is quite surprising as in recent years Edinburgh has shown much more promise, with a number of new routes and operators in place, and a lot more inbound passengers coming to enjoy the city. Glasgow, on the other hand, has not really changed much.

However, it might not be surprising given that Glasgow is the UK’s third largest city and the airport is much bigger and better equipped; Edinburgh would need a runway and terminal extension to handle more/larger aircraft.

What do you think of the choice? What will it mean for Edinburgh and Glasgow airports in the future?

Gatwick is the long-suffering London airport in the shadow of the busier and more prestigious Heathrow. Yet I want to highlight it as a unique and fantastic place in its own right, and is this week’s Friday Favourite.

Gatwick has grown to become the world’s busiest single runway airport. At peak times, you can often see aircraft touching down just as another get airborne.

In terms of traffic, it is the second busiest British Airways hub, with flights to Europe, the Caribbean and North America. It is also a busy hub for Virgin Atlantic.

Gatwick has always been London’s “charter airport”, and today you can still see a lot of UK and European charter airlines flying in, such as Thomson Airways, Monarch and Thomas Cook. It is also a base for easyJet and Ryanair flights, amongst many other airlines that you don’t see at Heathrow.

Viewing at Gatwick has been a problem since the observation deck closed down in 2002. But there are a few spots around the perimeter and from the car parks to watch aircraft come and go. Perhaps the best place is at the end of runway 08 where there is a crash gate that gives views of aircraft on final approach and lining up for takeoff – but don’t park your car here!

I’m sure many of you remember the classic days of Gatwick from the 60s to 80s when old propliner and first generation jet airliners were the norm. There’s a great DVD you can buy showing these glory days – see here: http://www.avionvideo.com/programDetails.asp?pid=42

STOP PRESS! Boeing are sending one of their 787 aircraft to the UK in September, visiting two airports.

The airliner will arrive at Manchester Airport direct from Seattle on the morning of 3rd September, where it will be shown to existing customers Monarch Airlines and ThomsonFly.

Then, on 4th September it will be flown to London Heathrow airport. I believe this is in order to demonstrate the aircraft to British Airways, but please comment if this isn’t the case.

Well I’ll be heading to Manchester to catch this I think. Anyone else going? I’ve heard it will be one of the machines painted in ANA livery.

I flew back to the UK from holiday in Spain last week. The trip was with Ryanair, from Malaga to Leeds Bradford.

Malaga is now a Ryanair base, and you can tell. I’ve been coming here for 25 years, and for many of them the most you would see of Ryanair was a solitary Boeing 737-200 from Dublin once a day. Nowadays, there always seems to be a 737-800 from the airline at the gates – never more so than during the morning and evening rush hours.

Malaga Airport itself has come on a great deal. Its new terminal is airy and large. I made sure we checked in with plenty of time (persuading the Ryanair agent to check us in three hours ahead of the flight, which is usually not allowed), in order to avoid the usual rush. This gave me time to look around the terminal, which seamlessly joins the early 1990s-era Pablo Picasso Terminal (which itself joins the original international terminal from the 1970s).

The only giveaway is the sandy colour of the old terminal’s walls and floors, whereas the new one is silver.

The new terminal has plenty of places to view the aircraft parked at its stands, and there are places to see aircraft on the remote ramps, military ramp, and parked at the old terminal’s gates.

However, to see anything parked outside the original terminal and on the GA/executive ramp, you’ll need to be in the B gates, which means passing through Passport Control.

Malaga has a new, second, runway which has recently been completed. It is located slightly askew to the existing runway, so not quite parallel. On my visit it looked like it wasn’t far off

opening, with all taxiways, signs and lighting in place (and most importantly, no workmen in sight). You will be able to see aircraft on this runway quite easily from the new terminal, and also from the car parks.

Our flight boarded from B11 at 2150 – the time we were meant to depart. Ryanair seem to operate a bus service, where departing passengers are already waiting to board as the previous passengers deplane. Gone are the days of a 1 hour turnaround!

The flight this evening was on EI-DWY. We departed around 20 minutes late, but the flight was a quick 2 hours 30 minutes, passing over central Spain, western France, the England/Wales border, Manchester, and then across to Leeds Bradford.

We landed with a thump just before midnight. The runway at Leeds always seems a little short – so much so that I was pushing against the seat in front as we slowed down just to steady myself.

All in all a good flight and journey, but I can’t finish without mentioning my gripes about Ryanair forcing you to pay to check in online, and then still making you wait in a line to drop your bag off and ‘check in’ that takes just as long as a regular flight that you haven’t checked in online for!

I was watching BBC Breakfast today when they had an interview with Tony Parsons – best selling author of books such as Man and Boy. It seems he is to be the next writer-in-residence at London Heathrow Airport over the next week.

Following in the footsteps of Alain de Botton with his A Week At The Airport title, Tony is set to publish a book of short stories based on his time spent at the airport.

He said he will be allowed “total access” to the airport, and will thus use this privilege to speak to fire crews, passengers (coming and going), check-in agents, management and anyone else he comes across.

His book will be published by Harper Collins in October 2011.