Come on Shed, time to amend SYD to MAN 😉 on the old profile.
Absolutely - rumbled that several months ago.
But you assume too much. I have around 25 years of shiftworking experience at MAN
No doubt as part of a handling agent or perhaps airfield ops or terminal management?
The focus that Manchester had on itself for about 40 years from 1960-2000 was diluted as soon as MAG was formed and even further diluted when some of the shareholding was sold off to investment companies. When it was Manchester on its own, there was a lot of civic pride in the place and many decisions taken at that time, particularly on infrastructure, were taken with a view to the long term future and quite possibly would not stack up nowadays. Business cases were much more rudimentary in those days but risks were taken (yes by the local council) which provided the foundation of what the place is today.
Manchester's voice was well respected in the worldwide airports community and eventually in Whitehall. There was a concensus of local politicians of all colours that the Airport was an important factor in the North West economy. The place was highly successful and staff were buzzing and prepared to go the extra mile. It was a relatively small place and relationships between the teams from the different organisations that made the place tick were pretty good - there were always disagreements of course but solutions to most were hammered out and worked quite well.
With the advent of the low cost carriers things started to change. Manchester was perceived as a high cost airport by then and I was told as much by a large airline owner personally when I met him at a meeting. With changes in management and much more of a focus on costs, attitudes changed, relationships became strained and the pride in the job started to disappear.
I'll take my rose tinted spectacles off now...
The airport business environment nowadays is light years apart from what it was even 15 years ago. It's so sad to see all the reports of "no can do" nowadays rather than the positive attitudes of the past.
I suspect that none of the appeals to Mr Cornish or Ms Smart on here will cut any ice, however well argued and, assuming someone at MAN is monitoring this site, they will probably not be passed on. If you send the comments to them direct, you might get a reply? The opinions of people on a specialist internet forum about how to run the business don't really count - none of us can see the total picture that the Board are looking at.