silverstrata
This is about having a world-standard interlining hub. Once you control the interlining hub of Northern Europe, all transport and trade heads in your direction.
Call me a doom monger but I would say that we have already lost control of that hub. It maybe that the actual numbers still show us on top but that is a lag.
Our facilities are behind many others and still falling. We all know that ANY solution will take a decade and by that time the numbers will show that we lost it between 2000 and 2010. I would go further and say that we had lost it before 2000 but that is by the by.
We retain a fair amount of trade for two reasons. Firstly, due to speaking English and the rest of Europe is improving their English all the time.
The other factor is the City of London and, for the moment, they are holding on but if we lose them (for whatever reason) there is no point in building even one more remote stand at Heathrow!
We are lucky that Schipol has not run away with the prize as KLM is now held back by AF but others will catch up and the English language alone will not save us.