sat1, check back to 1991 and the exodus of airlines to the BAA's white elephant.
Passengers flying from Heathrow were directly subsidising airlines and their passengers from Stansted. Without the subsidies, the terminal at Stansted would have had more use as a greenhouse than as London's third airport.
The tide has finally turned, without runway 2 Stansted is doomed toward negative growth. The BAA are no longer in the position of being able to cross subsidise the loss maker in Essex, so the only way to make Stansted pay is for the airlines to cough up more, so they move to Luton or Stansted. Norwegian are yet another airline vacating London's 3rd airport, they won't be the last.
Stansted will only have a real value if it can be sold with planning permission for the second runway, without it, the elephant is not only white but dying a slow death!