London Luton Airport (LLA) has reported a 19.2% rise to a record 1.2m passengers in September, continuing a trend of 18 months’ consecutive growth at the airport.

 

Nick Barton, CEO of LLA, said: “LLA is continuing to see unprecedented demand for air travel – September marks the 18th consecutive month of passenger growth.

 

“These record passenger numbers demonstrate the increasing popularity of LLA with travellers. They also highlight the importance of expanding the airport to help meet the capacity needs in the south-east.”

 

 

He added that the appointment of Whitemountain and the relocation and expansion of security to the ground floor are major strides forward in the airport’s plans to continue to meet growing demand in future and improve the overall passenger experience.

 

In addition to this, the airport is investing £100m ($153m) to handle ‘rapidly growing passenger demand’ and to raise annual capacity from 12m to 18m passengers by 2026. Airport management says that Whitemountain is managing the construction and civil engineering of landside infrastructure and transport facilities.

 

 

This will see the existing approach road to the terminal building turned into a dual carriageway, the redevelopment of the short stay car parks and on-airport road network, the remodelling of the set-down area and the repositioning of the coach terminal.

 

Management says it is also planning a complete redesign of the terminal to create a quick, efficient, friendly and convenient passenger experience.

 

TRBusiness reported back in April 2015 that London Luton Airport had appointed incumbent LS travel retail and Aelia as the operator of its new 1,700sq m walk-through flagship duty free/travel retail store, ahead of several competing bids. See link to story: http://www.trbusiness.com/regional-news/europe/luton-selects-aelia-for-new-dftr-stores-contract/75791