Couldn't agree more with the above comments on air bridges...
Even Bristol which is primarily a LCC airport, with easyJet and Ryanair having large bases at the airport, is currently installing air-bridges and a preboarding zone for six gates. They make it clear in the marketing material this will accommodate the latest generation twin engined wide-bodied aircraft.
If only LTN had a little aspiration like BRS!
On the other hand though, if you fly through Birmingham the old Eurohub building seems to have half of its airbridges all sitting unused, with only FlyBE's Embraer 175/195's using them. I remember boarding a flight a year or two ago, and you walk down the airbridge to be greeted by some steps at the end , to only walk down to the apron, to board the flight via steps. So maybe I am now contracting myself, and this is the reason why the airport has no interest in air-bridges.
Anyway back to my grumbling, to me this expansion at Luton is like, what is the minimum we need to do and spend to expand the airport to 18 million? This £110 million figure is driving me crazy and how it keeps getting banded about in their press coverage.
This figure is a drop in the ocean, compared to the investments made by other airports, to upgrade their facilities. With all the recent cutbacks we have seen in the recent drawings, compared to the ones used 12-18 months ago, it is questionable if this £110 million is now the true figure being invested?
Even though the airport markets the expansion to handle 18 million, I would be incredibly surprised, any future expansion would not commence until the airport is at the 20 million mark.
I am sure I am not going loopy here, but I am sure the current facilities before the expansion commenced, were only designed to handle 10 million. But miraculously the airport then said the current facilities were designed to handle around 12 million.