With the airport owner (LLAL) taking quick action against the contractor building the DART for social-distancing failures, we wonder if they will be prepared to take action against the airport operator (LLAOL) for failures on day one of the reopening of the terminal when it will cost them money?
While it is essential for the airport to open, as it brings benefits and jobs to the town and surrounding areas, it should not be at the expense of public safety.
Despite there being only four flights throughout the day, passengers were filmed queuing to board their Wizz Air flight with little thought about social distancing and without being challenged by airport staff. More disturbingly, a Wizz Air flight that was nearly full and with the middle seats occupied, landed at Luton with passengers then congregating at the terminal entrance, while still on airport property, with no attempt by the airport authority to comply with government regulation.
Despite this massive failure, a spokesperson for London Luton Airport told reporters: ‘The safety of our passengers and staff is our number one priority and we continue to rigorously implement all Government guidance”.
As can be seen, these are fantasy words that mean nothing.
Wizz Air’s UK managing director Owain Jones said: ‘As we restart selected Luton flights to provide an essential service to passengers who need to travel, our primary concern is the health, safety and well-being of our customers and crew’.
This from an airline that has admitted that aircraft are only deep cleaned overnight and is happy to sit passengers less than a metre apart and 6 abreast to earn maximum income.
At the time of writing, Easyjet and Blue Air are also planning to restart operations again, so we wonder if the airport will cut its terminal capacity hourly rate to reflect social distancing. At the moment the terminal capacity is several thousand passengers an hour, but as seen they cannot handle even 200 passengers an hour safely.