The point is eggc that if the playing field is made more level than it is at present (heavily in MANs favour) then LBA becomes the better placed airport [geographically]. A hub airport in West Yorks is better placed for East Yorkshire, North East and South Yorkshire passengers and yet still remains close to Liverpool and Manchester. People from Newcastle would prefer to catch a train to LBA rather than costlier and longer distance Manchester. Newcastle's catchment is considerably less than LBAs. With better internal West Yorkshire connection to the airport Leeds would do what Manchester has been helped to do for years ie pulling some passengers from all areas. Basically Leeds has a bigger 2 hour catchment than Manchester but is never considered because of the last 15 miles. Change that and you change the game. Grow the passengers and then you can grow the infrastructure of even the most difficult airports like LBA.