The criticism of the management of Luton Airport seems a little harsh to me.
Take a look at the past 10 years in passenger numbers.
2002 ... 6,486,770
2003 ... 6,797,144 +5%
2004 ... 7,535,614 +11%
2005 ... 9,147,776 +21%
2006 ... 9,425,908 +3%
2007 ... 9,927,321 +5%
2008 ... 10,180,734 +3%
2009 ... 9,120,546 -10%
2010 ... 8,738,712 -4%
2011 ... 9,513,704 +9%
2012 ... 9,617,697 +1%
Positive growth in 8 of the past 10 years with a total growth of 48.3%.
Whilst there is always room for improvement, it seems to me to be a solid and steady growth particularly when you take the economic situation into consideration.