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Recliner[_2_] · September 3rd 14, 01:36 AM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
In article
,
(Recliner) wrote:

wrote:
In article , (Robin)
wrote:

How many airports does each of those cities have? As a reference
point London has:

From what you count as London I'd say Paris has Orly, Beauvais-Tillé,
Le Bourget Charles de Gaulle, and Châlons Vatry.

Ask EasyJet or Ryan Air and you'll get a very different answer from
that you'd get from the senior managers of a global business But
I suggest you ask such managers what they think makes for a potential
regional[1] business base before you expect them to count Gatwick etc
in thr mix.

[1] Regional on the scale of eg Europe, Europe + Asia etc

They aren't being very rational then. The time to Gatwick from
central London is as good as that to Heathrow, especially if you
don't pay the extortionate fares on Heathrow Express.

Many Heathrow passengers come from locations other than Central London. I
live in West London, and Heathrow is far more convenient than any other
airport. Gatwick is only good for people near Victoria or Thameslink
stations.

Not so. Gatwick is as convenient to get to and from as Heathrow for us in
Cambridge.

But presumably Stansted is far better than either? Isn't Heathrow quicker
to access than Gatwick today? Of course, after the Thameslink project is
finally complete, Gatwick should be more convenient, though Heathrow will
be quicker, via a change to Crossrail at Farringdon.

I must admit I'm surprised by how relatively unpopular Gatwick is compared
to Heathrow, given that it's located in a prosperous area between London
and Brighton, and has both good rail and road links. Heathrow isn't a
better airport to fly through, so it must be the magnetic attraction of a
hub airport.

My imminent next trip puts both to the test: LHR T5 to Hamburg, returning
via Venice to Gatwick North. The following trip is from Heathrow to Bilbao,
but I have to use a rare Heathrow LCC as BA and Iberia don't fly to Bilbao.
The next two trips suffer through the UK's lack of a large hub airport, as
I have to fly via Amsterdam to Quito, and then via Bangkok to Yangon. I'll
try and ensure that my first 2015 trip uses direct flights from Heathrow.