Originally Posted by
davidjohnson6
I think you're being a bit harsh. Yes, there is decline and something will have to change. However, places like Teesside have been somehow managing to carry on going even with pax number of under 200k per year for about 10 yeas. SOU in 2018 managed about 2m pax. Yes, land values are higher around SOU than MME but with the proximity of the train station and a city on its door step in a fairly prosperous part of the UK, I imagine there's still a fairly good demand for SOU. If Flybe should go bust or Virgin choose to close down a large chunk of SOU operations, I imagine another airline will come in - who that might be I don't know, but I definitely don't see a housing estate in the next 10 years
To all posters do not feed this troll. He has copied and pasted the same post for a few years now. There is no attempt to engage in a debate or acknowledge reasonable thought. If you ignore an irritant it usually goes away.
The aviation industry is universally in a downward trend, even Ryanair are suffering and they are as economical as it gets. It does not take a genius to work out that Virgin will scale Flybe right back to the core trunk routes (until they can use it as a vehicle to feed their bases in MAN and LHR). It seemed like SOU had finally bit the bullet and realised that Investment was needed, and I personally am still reassured by the more concrete evidence that has materialised this year. I do agree that it has gone awfully quiet lately though. SOU will always exist as an airport for one very good reason, people want and need to fly from there (unlike a lot of other airports that have to pay airlines). The market is also very diverse, largest cruise turnaround port in Europe, one of the biggest container terminals, 2 large universites, various military camps near by, biggest oil refinery in the country, biggest city on the south coast etc etc etc. Everyone needs to calm down, the future will be orange as soon as the masterplan is carried out.