Sadly the airspace will provide the capacity that the airport is unlikely to be able to accommodate in 2009?
The proposed airspace changes are not only aimed at improving the situation for Luton. The main purpose is to completely separate Luton's & Stansted's inbound flights so that they don't all end up holding in the same area, so enabling Stansted to expand in line with the government's policy, and to completely separate a number of Luton's & London City's outbound routes so these flights don't all converge in the Brookmans Park area. The other main purpose is to provide a 'new' route from the north of England, Scotland & N Ireland for flights coming into London City, Luton, Southend and Stansted - the airspace equivalent of wideneing the M1. All this is in line with the responsibility put on NATS to provide any necessary additional airspace capacity in line with the government's airport development policy.
So these airspace changes, subject to the usual consultations and discussions, and the CAA's approval will take place irrespective of whether or not LLAO and the local Council can sort things out and agree development that will allow Luton to benefit from the airspace changes.