Think you miss understand my points...
Stansted circa 18,000,000 passengers in 2011
Luton circa 9,500,000 passengers in 2011
Yes Stansted has seen a decline since it's 2007 triumph, something that MAG intends to address.
Luton is seeing an increase in passenger numbers but, despite this Stansted still has double the number of passengers that Luton has.
Stansted has the infrastructure in place and is in a better position now to expand as Luton will get left behind.
All your points are valid as Luton is running at around 95% capacity and can’t expand much beyond 10 million for another couple of years then the gloves will be off as Luton will be looking at Stansted for passenger growth while Stansted will be looking at Luton and Southend for its extra passengers.
As Aer Arran found out with its Waterford route you can kill a route by switching airports if the passengers don’t want to go.
None of your points matter you still don't understand that even if one train a day stopped at Southend airport it would be twice as many as Luton airport.
* Luton Airport does not have a direct rail link or a train station *
No doubt about it Luton could do with a railway station by the terminal but 2.3 million people still used it in 2011. With a journey time as little as 22 minutes non-stop Luton is looking to increase the frequency of these non stop trains.
no doubt once MAG entice airlines away from Luton the margin will increase
Stansted built its success from cross subsidies from Heathrow. No doubt the profits from Manchester will once again subsidies Stansted. Stansted is an airport that has never been successful when it has had to stand alone.
Don't ruin your point by over-egging it, LTNman. The first train from Liverpool Street arrives at Southend Airport at 6.31 a.m. and the last train leaves SEN at 11.05 p.m. Only three flights are affected by this.
Thought Easyjet only had 3 aircraft based at Southend or is that 4 now.
First train of the day in reality means any passenger catching a departure before 8am is pushing their luck. Any passenger arriving at Southend after 22:15 is also pushing their luck to catch the train.
It could be worse as there is a night time ban at Southend so aircraft are limited to when they can use Southend but even so the train is not an option for many passengers.