Helen49
Its a good question
I think in terms of pax numbers Leeds have done ok, remember that not many years ago nearly 50% of pax number were from bmi of which LBA-LHR were the bulk! regional airports were never going to hang on to the valuable LHR slots, Jet2 came very much at the right time, but they got greedy and expensive, to some extent Ryanair have corrected that and despite all the friendly fares bull sh*t there isn't alot to pick between them, other than FR on time performance make Jet2 look at joke, but we all know that's down to equipment and should improve if and when Jet2 get more NG to operate year round, but the 757's are becoming a bigger problem.
The route network from Leeds is good, but big as the catchment area is its nothing compared with MAN, just glance over your shoulder at poor old MME!
No matter how much they invest it will still be on top of a windy/foggy/sometimes snowy hill with dreadful links to the nearest dual carriageway, let alone motorway
I can't see the runway being rebuilt for under £30m the airlines won't pay the pax aren't bothered, some of the local main roads are far worse.
The real moneyed business man just goes to the South-side or over the hill to join an EK flight
On balance i think Leeds has done ok, but low cost is where the volume is and retail is a volume business