Interesting....
Have to say, this is a tough one.
Firstly, you may need to pass me the medicine bottle because I do have some sympathy for the Beafer view on additional public money. An ethical question should be had about public money being plied into the pockets of wealthy organisations.
In addition, if £500k was the only difference needed to turn an iffy business proposal into a good one, then you would expect that a savvy business man like Whittaker to put the money in? After all the deal is good or bad regardless of whether we use public funds right?
I would suggest therefore that if the Mayor wins this argument and the money isn't stumped up, and the flights don't come, then it probably wasn't a sustainable, money making business proposition. Maybe, just maybe, once the money dried up and the new holiday flights were running under their own steam/economics, the airline would have left or Peel would have kicked them out again.
If I am wrong and £500k is the real difference between success and failure, then surely someone other than the council can make this happen right? Is that the best use of public money?
Now, putting the Beafer pills aside, the fact that we are finally talking holiday flights again is fantastic. When flights were pulled before, they were 'w' rotations. If something has changed, then maybe we are talking about a summer base? And wouldn't it be great if it was a right sized aircraft, say from FlyBe, with tour operators selling seats on it as well as Flybe selling their own seats. That way it's sustainable and not a potentially low yielding 737.
Have to say exciting news...let's just hope the money people and the decision makers make the right choices, be that council money or otherwise!
Last edited by P330; 15th Feb 2018 at 08:45.