I see that Stansted only reported a 5% increase in passengers for September, yet another month of single digit growth. The days of 20-30% growth are over until the second runway opens, if it is ever approved?
Seeing that Stansted handles over twice as many passengers as Luton a 5% growth there would be equivalent to around 12% here in physical passengers, which is the expected growth rate for Luton for September.
Plenty of scope now for Luton to soak up the excess growth north of the Thames! Stansted has plenty of runway capacity, but not stand availability during peak hours.
Luton also has plenty of pinch points that still need sorting out which will restrict growth in the short to medium term. Something radical is needed to get cars out of the central area not only for parking but also for picking up and dropping off passengers. One such radical idea would be to build a new terminal frontage in the mid term car park. Plenty of room here for a proper drop off area and short term parking. From here a rapid transit system would whisk passengers and meeters and greeters to the terminal proper in around 30 seconds.