DJ6,
Sorry, we were unashamedly wallowing in nostalgia! I think in days passed there was a far greater variety of aircraft types, and operators were more transient than at present.
I'm afraid the story of Luton Airport isn't of past glories, but of missed opportunities, mainly down to Council ownership. The visionaries who invested in a municipal aerodrome in 1938 would be impressed by what is there now, but if they had seen it develop, and watched aviation developments in the country at large, they would turn in their graves.
The blundering politicians who currently inhabit the Town Hall are again missing out due to their short-sighted parochialism. The current debate about additional runway capacity in the south-east should include a second runway at Luton, but LBC has ruled that out because they don't own the land on which it would be built. Hence no-one is considering the possibility of a 26L/08R built a few hundred yards south of the current strip, possibly with a terminal between.
Over the years, various plans have been brought forward for serious development (since the Snow Report in ?1969), but none has found favour with the owners. Apart from bringing additional wealth to the town for which they have responsibility, a major development would be in the national interest, and create jobs at a time when unemployment is high. Luton is also situated where the airlines want to be, after Heathrow and Gatwick. It has always suffered from lack of investment causing lack of capacity.
Not much is going to happen in the near future, as LTNman says, until the ownership of Abertis is resolved. However, if planning permission for the latest proposals was sought pre-emptively by LLAOL Ltd, the enterprise value would be enhanced to their benefit.
Onwards and upwards!