Luton Airport Parkway station is on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

in England, serving south

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

and

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, England, situated east of the town centre, and is the fourth-busiest airport serving London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Limited, a company wholly owned by ...

in Bedfordshire. The station is situated in Luton's Park Town district, being from London St Pancras between to the south and to the north. Its three-letter station code is LTN, also the

IATA code IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respec ...

for the airport. The station is served by

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

operated trains on the Thameslink route and by

East Midlands Railway East Midlands Railway (EMR; legally Transport UK East Midlands Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Transport UK Group, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. Originally owned by Abellio (transport compan ...

. It is situated approximately west of the airport. Luton DART, a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small-scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks ...

transit, links the station to the airport terminal.

History

The Bedford–London section of the

was opened on 1 October 1868 by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

to provide a new direct route into London St Pancras. The Midland Main Line had stations in the Luton area at , and . Luton Municipal Airport was opened on 16 July 1938 by the

Secretary of State for Air The Secretary of State for Air was a secretary of state position in the British government that existed from 1919 to 1964. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. The Secretary of State for Air was supported by ...

Kingsley Wood Sir Howard Kingsley Wood (19 August 1881 – 21 September 1943) was a British Conservative politician. The son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, he qualified as a solicitor, and successfully specialised in industrial insurance. He became a memb ...

. During World War Two, the airport served as an RAF base for No. 264 Squadron RAF, but the airport returned to civilian use after the war. From the 1950s and 1960s, the airport's business increased with the growth of the

package holiday A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ...

market (later assisted by a popular 1977 television advert for

Campari Campari () is an Italian alcoholic liqueur, considered an aperitif, apéritif of the ''bitter'' variety (and not an amaro) by Italians while considered an apéritif of the Amaro (liqueur), amaro variety by Americans, obtained from the infusion of ...

featuring Lorraine Chase which mentioned the airport). The nearest railway station to Luton Airport was

Luton railway station Luton railway station (formerly Luton Midland Road) is located in the town centre of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station is about three minutes' walk from The Mall (Luton), The Mall Shopping Centre. It is situated on the Midland Main Line ...

, approximately away in

town centre; although the Midland Main Line line passed close to Luton Airport, for the first 60 years of the airport's operation there was no dedicated railway station. To support the increasing passenger traffic, Luton Airport provided a shuttle bus service from Luton to the airport terminal. In 1999, Luton Airport Parkway was opened. Although it was designed specifically to serve

, it was also given the ''parkway'' name, a title applied to British railway stations that have been designed as a park and ride railway station with motorists in mind, providing car parking facilities for commuters travelling onwards into London. Because the parkway station was located approximately to the west of Luton Airport, and airport was at the top of a hill, it was still necessary to link to the airport with shuttle buses. Initially these were operated by National Car Parks on behalf of the airport's owners and provided passengers with a free transfer. In January 2008 the free shuttle bus service was replaced by a more frequent, but chargeable, service provided by First Capital Connect. With the opening of the cross-London Thameslink route 11 years earlier, the new station provided a direct rail link from Luton Airport to central and south London,

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

and , as well as the Midland Mainline Routes to the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

. In November 2008, the station became the first on the Thameslink route to have its platforms extended in order to accommodate twelve-coach trains as part of the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the so ...

. In April 2013, a new northern entrance was opened on Kimpton Road, Luton. Contactless bank cards (but not

Oyster card The Oyster card is a Payment#Types_and_methods_of_payment, payment method for public transport in London and some surrounding areas. A standard Oyster card is a blue ISO/IEC 7810, credit-card-sized Stored-value card, stored-value contactless ...

s) became valid for journeys to and from London from October 2019.

Services

Rail services

Services at Luton Airport Parkway are operated by

and

mostly using and EMUs. East Midlands Railway

runs most of their services under the EMR Connect / Luton Airport Express banner, after it became an official separate brand in 2023. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to London St Pancras International * 2 tph to On Sundays only, a limited number of intercity East Midlands Railway services between and and London St Pancras International call at the station using DMUs. On Weekdays, a very limited early morning and late evening service between and Nottingham and London St Pancras International calls at the station. Thameslink The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 6 tph to of which 4 continue to * 2 tph to via * 2 tph to Three Bridges via * 2 tph to via During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from , , and . Thameslink also operate a half-hourly night service between Bedford and on Sunday to Friday nights.

Luton DART

Luton DART, a

/ automated guided people mover line, provides a five-minute transfer between Luton Airport Parkway station and Luton Airport. It operates 24 hours a day. The DART platforms are located in a terminus building above the Parkway station, connected to the main-line rail platforms via lifts and escalators and a footbridge. The DART transit was officially opened by

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

in December 2022. It opened to passengers on 10 March 2023 and has replaced the shuttle bus service. The single fare for the DART is £4.90. Rail tickets marked "Luton Airport" include the price of the DART transit. Concessions are given to Luton residents, and free travel is provided for holders of concessionary travel passes and disabled

blue badge A disabled parking permit, also known as a disabled badge, disabled placard, handicapped permit, handicapped placard, handicapped tag, and "Blue Badge" in the European Union, is a permit that is displayed upon parking a vehicle. It gives the o ...

holders, and for airport workers.

Bus services

The station is served by

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

buses A, F70, F77 and 100 between the town centre and airport from the DART's Kimpton Road exit. The main entrance is served by the more rural Centrebus routes 230, 366, 44 and 45 as well as Grant Palmer's 30. Until March 2023 a dedicated airport shuttle bus service was in operation to convey air passengers from the Parkway station to the airport terminal. The single fare was £2.40, and the return fare was £3.80. Rail tickets marked "Luton Airport" included the bus fare. The shuttle bus has now been replaced by the Luton DART light rail transit.

Station facilities

* Four platforms * Four waiting rooms * Newsagent/Cafe * Telephones * ATM * Ticket barriers * FastTicket machine * Toilets * Multistorey car park * Free 20 minute wait car park * The station participates in the Plusbus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price. It is in the same town as

and

Leagrave Leagrave is a former village and now a suburb of Luton, in the Borough of Luton, Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, in the northwest of the town. The current council ward is roughly bounded by Vincent Road, Torqu ...

stations. Luton Airport Parkway stn fast look north.jpg, The mainline platforms File:Luton Airport Parkway railway station MMB 12 222006.jpg, The mainline platforms File:Luton AP Concourse.jpg, Intermediate-level concourse adjacent to Platform 4 File:Luton DART 2023-05-08 15.45.39.jpg, The DART airport shuttle platforms File:Luton DART approaching Parkway station.jpg, Luton DART shuttle terminal

References

External links

{{authority control Railway stations in Bedfordshire DfT Category D stations Buildings and structures in Luton Railway stations opened by Railtrack Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1999 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Airport railway stations in the United Kingdom Transport in Luton/Dunstable Urban Area Luton Airport