for once, i can actually agree with you teleparty!i`m from the southend area and family i know prefer gatwick or heathrow and to an extent stansted. But southend is not attractive enough to airlines and even handlers alike because of its size. if it was marketed as London's regional airport, which it is, then theres maybe a small chance some european regionals could operate into it. theres nothin really at southend that could appeal to tourists or even bussiness folk alike, except a delayed train station that was supposed to open in spring 2010.
Bournemouth appeals to bussiness people though. for example, JP Morgan and Barclays have huge bases in bournemouth and would benefit greatly by local domestic and international services. It could use a regional that does the basic services to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and possibly Madrid. Southampton can only increase by so much until runway capacity and terminal capacity exceeds the intended 6mppa target.while its likely that southampton will still accept the spillage from the bournemouth catchement, Bournemouth could reclaim some of it the marketing department will stop pleading themselves on the fact they have one constant hub route (Manchester), and wake up to the fact that more can be done and that they can take advantage of the oppertunities that they have.
I tell you what-if in the next 10 years they don't have any basic hub links and some regional continetal europe routes, I will do it myself