Originally Posted by
Skipness One Echo
There's a commercially solvent alternative nearby in this case, in the same way like DSA/MME/PIK were to close, the market wouldn't be impacted much if at all.
LHR is another dimension, and I might remind you it was built by the taxpayer.
So not much impact for people and goods that have to travel extra distances to other airports is fine for the regions but not acceptable for the south east where the Thames Estuary or Manston were far too far away to contemplate as Heathrow alternatives. It is a pity all of this wasn't resolved in the 1960s when the third London Airport was scuppered by Nimbyism, well before the term was invented.
I totally agree that the effects of HAL's plan for Heathrow on regional airports and their hinterlands needs a thread of its own as it is possibly one of the most important topics facing the industry in the UK at present and for the foreseeable future. If the mods could open this and transfer the relevant posts those who don't want to read the arguments won't have to.