As a freemarketeer, I reiterate that the cap is ridiculous and bureaucratic. It is ridiculous because it limits the ability of passengers to fly from/to where they want, and airlines to use the airport they choose. It is bureaucratic because it gives the decision on where flights can be offered from to the bureaucrats of Luton Borough Council, or some Government planning quango.
These people don't know best. If passengers, airlines and the airport authority are happy to allow more passengers to use the airport, why should a bunch of unelected, non-specialist bureaucrats stop them? If the airport becomes overcrowded, passengers and airlines will choose to go elsewhere, or put pressure on the airport to increase capacity.
At all times, all the participants know that operations must be safe and comply with the regulations that apply everywhere else. But setting a cap on passenger numbers is intellectually indefensible - it has no impact on noise, pollution, air or ground congestion. It merely inconveniences the "man in the street" who wants to fly.
/Rant mode off.