On Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:54:06 +0000, The Other Mike
wrote:

Heathrow and the UK economy is being crippled by two runways, and the
night curfew.


If Heathrow served only passengers who were starting or completing
their journey in the UK, there would be masses of spare capacity.

The last statistics I saw were several years ago, but Heathrow had the
highest percentage of transfer passengers of any major European
airport. 70% of passengers were international travellers transferring
from one flight to another; only 30% were starting or completing their
journey in the UK.

So the overall limits on capacity at Heathrow are not the problem for
the UK economy. BAA benefits from international transfer passengers,
but the UK economy doesn't.