A full length t/way would allow twice the number of r/w movements, as well as increase safety.
Whippersnapper - I'm afraid that you're incorrect in this statement.
The current runway hourly movement rate is declared by the Airport operator LLAO at 32; air traffic control at Luton achieves and on occasions, exceeds this figure and does so with air transport and corporate aircraft movements, not light aircraft undertaking 'circuits and bumps'.
Not even Gatwick could achieve "twice the number of runway movements" from a single runway i.e. 64 per hour. The construction of full-length parallel taxiways would facilitate at best, about 46 to 48 movements per hour but the local airspace and London air traffic control infrastructure currently, just couldn't handle that sustained level of runway movements at Luton.
As for increasing safety, your comment implies that there is an element of unsafe practice at Luton owing to the need to backtrack 300 or-so metres on each runway.
This is complete and utter rubbish.
The air traffic control procedures in place at Luton are 100% safe and take account of the need to backtrack most departing aircraft ahead of arrivals. Whilst it might look tight on occasions when busy, it's no tighter than at Gatwick or at Stansted; the guys in the Tower know exactly what they're doing and are trained to finely judge things. If a departure proves to be too slow backtracking and it obviously isn't going to work out as planned, then just as at any busy airport, the landing aircraft flies a missed approach - which is a perfectly standard procedure.
As far as your idea of building on the south side of the runway, whilst in theory it's absolutely correct, the airport (currently....) doesn't own that land and even if it did, there's the issue of planning permission and the inevitable Public Enquiry which as we all know, can take years to be resolved.
I don't know if you operate out of LTN (hopefully, as you've made comment, you do).
If so, why not arrange a visit to air traffic and see for yourself how safely and efficiently things are run? E-mail me.
