So put a second runway at Gatwick and give the capacity the south east needs. You know it makes sense
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Not necessarily, LGW is far more affected by discretionary/leisure flying than LHR thus more vulnerable to downturns in the event of worldwide viruses (e.g. covid 19, SARS, etc), oil price spikes, terrorism, etc.. Also there isn't the hub connectivity and the carrier with a huge base there is a point to point airline (U2). Carriers that want to be at LHR and cannot get slots are likely to go to CDG, FRA and AMS (while slots are still available there) for the required hub connectivity and not LGW (unless using it as a waiting room for LHR).
Developing the stand-by rwy may be a better option and the better business case.
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Originally Posted by
Asturias56 View Post
and another at Stansted ........................
Agree totally with that argument. It will bring much needed competition to the south east, make it cheaper for airlines and free up
access to slots. Heathrow wants it all and the only ones who will benefit are the airport shareholders. Airlines, passengers and people under the flight paths over London are the ones who are disadvantaged.
Fantastic, but you may not have thought this through properly. STN is nowhere near capacity, and there would be no profit/return on investment for the airport owners from a second rwy, so it is a classic example where a business case cannot be made and it will never get past the airport's shareholders, let alone the planning system, the ecowarriors, and government imposed obstacles.
You can forget about Boris Island for exactly the same reason.
As for BHX, "London-Birmingham", as LHR's third rwy and linked by HS2: (1) HS2 will never be built; and (2) it is not planned to go to LHR.
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Originally Posted by
True Blue View Post
What does this mean for Gatwick?
Hopefully this will bring about further route development and infrastructure investment in regional airport connectivity!
Don't hold your breath! Didn't LGW management wack up the charges for small aircraft a few years ago thus killing off regional connectivity at a stroke? Consequently BE pulled out of LGW leaving just its PSO route LGW-NQY until that shifted to LHR.