Has anyone considered.............
The BZZ/LYE discussion will continue, but imagine a simple but realistic scenario as follows..... An 'aircraft' departs BZZ (LYE now closed) with such freight as to be 'EXTREMELY MILITARY'. We are servicing a war zone so you know exactly what sort of freight we are talking about !! Soon as airborne there are many failures to a/c systems that could necessitate a RTB situation. BZZ closed because of weather ! I now wonder where this a/c will be accepted by a civilian authority, who will be there to meet it and above all, what security will be available at short notice. This is only one straight forward event that is realistic and could happen quite easily. Don't , by the way, forget the other a/c with 40 x theatre ready troops and 3 x pallets of mail that end up in Newcastle or Prestwick at short notice . I'm sure the MOD have exhausted themselves in laying out Contigency Plans for such obvious events.
Only two outbounds.........a quiet day. Just now think about the hyperthetical six inbounds to BZZ(closed due same problem) arriving from all our various theatres we have stuck our unwanted fingers into and lets decide at short notice where they are going to land. The crews and pax at 3 a.m. will be beside themselves with delight to find they have hours of frustration and upset before anything can be organised. Not due to lack of organisation, but because again in its short sightednes, the MOD have slashed manning levels of trained staff to deal with these scenarios.
Summary: Simple but feasable story leaves us with 8 assorted a/c around U.K. out of position, unable to fill their next schedule, crews out of place, and costs etc.etc. all in one day. How long to put these cracked/broken eggs back into their one basket at BZZ ?