Regional airports are fine things. Hubs are hubs (and quite often crappy things as a consequence). A country the size of the UK doesn’t have the demand, or the huge distances between population centres, needed to sustain/justify more than one or two hubs. The regional airports have spare capacity. There is a reason for that.
Luton isn’t that bad, location-wise, but it would need:
another 2-3 runways (should be room to the south)
a faster train into London
a connection to the NE line for getting to Leeds, and similar for Brum and Manchester
massive infrastructure upgrades as befits such an airport
Unfortunately, the way airports are owned and run makes it all very complicated. They try to promote competition, but then everyone says we need a ‘hub’, which means we don’t want too much competition!
Heathrow is the obvious right answer, as we’re in a world of wrong.
I could have mentioned the 3 hour delay at Heathrow T5 because the fucking train that takes you to baggage control broke down or the two EasyJet flights that were cancelled at Luton or being trapped at a car park for two hours at Stanstead. All the “London” airports are utter shite compared to elsewhere in the country.
I would rather drive to Glasgow and fly from there anyday.
With Crossrail nearing completion the South East needs another huge injection of infrastructure spending while everywhere else continues to be neglected.
Good for the up-and-down market, but punters who want to go backwards and forwards or side-to-side won’t find it much use. And the cable has to be made of a kryptonite/unobtainium alloy. Otherwise it’s a brilliant idea.