Aero Mad
I agree and I welcome healthy debate. Cannot see where I insulted davidjohnson6? The green mentalists yes, but I think we all need to stand up to them.
SOU and SEN literally could not be more similar. Both smallish regional airports with wealthy catchments served by their own train stations. Also both on the outskirts of London so the argument of how successful they can be given their proximity to the bigger airports in London applies to both. Arguably SOU is better placed for success as the catchment is more wealthy and being the biggest cruise turnaround port in Europe alone results in 2 million visitors. The fact that SEN attracted both of the big low cost operators after some investment and a runway extension is definitely a good example of what SOU could achieve after its works are completed. Of course with Covid hanging around for a while yet we are unlikely to see the low cost operators just yet. In my opinion they definitely will when things improve though. A pension owned company does not invest £15m without a fairly certain return. In the meantime it will greatly assist the existing regional operators with their operations. I think the q400 was the only type that could operate relatively unrestricted from SOU. All the rest were impacted I believe. Of course people see them operating from SOU and think the runway is long enough for them to operate at their full potential. The extension is not just about enabling airbus sized jets to operate. I am sure the green mentalists have no idea how noisy a Neo engine airbus is compared to the bottle rockets attached the 195s that use to operate.