No doubt the thought (as per usual) of those who reside by a certain M1 motorway, close to an airport with half the through-put of London's third airport and are still bitter and twisted that their airport never did and never will make the grade.
Luton might well have done, but as it was not part of the BAA empire, it was never developed via cash from passengers and airline's flying from Heathrow and Gatwick.
Considering Luton was funded by reinvesting profit and a degree of investment from the Town Hall prior to the concession, a figure of 10 million plus passengers currently is not too bad. The Town Hall also makes around 43p for every arriving and departing passenger.
Why do Ryanair only base four airframes in Bedfordshire? Quite simply Luton will not pay Ryanair for the privilege of basing more aircraft.
If runway 2 is not granted approval, Stansted will be doomed as it will have to stand on its own two feet for once and not have the luxury of passengers flying from Heathrow paying for it!
The BAA must really hope the folk of Essex don't put up too big a fight otherwise Stansted's value on the open market will be small. No wonder the BAA are going to flog it off now (or trying to).
The BAA are hugely leveraged, so I guess the days of cheap deals to fly from there are over.
I could start a list of airlines that have bailed out totally or partially which would inc Wizz, Norwegian......., but my fingers would wear out from typing!