Ken Wheatley wrote:
On 2013-05-06 22:08:16 +0000, Neil Williams said:

Recliner wrote:
Why is this dramatic news? There have been many recent discussions
here and elsewhere about how Heathrow might be expanded, given the
need for a larger London hub airport and the extreme doubts about an
all-new hub airport out in the Thames estuary.
It'll also be BAA posturing given that to me the most sensible option
(expanding Stansted and closing Heathrow or at least relegating it to a
smaller operation, perhaps involving low-costs) will not exactly help their
business.
Neil

I'd be interested to hear how you consider that expanding Stansted is the
best option, given that several inquiries over several decades have
failed to come to that conclusion, and that Stansted itself is now
attracting only 80% of the business it did just a few years back..

Exactly. Heathrow is oversubscribed, while Stansted struggles for business.
The customers want more capacity at Heathrow area, not east or northeast of
London. The operator would prefer the cheaper, simpler third runway north
of the current pair, but I think a more ambitious expansion to four is a
better long term strategy.

Incidentally, I've had occasion to pass through Beijing's busy Capital
airport a couple of times in the last ten days, and it's interesting to see
how much worse it is than Heathrow, despite its grand turtle-and-dragon
Foster-designed Terminal 3, mixed mode operation on three runways: more
walking, worse signage, much longer delays to take off, only bus links
between terminals. And the free wi-fi in the business lounges is behind the
Great Firewall, so lots of web sites are blocked. You also have to register
with your passport to use the wi-fi. But at least it does have wi-fi and
business lounges, unlike Pyongyang airport which instead sports a
collection of parked elderly Russian planes.

I also prefer the Rogers' Heathrow T5 to his Barajas T4, though MAD is less
congested than LHR. The need to squash Heathrow's T5 into a limited space
has made it more efficient than the indulgent, sprawling
also-British-designed contemporaries in Beijing and Madrid.