Manston Airport : Possible Closure
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Mind you ... the last time Lydd was a little bit "exciting" was way back in Silver City days with their Bristol Freighters ...
One just drove the old jalopy on to the Bristol and tootled off to Le Touquet for a spot of lunch ... how civilised
One just drove the old jalopy on to the Bristol and tootled off to Le Touquet for a spot of lunch ... how civilised
Last edited by CoffmanStarter; 17th May 2014 at 12:00.
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TBH, if wasn't for the water, it would have been a lot faster to DRIVE to Le Touquet
A few years back I saw a Bristol Frightener pass over White Waltham one evening and it was..... leisurely.......... if not staid......
A few years back I saw a Bristol Frightener pass over White Waltham one evening and it was..... leisurely.......... if not staid......
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I add myself to the list of those sad to see Manston close, both from a sentimental point of view as one who has worked there and from a detatched angle as it hasn't been developed into a viable and sustainable business over the sixteen years or so since the RAF sold it to civil ownership.
My hope is that the current owners are serious in their willingness to sell it as an airfield and that we don't hear of half a dozen diggers arriving early one morning to start breaking up the hard surfaces and therefore make it unusable to anyone apart from land developers.
My hope is that the current owners are serious in their willingness to sell it as an airfield and that we don't hear of half a dozen diggers arriving early one morning to start breaking up the hard surfaces and therefore make it unusable to anyone apart from land developers.
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they're probably there today - or maybe over next Bank Holiday Weekend
There is no credible business case to keep Manston as an airfield for any owner - the returns are negative or zero
There is no credible business case to keep Manston as an airfield for any owner - the returns are negative or zero
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Latest developments ...
MONDAY, 19 MAY 2014
Manston - Time for Compulsory Purchase
North Thanet`s MP, Sir Roger Gale, is supporting calls for the compulsory purchase, by Thanet District Council, of Manston Airport.
Speaking following a weekend of discussions with local and national political leaders Sir Roger has said:
“Laura Sandys and I are of the view, which I have reason to understand is shared by the new Labour Leadership of Thanet District Council and by the Conservative Opposition, that with the closure of the airfield the best way to secure a new future for aviation at Manston will be for a Compulsory Purchase Order to be placed upon the site which has, at present, planning consent only as an airport. This is detailed in the very recent draft of the local plan so there should be little difficulty in establishing existing use and thus for the local authority to acquire and then perhaps lease out or sell on the site at a sensible price.
Clearly the Council will wish to prepare its own study of options based upon legal advice but the opinion that we have been offered is that a bid to place a CPO on the airfield would succeed and that it could be readily funded. If that is so then it ought to be possible to remove the airport from the hands of those who clearly have other objectives and to restore Manston to its rightful place as part of our airport capacity in the South East.
From the work that has already been done we have good reason to believe that those who wish to re-open the airport and have the capacity to do so have every chance of succeeding where others have seemingly chosen to fail and we hope and expect that TDC`s senior officers, acting on instructions from elected Members, will take a very robust line.
We have to dispel the impression given, arising from discussions that apparently took place with TDC officers earlier in the year, that housing is a “done deal” and that anything other than airport use is on the agenda. As Iris Johnston has made publicly clear, it is not”.
Manston - Time for Compulsory Purchase
North Thanet`s MP, Sir Roger Gale, is supporting calls for the compulsory purchase, by Thanet District Council, of Manston Airport.
Speaking following a weekend of discussions with local and national political leaders Sir Roger has said:
“Laura Sandys and I are of the view, which I have reason to understand is shared by the new Labour Leadership of Thanet District Council and by the Conservative Opposition, that with the closure of the airfield the best way to secure a new future for aviation at Manston will be for a Compulsory Purchase Order to be placed upon the site which has, at present, planning consent only as an airport. This is detailed in the very recent draft of the local plan so there should be little difficulty in establishing existing use and thus for the local authority to acquire and then perhaps lease out or sell on the site at a sensible price.
Clearly the Council will wish to prepare its own study of options based upon legal advice but the opinion that we have been offered is that a bid to place a CPO on the airfield would succeed and that it could be readily funded. If that is so then it ought to be possible to remove the airport from the hands of those who clearly have other objectives and to restore Manston to its rightful place as part of our airport capacity in the South East.
From the work that has already been done we have good reason to believe that those who wish to re-open the airport and have the capacity to do so have every chance of succeeding where others have seemingly chosen to fail and we hope and expect that TDC`s senior officers, acting on instructions from elected Members, will take a very robust line.
We have to dispel the impression given, arising from discussions that apparently took place with TDC officers earlier in the year, that housing is a “done deal” and that anything other than airport use is on the agenda. As Iris Johnston has made publicly clear, it is not”.
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It's not my part of the country, but my previous involvement with Manston was as the CAA's aerodrome (safety regulation) inspector (along with about 30 other aerodromes in the southern part of England).
The MP and TDC do not seem to have a real grasp of the costs involved in running a viable airport, nor of the relatively meagre income a low-cost operator would generate for them; and the terminal is hardly a shoppers' paradise - won't sell many socks or ties there (even if the low-cost passengers were to materialise, they are notoriously stingy in aiport retail outlets).
Maybe they should splash out on an unbiased aviation consultant first. Someone who could spell out the costs involved with providing an ATS, along with operation and maintenance of the associated comms and navigation equipment. Then the operations staff for ensuring provision of a safe operating environment, inspecting and clearing operating surfaces, keeping the wildlife at bay; properly trained apron staff (and if there is a low cost airline, the ground handlers as well, as these will generally be skimped by the LCA operator). Did I mention provision of rescue and firefighting services (dictated by the aircraft size)? A regulatory requirement that is costly but inescapable (a major firefighting vehicle with the appropriate amount of extinguishing media, and a host of other specifications, costs about £300,000 - they will need at least two for 737 sizr aircraft ops).
The costs soon mount up, and it is never really viable to try and provide the services on a part time basis. I expect the TDC studies will show that operating Manston as an aiport (with what airline and source of passengers I know not) will be a huge drain on financial resources.
Sorry to sound like a Jeremiah, but that's just the realities of the commercial airport/airline business today.
Mister B
The MP and TDC do not seem to have a real grasp of the costs involved in running a viable airport, nor of the relatively meagre income a low-cost operator would generate for them; and the terminal is hardly a shoppers' paradise - won't sell many socks or ties there (even if the low-cost passengers were to materialise, they are notoriously stingy in aiport retail outlets).
Maybe they should splash out on an unbiased aviation consultant first. Someone who could spell out the costs involved with providing an ATS, along with operation and maintenance of the associated comms and navigation equipment. Then the operations staff for ensuring provision of a safe operating environment, inspecting and clearing operating surfaces, keeping the wildlife at bay; properly trained apron staff (and if there is a low cost airline, the ground handlers as well, as these will generally be skimped by the LCA operator). Did I mention provision of rescue and firefighting services (dictated by the aircraft size)? A regulatory requirement that is costly but inescapable (a major firefighting vehicle with the appropriate amount of extinguishing media, and a host of other specifications, costs about £300,000 - they will need at least two for 737 sizr aircraft ops).
The costs soon mount up, and it is never really viable to try and provide the services on a part time basis. I expect the TDC studies will show that operating Manston as an aiport (with what airline and source of passengers I know not) will be a huge drain on financial resources.
Sorry to sound like a Jeremiah, but that's just the realities of the commercial airport/airline business today.
Mister B
The wind farm idea is actually not that far off the mark. If the present owners think builders are going to be falling over themselves to build houses at Mantson they are fooling no one. That end of Kent is a council estate.
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Noticed this in today's Daily Bellylaugh:
Manston Airport in Kent, which closed earlier this month, could become agarden city, its owner has said.
Ann Gloag, co-founder of the Stagecoach Group, bought the airport forjust £1 in October last year, but shut it on May 15 with the loss of 140 jobs,despite reportedly receiving a £5 million offer from a US firm.
The decision to reject the offer angered unions, but Ms Gloag told theTimes that talks were ongoing to secure the future of the site, with theconstruction of a garden city – including provision for thousands of homes – apossibility.
The proposal could incorporate other schemes in Thanet – one of the southern England’s least affluent regions – such as Discovery Park Kent, a business park in Sandwich.
Manston lost its final scheduled passenger flight – a KLM service to Amsterdam – in April, and had been running at a loss of £10,000 a day prior toits closure.
The site had been used by aircraft since the First World War, and RAF Manston was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain. Barnes Wallis used thebase to test his bouncing bomb, used during the Dambusters raid.
In 1989 it was renamed Kent International Airport, and in the years that followed Dan-Air, Yugoslavian carrier Aviogenex, Aspro Holidays, Irish airline EUjet, Monarch, BMI and Flybe were among the firms to operate there.
Two museums, the RAF Manston History Museum and the Spitfire and Hurricane memorial, are located on the site, which also appeared as a North Korean airbase in the 2001 Bond film Die Another Day. It was also one of a handful of UK airports with a runway large enough to accommodate Concorde, as well as the A380 "superjumbo".
Just what Kent needs - a new garden city between the jewel of the East that is Ramsgate and historical Canterbury. I guess all those migrants, asylum seekers, fruit pickers, et al, need somewhere to live.
I thought that the two museums were outside the aerodrome boundary and independent of the aerodrome operations.
Mister B
Manston Airport in Kent, which closed earlier this month, could become agarden city, its owner has said.
Ann Gloag, co-founder of the Stagecoach Group, bought the airport forjust £1 in October last year, but shut it on May 15 with the loss of 140 jobs,despite reportedly receiving a £5 million offer from a US firm.
The decision to reject the offer angered unions, but Ms Gloag told theTimes that talks were ongoing to secure the future of the site, with theconstruction of a garden city – including provision for thousands of homes – apossibility.
The proposal could incorporate other schemes in Thanet – one of the southern England’s least affluent regions – such as Discovery Park Kent, a business park in Sandwich.
Manston lost its final scheduled passenger flight – a KLM service to Amsterdam – in April, and had been running at a loss of £10,000 a day prior toits closure.
The site had been used by aircraft since the First World War, and RAF Manston was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain. Barnes Wallis used thebase to test his bouncing bomb, used during the Dambusters raid.
In 1989 it was renamed Kent International Airport, and in the years that followed Dan-Air, Yugoslavian carrier Aviogenex, Aspro Holidays, Irish airline EUjet, Monarch, BMI and Flybe were among the firms to operate there.
Two museums, the RAF Manston History Museum and the Spitfire and Hurricane memorial, are located on the site, which also appeared as a North Korean airbase in the 2001 Bond film Die Another Day. It was also one of a handful of UK airports with a runway large enough to accommodate Concorde, as well as the A380 "superjumbo".
Just what Kent needs - a new garden city between the jewel of the East that is Ramsgate and historical Canterbury. I guess all those migrants, asylum seekers, fruit pickers, et al, need somewhere to live.
I thought that the two museums were outside the aerodrome boundary and independent of the aerodrome operations.
Mister B
Maybe someone should take a look at Newquay (St Mawgan) to try and find how they operate compared to how Manston was operated; could be some lessons to be learnt.
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Chevvy
Newquay was also one of the aerodroems for which I had development and inspection oversight as a CAA aerodrome inspector.
The simple (and somewhat sanitised answer - commercial sensitivity) is that the owner, Cornwall county Council, received a large wedge of EU regional Objective One development dosh, and subsequently heavily funded (in equal measure I think) by CCC. I still have about 500 e-mails on the topic, plus a load of documents relating to construction, rehabilitation, etc.
Also, there were a few more people wanting to fly to the southwest (and it now serves Plymouth to some extent since closure of Plymouth City Airport - Roborough as was). And it doesn't actually make very much money, despite the local entry/departure "tax" levied on passengers (used to be £5, don't know if they still do it, or how much).
Mister B
Newquay was also one of the aerodroems for which I had development and inspection oversight as a CAA aerodrome inspector.
The simple (and somewhat sanitised answer - commercial sensitivity) is that the owner, Cornwall county Council, received a large wedge of EU regional Objective One development dosh, and subsequently heavily funded (in equal measure I think) by CCC. I still have about 500 e-mails on the topic, plus a load of documents relating to construction, rehabilitation, etc.
Also, there were a few more people wanting to fly to the southwest (and it now serves Plymouth to some extent since closure of Plymouth City Airport - Roborough as was). And it doesn't actually make very much money, despite the local entry/departure "tax" levied on passengers (used to be £5, don't know if they still do it, or how much).
Mister B
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Latest update ...
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T G Aviation High Court injunction bid against Manston airport owner | Thanet Gazette
Good luck Mark and Sue ...
A HIGH Court bid to serve an injunction on Manston airport's owner has been adjourned until next Friday.
Light aircraft operators TG Aviation, which was based at Manston for more than 30 years until its closure last month forced the business to move to Lydd Airport, have taken legal action in a bid to be able to continue using the runway.
Owner Mark Girdler, son of founder and former Red Arrow Ted Girdler, and his wife Sue are hoping to force the halt of any current action at the airport and gain the right to return and use the runway.
If the injunction is granted it is believed the Civil Aviation Authority will grant permission for TG Aviation’s discretionary use of the runway.
Light aircraft operators TG Aviation, which was based at Manston for more than 30 years until its closure last month forced the business to move to Lydd Airport, have taken legal action in a bid to be able to continue using the runway.
Owner Mark Girdler, son of founder and former Red Arrow Ted Girdler, and his wife Sue are hoping to force the halt of any current action at the airport and gain the right to return and use the runway.
If the injunction is granted it is believed the Civil Aviation Authority will grant permission for TG Aviation’s discretionary use of the runway.
T G Aviation High Court injunction bid against Manston airport owner | Thanet Gazette
Good luck Mark and Sue ...
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Latest update for those interested ...
The site’s owners Kent Facilities Limited – owned by Stagecoach founder Ann Gloag – are putting dozens of items under the hammer following the closure of the airport in May.
Lots include boarding steps, an aircraft de-icer, mobile baggage conveyors, Land Rovers and specialist fire engines.
Manston Ground Equipment Sale
Meanwhile TG Aviation await their return to the High Court on 9th July 2014 following an earlier adjournment (see above).
A mass auction of equipment used at Manston airport is to take place later this month.
Lots include boarding steps, an aircraft de-icer, mobile baggage conveyors, Land Rovers and specialist fire engines.
Manston Ground Equipment Sale
Meanwhile TG Aviation await their return to the High Court on 9th July 2014 following an earlier adjournment (see above).
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Sad news ... 
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TG Aviation lose High Court battle to return to Manston airport | Thanet Gazette
Originally Posted by Thanet Gazette 9th July 2014
TG Aviation has lost its High Court battle with Manston airport owners over use of the site’s runway.
The verdict was delivered this afternoon and means the flight school will not return to the airfield it had been based at for more than 30 years prior to closure.
If the injunction had been successful, TG Aviation would have been awarded full use of the runway, operating out of Manston as an unlicensed airfield.
The verdict was delivered this afternoon and means the flight school will not return to the airfield it had been based at for more than 30 years prior to closure.
If the injunction had been successful, TG Aviation would have been awarded full use of the runway, operating out of Manston as an unlicensed airfield.
TG Aviation lose High Court battle to return to Manston airport | Thanet Gazette
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The Campaigners are still fighting ...
Image Credit : BBC News (L2 Sue Girdler)
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BBC News - Manston Airport campaigners take petition to Downing St
The fight to reopen a Kent airport has been taken to Downing Street where a petition signed by more than 26,000 people was handed in by campaigners.
Image Credit : BBC News (L2 Sue Girdler)
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BBC News - Manston Airport campaigners take petition to Downing St