Shed-on-pole, given MAN has proportionally more legacy short haul, legacy long haul AND massively more ME3 by proportion than easyJet *dominated* Gatwick, not sure blaming price conscious consumers cuts it with me. It's not as if operators will decamp enmasse to LPL or LBA, I'd bet existing airline customers would pay more and pass it on to their passengers. Look at Toronto Pearson, one of the world's most expensive airports BUT has new facilities, good fares, a host of Westjet and Air Transat offering loco. Did they all decamp to "Toronto"-Hamilton? Er no. A slow down in growth may well occur, not the worst thing when you're playing catchup on infrastructure.
Btw is the Virgin ATL issue not the late refitting of the Upper Class Dream Suite which means they're an A330 shy?