East Midlands Railway (EMR) has launched a direct service from London St Pancras International station to London Luton Airport.
Luton Airport Express trains run to Luton Airport Parkway every 30 minutes from early morning to late at night, Mondays to Saturdays, and with regular services on Sundays.
Journey time is just 32 minutes and fares start from just £10.
At Luton Airport Parkway customers can transfer to the new Luton DART shuttle to the airport, with the ticket included in the Luton Airport Express ticket. The Luton DART runs 24 hours a day and takes less than four minutes to travel to the airport terminal. The trains have ample luggage space, accessible toilets and free WiFi.
At Luton Airport Parkway, a lift and escalators provide step-free access between the train platform and the DART terminal.
Simon Pready, Commercial Director of East Midlands Railway, said: “EMR's Luton Airport Express will provide customers travelling from the capital and the south, a convenient, fast and environmentally friendly way to get to the airport – with a trip taking as little as 32 minutes and costing from just £10 – it's a great option.
“Along with the introduction of DART, the Luton Airport Express represents the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the town and we are proud to be part of such an environmentally and economically important project.
“I'm personally looking forward to speaking to our customers to find out where they are jetting off to.”
Alberto Martin, CEO of London Luton Airport, said: “Taking just 32 minutes door-to-door, the launch of the transformational Luton Airport Express means that London Luton Airport has never been closer to central London.
“The service will provide a faster, more frequent and more convenient connection from train to plane, making LLA one of the capital's best-connected airports and supporting its mission to deliver a simple, friendly end-to-end passenger experience.”
Graham Olver, Chief Executive of Luton Rising, said: “The Luton Airport Express and its seamless connection with the ground-breaking Luton DART will make a tremendous difference to passengers, making journeys to London Luton Airport faster, easier and greener, and encourages people to take the train and leave the car at home.
“The Luton Airport Express and the DART are also great news for people in Luton because every extra passenger using London Luton Airport boosts the unique investment we as the owners of the airport are able to make to local services.”
London Luton Airport is one of the UK's busiest airports, and last year over 13 million passengers passed through the airport, which serves 140 destinations in Europe, North Africa and Asia on various airlines including easyJet, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Tui, FlyOne, Sun Express and El Al.
Within the terminal there are more than 40 shop and restaurant brands to choose from, whilst.
Luton Airport Express would be an open access operator that would operate from St. Pancras International to Corby and Kettering as well as serving Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway. Plus Class 379s would have been useful but the Class 360/1 is as reliable when they first came into service in 2002 and were used on First Great Eastern, National Express East Anglia and Abellio Greater Anglia.
A quick spot check for tomorrow morning peak and off peak shows this as cheaper than Thameslink (and EMR seems to accept Railcards even on their discounted fares); Thameslink do run some trains which are almost as quite but most have a few calling points which adds a few minutes (although some offer the option to start from other stations such as West Hampstead in North London or Farringdon on the Elizabeth line which would be quicker end to end that getting to St. Pancras and changing there.)
If you are looking for the cheapest option from many parts of London it will be cheaper to travel to St. Pancras on zonal fares using Oyster/Contactless and use a pre-booked EMR Luton Express ticket
I think the Luton Express may also offer some split ticket opportunities to other stations in Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire, including “beyond and back” splits to e.g. Harpenden and St. Albans, (most split ticket websites won’t “find” beyond and back splits).
East Midlands Railway should do a massive overhaul with the Class 360s with new seat covers, interiors, floors, handrails and everything else to be refurbished and repainted in EMR purple livery. Since the Class 360/1 Desiro have been cascaded from Greater Anglia following the introduction of the Class 720 Aventra trains that are currently in service across Essex and on the West Anglia main line.
Pity the service runs with unrefurbished 2nd hand trains where the 1st class has been declasified .