LHR27C
This means the max capacity LHR will be legally allowed is 83% - so it will massively reduce holding times both airborne and on the ground.
I take your statement in the good faith in which it was posted but if that happens, I would be surprised.
BA want lots of slots at LHR to increase destinations ... so as to empty out from LGW altogether and operate one megabase and save loadsy money. That is a fair objective for a company to have.
At the risk of repeating myself, the idea that we can still compete against the main contenders in Western Europe is laughable If R3 opened today - we would still not be able to compete. That is because the tipping point of customer understanding, acceptance, tolerance etc. was passed about ten years (arbitrary figure it was somewhere in the last 20 years.)
If R3 is ever opened it will never have the benefits being claimed for it.