Originally Posted by
BearX220
The only transatlantic carrier that has bravely cultivated a bunch of secondary stations in the UK is CO, which serves LGW, BRS, BHM, MAN, GLA, and EDI I believe, but which closed STN a few years ago owing to poor performance. STN is too far from London to be a credible third LON airport, and not close enough to another major city to generate enough O/D traffic. I think there are pretty good reasons why it hasn't developed as a transat base.
1) Far is a relative term - 30 miles. I bet going into Liverpool street (where there is a lot of business it's faster to come from Stansted then Heathrow, even with Heathrow Express.
2) Stansted had over 23 million passengers last year. It's hardly chump-change, and believe me it's very "creditable."
3) CO pulled out post 9/11 when everyone was pulling out due to the downturn. The situation at EGSS since then has changed significantly. It is one of the fastest growing airports in Europe.