LGS is absolutely right. If Luton had been part of the BAA it would not be the little place it is now. As a local authority run airport in the London area it didn't have the clout to get itself centre stage.
It never ceases to amaze me that the "far sighted" BAA just pour money away like water. It's not difficult to make a fortune when:
a. the Government of the day gives you a virtual monopoly, the world's most important hub - LHR, and LGW too!
b. a green light to develop your third airport which when it opened was home only to Air UK c. 300,000 pax per annum. Not bad for a £400m development.
c. a blind eye to a shady deal which allowed BAA to poach the new low cost carrier Ryanair from LTN to STN with little or no charges.
d. a planning process and cosiness that means BAA acts like it is still part of Government.
e. a white paper that effectively endorses a monopoly position and the received wisdom that only BAA has the answer.
f. cross subsidies from the airlines at LHR to allow FR and the others to operate low cost from a £1.5bn facility - although this should change this year as the CAA ERG have said no more subsidies - sorry Michael - big aeronautical charges on the way.
g. The CAA ask BAA how much will it cost - oh a billion for the toilet seats - well you can rip off all your customers and make a guaranteed return on that - no worries.
So it seems to me that our regular customers (airline passengers)at LHR are paying for all the infrastructure at STN and indeed for BA to have a nice new shiny terminal in LHR T5 (c £6bn!!!) whilst we get oldsville T3 CTA.
Given that all companies should seek to manage their cashflow it seems sensible to me that if Luton has spare capacity then why speculate needlessly. It seems stupid to build things if your not going to use them. Would you add a room on to your house for the sake of building only to use it in five years time? LTNman if it were your money you'd keep it in the bank wouldn't you until you needed to use it?
I don't know what TBI will do with its £20m at Luton but the squander bugs at BAA would probably spend that on the manhole overs on the road to T5 - oops sorry that should be £200m.
BAA in London needs competition, despite TBI Luton's valiant efforts at competing, I don't think that Goverment will let them do so effectively as the airport express steam train that is BAA, the DfT and the competition commission has left the station and is well on its way to concretising most of Essex, Middlesex and Sussex - that is lot of ....
Well you know...plus ca change. Long live competition????
AA