Agreed. Slot restriction is the answer to make sure that this wouldn't happen again but that still leaves us with a 2 runway airport which is handling 3 runway traffic. The fact that we are manageing to shift it off just 2 runways is testament to the prople who do it. (Personally I think we should have been more willing in years gone by to say "no". It is only our willingness to say "yes" that has got us here.)
We did have distribution rules but the government relaxed them back in 1990 (ish) on the grounds of open and fair trade. That would have been a perfectly reasonable decision had there been sufficient growth capacity where it was wanted. It is certainly a fair argument that we are a small island and don't have the room for a huge airports but that is not my point.
My point is that whatever the ideal might be, given that we find ourselves in these circumstances we have to do something about it, now. If they aren't prepared to reduce the number of current slots then they have to build another runway.
Point 4
