Spitfire 01234
Don't concentrate too much on Heathrow....have a look at Gatwick who are the absolute masters of single runway operations. A comparison of peak Gatwick performance on a single runway far exceeds Heathrow's two runway equivalent. Airport design has a big impact on movement efficiency. Do some reading to brief yourself.....look at the UK AIP [google...then open IAIP]...find London Heathrow and look at the layout.....look at London Gatwick. Buy an anorak and go and watch how it all works. Don't laugh....that's how I started in the job.