Originally Posted by
Sober Lark
If Heathrow is presently at 98% capacity, as part of the plan, couldn't some of the 37% of passengers that are in transfer and don't need to be in London or the SE transit elsewhere?
Yes; KLM and Air France would love them to transfer in Amsterdam or Paris instead. There go tens of thousands of jobs transferred over the Channel.
Then the flights that the 37% used to ride in become no longer financially worthwhile, of course, so they get cut back. Places that get just one flight a day get cut completely. Because Amsterdam and Paris now become better connected to the world than London, businesses set up their European HQ's there instead. And on it goes. If you want to turn the UK into an economic nothingness, you couldn't make a better start.
Incidentally, Heathrow is only at 98% on a benign weather day. In wintry conditions it can be at 120% or more of capacity and strings of flights have to be chopped. Not really the way to a practical transport system.