Destinationsky/Adfly
Local and corporate BAA management have a history of missed opportunities. Firstly when the original airport site was being sold off it was done so in three packages, the current airport site, the area including the Post Office Building/Premier Inn etc and the northeast corner where the VOR is sited. They dismissed the Post Office building area as too expensive-where better to extend the current Terminal and apron, not build a remotely sited new one. Second time around they bought the northeast corner-compare the cost of a new Terminal there (especially duplication of services) and the logistics of transferring passengers between terminals. It will need either be a costly tunnel around the north runway end-caution for the water table and the natural gas main, or a road with traffic lights due to proximity of the runway.
During the time that the runway was being re-surfaced, with the asphalt plant on site a figure of £40K was mentioned to add the missing taxiway link at the north end of TWY "A" to intersect the runway about 400 metres south of 20 threshold. Not ideal but would have minimised the backtrack on 20, permitted most landing traffic on 02 to vacate without backtracking, remove the log-jam around TWY "B" permitting pushbacks from Stands 7-9 with traffic at the 20 hold, and permitting arrivals to get onto Stands 7-12. The good folks in ATC (run at the time by BAA) pleaded and pleaded to go ahead, money spent on other cosmetic projects in the terminal building.
The cost of a new link now? Probably in the millions? May be Flybe can sponsor it after they do their sums on what the delays cost them?