The only advantage at LBIA is its proximity to its customers, oh and apparently Mr Hallwood!
It is badly located at 680 odd feet above sea level with all the attendant low visibility problems; has a crosswind runway; is probably the most difficult airport in the UK to access by road; has little chance of major road improvements or a viable rail connection and has hardly a scrap of level ground anywhere on the site! A nightmare for operator's, pilots, travellers and developers!
For these reasons LBIA will always have to work harder than its competitors in order to attract business. It will always be attempting to make the best of a bad job and every attempt will be a costly battle! All the major developments have been opposed by the locals [residents/politicians] eg. construction of runway 15/33 in the 60's; runway extension [took donkey's years]; night flying; terminal extensions to mention but a few! Moreover, so far the current owners have proved almost as inept as the previous owners.
Let's hope that the optimism of some of the contributors to this thread is well founded.
Helen