I am always surprised at the number of connections onto BA domestic and European flights from Heathrow that come from non-OneWorld carriers, there are obviously plenty of off-alliance through fares that are available (as an example, the recent medical case in the press of the nurse who returned from West Africa to Glasgow, Royal Air Maroc to Heathrow and then a BA domestic leg). This routing is just not available through Gatwick.
Not really surprising, Heathrow is a major European hub airport.
Sure Gatwick has done well again for passengers, I suspect it's almost entirely driven by the shell-suit lot on Easyjet and Norwegian. Good for them. And Gatwick has managed more than half the number of passengers at Heathrow while only having half the runways, and a fraction of the widebodies.
Yes, Gatwick has done well for pax, but it's a completely different client base than that of Heathrow,
obviously.
The number of rwys isn't an issue in this context: Heathrow does better in pax numbers than CDG and FRA, for example, "while only having half the runways".
But yes, if a third runway were opened today at Heathrow both BA and Virgin, even for their so-called "leisure" destinations, would be over there tomorrow.
Gatwick's loss to Heathrow could be offset by gains from Luton and Stansted.
There's a very large proportion of higher-fare business traveller, in particular inbound from overseas, who just look for a Heathrow service - want a choice of half a dozen daily departures back home, high-tech customer in the Thames Valley, taxi/chauffeur service to Central London taking less than half a day, etc.
Indeed, and that needs to be catered for by adequate capacity at Heathrow, it helps drive the economy and trade.
We don't want these pax flying in on feeder flights from other European hub airports, or worse still, not bothering at all and just remaining in Europe.