Rutan,
I have no beef with Manchester at all. If a LH service can be viable from there then that's good.
I did however spend most of my life in Yorkshire and if I wanted to fly then it meant driving or getting the train to Manchester and paying a premium on the flight. Things have improved with the likes of Jet2 and others and the med & Greek Islands are just a short taxi ride to a smaller regional airport. This has led to more travel and the growth of LBA as a result. Other friends further afield in York and North Yorkshire find Manchester even more inconvenient.
I do feel that a more regular shuttle service that goes into a dedicated part of LHR with a service won't be cancelled at the drop of a hat will both further improve the range of flights on offer from the regional's and help grow these airports as a result. A win win for the people who live close to Leeds Bradford, Humberside, Durham, Doncaster and others.
My problem is not with Manchester Airport or it's owners. It is with the airports supporters who live nearby, expecting others to travel long distances to use the airport so that they can enjoy more direct flights.It is with these people trying to deny the regional's a good shuttle to the UK's leading airport and all the destinations it offers. There is no doubt that a large number of the detractors on this thread are both based in the MAN area and frequent posters on the MAN thread.
An area like MAN will easily be able to support a direct flight to Orlando, Dubai, New York and a host of other major cities. It will not however be able to fill a flight to other smaller cities that are viable from LHR.
Regarding Crossrail, BAA as they were then agreed to pay £230m towards Crossrail. This was when the third runway original plan had been given the go ahead. Once the government backtracked and started talking about Gatwick instead the funding was withdrawn as BAA's figures were all based on the expanded airport. Hardly surprising when you look at the millions BAA/HAL must have spent on this ongoing saga.
would it be that its Manchester at the heart of the NPH that’s your problem rather than Leeds ?
Not at all, I am all for it. I do not however see it as a solution for getting most of the north into Manchester Airport. It is more about connecting the major city centres.
Add HS2, NPH Corssrail and a Heathrow Hub together however and you get great connectivity and world class infrastructure through some of the most productive areas of the UK to/from a large part of the globe.