SWBKCK
1. I understand the view its the victor who writes history, but actions speak louder than words. I agree what is said may sound similar when taken as just words.
Peel made promises that were never kept, the Mayor is making good on his promises. At the end of the day I am under no illusion that if the airport isnt viable then it will be closed/mothballed or turned into a purely GA field.
Balkans yes, but did Peel get the 2nd weekly flight or was that the airports as now?
Plus i think everyone knows TUI are coming back in 2022 and not this year...... I take you are referring to the report that states the airport is on track? They themselves know this and so the report is still valid.
2. Yes Logan and Eastern is strange.
I dont believe the commercial risk at the time of launch was purely Easterns, I'm sure there were press releases stating as much! How that commerical agreement reads is anyones guess. Giving money and commercial risk are slightly different things. As such I stand by the statement that the Mayor maybe right in that they arent handing money over!
The LCY and LHR I think should be view as it is, an opportunity to bring LHR back to MME. I think we can all agree in COVID MME was never going to support 2 London destinations. The fact is COVID provided an opportunity for the LHR and they took it at short notice. I suspect in the hope of gaining the slots long term! Quite simply it's a commercial opportunity and brave decision that may or may not work. Yes interline/ or codeshare would of helped but it was I believe a fast paced commercial decision, so I'm hoping that would of come later. Was it purely Eastern idea who knows but if they gained the slots and grandfather rights then it was worth the gamble.
3. Well what else are you going to spend it on? They are creating work in times when there is little. Much better to spend it on creating jobs and keeping business afloat so they can pay taxes back into the system than to give a company £10,000 grant that will just disappear, I know that it will be used to pay bills etc and come back eventually but more does get lost along the way or leaves the area!
You wouldn't want a situation where by you are scrambling to do the work if (big) Ryanair promised 4 based aircraft from June. At least this way you are ready.
On a side note is it not wise to do the work now and have as little disruption as possible when we have some normality?
The other problem with the taxpayer money question is (and I maybe wrong) i believe the airport has the money already allocated and some of it (a good chunk) is coming from commercial borrowing as well. So the money has in effect been already allocated.
To get that back will be difficult and not only that but have you tried taking money back from any department in any organisation back into the central fund?
The money would only be handed back to the Mayor as well! It's his and his departments choice on what to do with it ultimately. Central Government are extremely unlikely to ask for it back too if that is what ultimately Highwideandugly wants.
4. Don't know!