However, the plan has been shelved for the next 5 years, due no doubt to the decline in Stansted Airport passengers.
Did it not occur to them that the decline in passengers may be a bottomless pit if they don't start making the airport more attractive for people using public transport?
It's all well and good waiting 5 years....by which point I doubt we'll see any major improvements in the passenger numbers at STN and then they'll put it off again!
I fully understand the merits of STN for anyone living north of Stansted, because the driving options are fairly good and there are a lack of other decent airport options until you get to EMA. However, that catchment area is pretty much a finite resource, there's only so far people will drive before the costs of petrol and parking add up to more than the additional cost of a flight from a regional airport. I think that the real question is how are they going to tempt more foreign passengers in to using it as a viable London airport, with such a slow creaking railway line and return tickets now over £30?