...and what if LHR does not get its RWs where then ?
AMS, CDG, FRA.
Is it not better to focus on a secondary UK airport no matter how flaky you consider its credentials ?
Countries want to do business with London and indeed the UK plc !
Indeed it is, but it doesn't always work that way. Is there enough premium business and cargo to support direct long haul flights? If not, carriers will funnel pax thru their hubs.
I don't necessarily buy into this idea that everybody will migrate to Amsterdam, Paris etc if airlines cannot get into LHR, some will, but surely others will look at other opportunities, we are trading nation and countries will look for opportunities, if that mean flying 200 miles North to access a market ...they will !
You should, because that is what happens, as the LGW boys will tell you.
Under normal circumstances, no one would fly to MAN if their final destination is in the South. They will travel via their chosen carrier's hub and then take a connecting flight to their final UK destination. Why do you think that 20+ UK airports are connected to AMS?
If we didn't have this stupid unresolved capacity crunch at LHR, it would also be connected to 20+ UK airports.
Manchester connects 18 UK domestic points LHR now only12, it is equidistant to Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and indeed Liverpool by car, if you want to bring wealth to the North is there not therefore an argument that MAN is as vital as LHR for UK trade or does that not count ?
No,
it's worse than that: LHR is connected to just 7 UK airports: ABZ, BHD, EDI, GLA, LBA, MAN and NCL.
Yes, of course there is an argument, and would love to see it happen, but you cannot force or direct carriers to go MAN. The conditions for them to be able to make money on the route have to be there. Is it?
What's the point in serving LHR "The Hub" if that hub does not then connect the rest of the UK and you cannot get to the City where you are doing business ?
Because LHR generates more premium business then the rest of the UK airports put together. This premium business requires frequency which LHR provides. In fact the overall number of destinations at LHR is reduced to provide that level of frequency.
With the exception of some thinner routes, LHR also provides a wealth of connections that other UK airports cannot (except on non-trunk UK domestic routes where it's needed).