Luton Airport arrivals today

Today’s arrivals at London Luton Airport are all on the live board below: scheduled time, estimated time, airline, origin and current status for every flight landing at Luton today, updated continuously until the aircraft is on the ground. It is the quickest way to check Luton flight arrivals before you leave to meet someone, and the surest way to watch how a delay is developing.

Picking someone up: drop-off charges, parking and the trains

Luton is a single-terminal airport, which keeps collecting someone simple: every passenger comes through the same arrivals hall, whichever airline they flew. From touchdown to that hall usually takes 15 to 35 minutes, depending on where the aircraft parks and how busy passport control and the baggage belts are.

The question we are asked most often is what stopping at the kerb costs. There is no free stopping at the terminal itself: the Drop Off and Pick Up Zone, a 5-minute walk from the doors, charges £9 for the first 12 minutes and £1 for every minute after that, up to a maximum stay of 30 minutes. There are no barriers; cameras read your number plate and you pay online by midnight the following day. The cheaper habit is the Long Stay car park, which gives every vehicle 2 free hours and a shuttle bus to the terminal every 20 minutes, a ride of about 10 minutes. Watch this board from there, and only drive round to the zone once the flight shows Landed. Charges do change, so believe the signs on the day.

Coming by public transport, the route is Luton Airport Parkway station and the DART shuttle up to the terminal. Thameslink and East Midlands Railway trains link Parkway with London St Pancras in roughly 25 to 40 minutes, and the Green Line 757 coach and National Express services run between the airport and central London through the night, when the trains have stopped.

Reading the board, and following the aircraft in

The column to trust is the estimated time, not the scheduled one. Scheduled is what the timetable promised this morning; the estimate follows the actual aircraft and is recalculated all the way in, so a Wizz Air service can push back from Bucharest 20 minutes late and still land at Luton close to its slot. On a normal afternoon most of the board runs within a quarter of an hour of schedule; when several estimates start slipping together, it usually means Luton’s single runway is working through a queue, and a few minutes get added to everything at the back of it.

The status column shows when a flight is Boarding at its origin, Departed, Expected or Landed. If a status word is not enough, take the flight number from the board and put it into the live flight radar on our homepage to find the aircraft in the air. Better still, open the Luton flight radar page, where you can watch inbound traffic descend over the Chilterns and turn onto final approach, which is the most reliable answer there is to the question “where are they now?”.

easyJet’s home airport, and the DART

Two local facts explain most of what you will see on this board. The first is that Luton is easyJet’s home: the airline was founded here in 1995, flew its first services from Luton to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and still runs its headquarters from the bright orange hangar beside the runway. Together with Wizz Air, which keeps its main British base here, and with Ryanair, easyJet’s aircraft dominate the schedule. That shape has a practical consequence: arrivals come in waves of European returns through the afternoon and evening, each wave mirroring what the Luton Airport departures board showed a few hours earlier, and a disruption at one base airline can nudge several Luton arrivals at once.

The second is the DART, the driverless shuttle that opened in 2023 and replaced the old connecting bus. It covers the steep mile between Luton Airport Parkway station and the terminal in under 4 minutes, and the ride is included when you buy a train ticket through to Luton Airport rather than to Parkway. For anyone meeting a passenger by train, it removes the one awkward step this airport used to have. Meeting a flight in the North West instead? Our Manchester Airport arrivals board works exactly the same way.

Frequently asked questions

Is there free drop-off or pick-up at Luton Airport?

Not at the terminal itself: the Drop Off and Pick Up Zone charges £9 for the first 12 minutes. The free option is the Long Stay car park, where you can wait up to 2 hours at no charge and ride the shuttle bus round, which makes it the sensible place to sit until the board shows Landed.

How long after landing before passengers come through?

Anywhere from a quarter of an hour to a little over half an hour. Passengers with hand luggage only, on a flight parked close to the terminal, appear quickest; a full aircraft on a remote stand at a busy moment takes longest.

Why does the estimated time for a Luton arrival keep changing?

Because it is live: the estimate follows the actual aircraft, so it shifts with a late departure or headwinds en route. Closer in, Luton’s single runway plays a part too, since arrivals and departures take it in turn and a busy wave can add a few final minutes. The number settles as the flight nears the airport.

Which airlines fly into Luton?

easyJet and Wizz Air carry most of the traffic, joined by Ryanair and TUI Airways, with a long list of European destinations behind them. Luton is also one of Britain’s busiest business jet airports, but those flights appear on the radar rather than on this board.