Having read the report in full I have to say it is a solid piece of work and the commission should be congratulated on it.
There is no doubt that building an extra runway at LHR would result in a number of current services moving from LGW to LHR, having said that I still think that building an extra runway at LGW would be prudent if it can find the funding to do so, the report points out that extra capacity at LHR will only create a temporary ease in LGW demand.
easyJet will not depart en mass from LGW & Norwegian would not be able to move its long haul operation to LHR because even an expanded LHR would not be able to handle its LGW to Europe flights many of which offer long haul connections.
The choices open to the Government are fairly limited to 1) do nothing....2) go against the recommendations and approve LGW 3) approve LHR R3. The politics favour option 2, I think all now recognise that doing nothing is not an option and hasn't been for the past decade.
Labour have already said they will support the Government on LHR R3, they would love to see Boris, Zac & Greening resign, but these are all safe Conservative seats, Zac will have to stand down anyway if he wins the London Mayoral roll, Greening is getting very used to jetting around the world anyway and Boris will damage his own standing should he spit his dummy out on this one.
George Osbourne and the business secretary are very pro R3, there maybe some hints in todays budget