Transavia to start Rotterdam-Luton

[sn26567]

Dutch airline Transavia is launching twice daily flights from London Luton to Rotterdam next month.

The new service will provide the only flights to Rotterdam from Luton, although business specialist VLM operate a high frequency route between the Dutch commercial centre and London City, with KLM CityHopper running flights from Heathrow to Rotterdam.

Transavia’s Rotterdam flights start on October 27, and will leave Luton at 7.55am and 8.50pm. Return flights leave Rotterdam at 7.20am and 8.15pm.

A Luton Airport spokesman said: “We are delighted to announce the arrival of Transavia to our portfolio of carriers. The arrival of this new service to Rotterdam demonstrates the confidence our airline partners and customers have in us.”

[regi]

Difficult to understand .
Luton is not London. It is at least 1 hour driving to somewhere near the Orbital and than an extra hour to be somewhere in the city center.
But ok, the managment of Transavia probably has made its calculations and came to the point that it would be profitable.
I guess that they aim at the many businesses north of London like Hemel H'stead, Milton Keynes, Luton, Watford,...
And landing fees at both airports are probably much lower than at AMS and LHR...
Travel time for business travellers will also be much faster because both airports are small.

[eudokia]

with KLM CityHopper running flights from Heathrow to Rotterdam.

KLM City Hopper will discontinue the RTM-LHR flights as from October 26

[regi]

aha, that explains already something.
A city hopper from AMS is understandable. But it takes just 45 minutes from R'Dam to Schiphol . So there very few people who would use R'dam - LHR for international connections.
And since the Eurostar/Thalys trains drive from Amsterdam to London ( if there is no fire) there is some extra competition from that side as well.

[paulv]

For some reason it is a common misconception that Luton is further from central London that either Gatwick or Stansted airports. In fact it is marginally closer! It is about a 10 minute drive down the 8 lane M1 motorway to the London orbital motorway (M25) and the faster trains take little more than 30 minutes from Luton Airport Parkway into London. Add to that that there are 6 to 8 trains an hour and it has a lot going for it.

[regi]

10 minutes from Luton to the Orbital? Possible, if you are Jeremy Clarkson driving something sporty and don't mind speeding tickets and have no traffic.
Flights arrive at Luton at 7h20 or 20h15.
If you can reach the Orbital from the airport during morning traffic jam in 10 minutes, good for you.
But it would mean that all Britts have become extinct.
The alternative to take public transport which will already completely packed seems even less attractive.

But that is travelling to London during the week days.

I staid once at Chatham ( Themes ) and had a meeting in London city centre at 10am. It took me 2 hours from my hotel to the office by public transport. But hold on, Chatham is just 15 minutes driving from the Orbital? It all depends on connections.

You are right about Gatwick and Stansted. These can hardly be called London airports.