are slots at LHR really so scarce?
To the best of my understanding, the answer is that slots at LHR are for sure scarce, but mainly in consideration of the "political" use of the runways, i.e. the alternative use of the runways either for landing or departing a/c only.
Some years ago I was in contact with a Director of VS, and he was pointing out that slots at LHR could easily be increased up to a 20% simply by using both runways simultaneously for departing and landing aircraft (VS was chasing slots at LHR like everybody). As far safety is concerned, he was also of the opinion that the proposed mixed use would not cause any additional risk to the present situation, and - actually - approaching aircraft should benefit not only from a bigger distance between them but also from an additional lateral separation. In a nutshell, he was suggesting a more flexible and intelligent use of the two rwys.
The local communities of course believe that they are better off - from the noise point of view - with the actual scheme and, unfortunately, politicians do the rest ...
Can anybody make comments on the above?