Sorry but I really do have to respond to this "spotter jibe".
This isnt a forum for playground observations.
I have an active interest in Manchester Airport, and indeed politics and its wider impact on the economy , particularly the one covering the North of England. I also run a business based in Cheshire, it's 25 minutes door to door from the warehouse complex at Manchester Airport but when I examine goods in our warehouse they haven't arrived via Manchester they have airways billl's from the forwarder marked East Midlands and London Stansted. Hence my interest.
Having had 3 or so years of the Northern Powerhouse we are currently in quote "levelling up mode" , ho, ho ,ho, we will see whether that bares fruit or is an empty vessel......yet again.
Some actual spades in the ground rather than review after review would be good. I digress.
If we assume there will indeed be Government investment in infrastructure projects across Northern England the vast majority of that would surely be aimed at an area which encompasses the 22m population who reside within 2 hours of Manchester Airport. It is /was the natural long haul and European gateway for manufacturing, distribution , tourism etc. It is at the epicentre of Northern England surrounded by Liverpool, Leeds/Bradford and Sheffield, 3 of the largest cities outside London notwithstanding Manchester/Salford, if there is to be a reset of the UK economy Manchester Airport is absolutely vital in that jigsaw, and that includes the movement of "just in time" parts and materials. Manchester Airport underpins that critical mass in terms of delivery.
Before Covid Manchester had upwards of 600 movements per day with 000s of tonnes of freight carried underbelly, multiple services around the world provided the direct import/export access that companies in the North required. As passengers have evaporated so have the routes and services, direct flights and vital connectivity have disappeared.
30m passengers were in effect providing a vital indirect bonus in terms of masses of cargo capacity carried below deck. Manufacturing, Aerospace, Pharmaceuticals, Textiles still want those goods but with no services how are they sourced ?
The Strait Times is the equivalent of the FT for Singapore, last week with the imposition of restrictions at the Channel Tunnel the Communications Manager at Luthansa was quoted as saying they would maintain cargo flights to Heathrow, Manchester and indeed Edinburgh using 777Fs if need be.
Lets consider Manchester within that equation. It was in my view a given that Lufthansa management had a "perception" that Manchester was the "big airport" for the North, the one with the manpower, capacity, logistics and capability to handle pure frieght on perhaps a daily basis. Sadly I cannot speak German but I suspect there would be hearty laughter if one was to suggest Doncaster was more capable than Manchester and yet 2 days later that is exactly what happened.
Let's be clear Manchester is a major operation for Lufthansa, Manchester has the largest customer base outside London and one of the largest in Europe, is it inconceivable that they would not alight on Manchester as the first port of enquiry for direct cargo flights ?
Maybe they were offered EMA as a standard alternative and refused, maybe the cargo manager at Doncaster monitoring the fact that Etihad and Qatar had also shifted to Doncaster saw an opportunity and picked up the phone.
Whichever way you look at this it is to say the least baffling that three of Manchester's largest customers did not choose what to many outside the perimeter looking on , would be the Norths natural gateway, an airport where you "already" have a sizeable daily operation ?
At the end of 2019 Manchester was full, I understand why at that time MAG were being prudent in sending enquiries to EMA. But we are in a different world, it could be years before 30m is seen again but as the economy picks up, there may well be a necessity for direct airport to airport pure cargo flights and simply diverting those enquiries to EMA is clearly not working.
We don't know if Etihad, Qatar and Lufthansa initially considered Manchester flights, nor do we know if there was an attempt to switch sell to EMA. It might be presumptuous nay pompus to suggest Manchester was even in there thoughts, this is all open to conjecture, but the fact these flights now operate from Doncaster offering up the possibility they didn't even consider Manchester as the first "go to" option is perhaps even more damming is it not ?
Instead they chose another airport outside the group and on that basis the business philosophy is a spectacular fail.
Who within the board is looking at this failure, because a failure it most definitely is.
I cannot believe that those airlines who we count as amongst MANs best , most active , and most loyal customers didn't consider MAN as the 1st choice, its simply not plausible. What did they do stick a pin on a map and say "hey we have multiple service into Manchester, it's our largest base after Heathrow , one of our busiest in Europe but I know, we will go to Doncaster instead ?
It beggars belief.
I suspect MAG would say well none of this matters there is no money in cargo, I would disagree. Many passenger airlines have switched mindset in this crisis to pure cargo operation , even though they are not cargo airlines as such.
AA and Korean have even taken out seats to increase cargo uplift. TUI are currently running freight flights between Detroit and Germany. Airlines, the freight forwarders Warehousing and presumably some airports all make good revenue but apparently when it comes to Manchester there is no money in it ? I do wonder if like parking aircraft they base figures on 2019 prices whilst everyone else is charging eye watering premiums and to coin a phrase making a fast buck.
I do wonder if enquiries to Manchester are met with a flat refusal rather than a "ok, let's examine how much can we charge", "how can we make money like everyone else".
Manchester's first obligation is to its shareholders but surely there is also an holistic approach to the wider economy ?
Over the years I have seen numerous lobbying by the airport to MPs and via the press where MAG management have demonstrated how vital the airport is to the lifeblood of the North of England. It's not a two way stretch, you cannot indicate one day how critical you are to the UK economy and whilst at the sametime decapitate a major aspect of the service you provide by either artificially diverting revenue opportunities and employment to another airport in the East Midlands, or in the case of Doncaster failing to compete at all.
We expect competition from Heathrow, but Doncaster ?
Come on Manchester, you are better than this.