Originally Posted by
rpmac
I think first of all you have to realistically calculate the cost of building an airport the size of LBA, then add on all the extra costs, eg the road link from the A1, perhaps also the cost to upgrade the nearby rail station, etc etc.
Now how much to upgrade LBA? New road link, rail connection etc, extend the terminal, apron etc.
What will the difference be? Is it worth it? Would it benefit Bradford- after all it is Leeds BRADFORD airport - so how many would be lost to Manchester.
Then when Church Fenton is big enough to compete LBA may well be handling 787 aircraft to Dubai, etc.
LBA will have extreme very expensive difficulty in even growing because of the issues that everyone in aviation knows about. The runway is not long enough end of story. Of course it wont be Leeds BRADFORD airport but it will be in a position better than the current position for serving Yorkshire's catchment. Your logic I'm afraid is all to pot - Huddersfield to Tadcaster is quicker than Huddersfield to MAN. Sheffield to Tadcaster is quicker than Sheffield to LBA.
Yes Bradford loses out a little in time but Wakefield York Hull Sheffield Doncaster Rotherham Grimsby and the whole of Eastern Leeds would be quicker to Church Fenton. Then think about the ease of the journey on motorways not being stopped at traffic lights every two minutes.
Right from the beginning I could have told you that Doncaster would struggle. The M1 takes Sheffield people straight to EMA or with a bit more work LBA. Its catchment is much smaller than LBA but the main issue is finningley is too far away from West Yorkshire - it will never end the need for an airport at Yeadon whereas an established airport at Church Fenton could very easily because of the ease of getting there. An airport at Church Fenton would easily grow geographically to well serve the whole of the Yorkshire Humber and North Lincs. region.