The airport welcomed a total 1,008,184 people through its doors in November, an increase of 5.6% on the same month in the previous year. The figure also marks 44 months of consecutive growth at the airport.
These latest figures are further evidence of the continued and increasing demand among passengers for air travel, says airport chief executive Nick Barton.
Separate figures from the Department for Transport predict that passenger demand will double by 2050. Currently the capacity at UK airports is struggling to keep pace.
London Luton is investing more than £150 million to transform the airport and increase annual capacity by 50% to 18 million passengers by 2020. The redevelopment will deliver much-needed capacity.
However, the Transport Select Committee has warned that inadequate rail links to airports are a significant limiting factor preventing airports from reaching their full potential.
London Luton is calling on the government to introduce a requirement within the East Midlands Rail Franchise for four trains per hour to call at Luton Airport Parkway station.
Mr Barton said: “As the Transport Select Committee scrutinises the government’s airports national policy statement, the issue of airport capacity in the south-east returns to the fore.
"With any new runway at Heathrow at least ten to15 years away from completion, we urgently need to create the conditions for regional airports to make the most of existing capacity.”
The increase in rail services to Luton Airport Parkway is achievable through timetable change alone and could generate an additional £110 million in fare revenue for the DfT over the duration of the franchise as well as doubling the airport’s value to the local economy to £1.4 billion per year, Mr Barton said.
“As one of the UK’s fastest-growing airports, London Luton needs a direct express-style rail service to make the most of its potential to bring benefits to passengers and the economy.”
LOW-COST airline Wizz Air has announced three new routes as it continues its expansion at London Luton Airport.
The airline is to fly to Athens, Keflavik in Iceland and the southern Italian city of Bari, with departures starting in the spring. It is also to increase services to Larnaca in Cyprus to ten a week.
The new routes are part of the next phase in WIZZ’s expansion plans following the establishment of Wizz Air UK and the increase of its fleet at Luton in 2018 from one to seven aircraft, including two Airbus A321.
