I think terminal & arpon capacity is more of a constraint for future expansion than runway capacity.
At the moment, despite the growth in passenger numbers, there has not been a proportionate increase in ATMS - in effect, we have really just substituted BACE J41s for Jet2 737s. Big impact on passenger no's, but no real effect on the number of take off and landings. There's no inbound holding or outbound holding delays to speak of and I believe a considerable amount of additional movements could be handled before this stopped being the case.
However, with check-in, central screening and the arrivals hall already creaking at the seams, it is unlikely that the passengers these extra movements would bring could be accomodated at the moment. Things are already in train though - a temporary check-in facility (alla East Mids) is being looked at for summer 2004.
In terms of the success of Jet2 in attracting passengers, its not too much of a surprise given the size of the catchment area. As you say though, why the likes of Easy et al didn't show any interest is a surprise.
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