Looks like they want to copy the Southend model:
RiverOak director Tony Freudmann told KentOnline: “Looking at the way the passenger market is going, we are confident we can persuade one or more low-cost carriers to base their planes here. It does not work for us if they fly in just once a day because that is not economic. If they base three or four planes at Manston, we will have rotations three or four times a day, as they have at Southend. That will cover our costs and bring passenger footfall through the terminal all day and every day.
“We will reinstate the twice daily KLM service to Amsterdam Schiphol that we had before and that will give business people in particular access to almost anywhere in the world.”
But freight services would have to be established first. “You can’t have unconditional discussions when you haven’t got a DCO,” Freudmann reportedly said. “What we do know is that [airlines] are very interested; they run feeder services from other regional airports. If you take operators like Ryanair and EasyJet, their problem is that at Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, there are no more slots between 6am and 7am. If you can’t take off before 7am, it compromises the efficiency of the day; so they base their planes at Southend; the same will be at Manston. It works very well for them because they capture the global market, particularly for business people who do not like Heathrow. We are confident it will work again. We have been in limbo. Now that is over we can resume these conversations, as well as those we have been having with cargo operators.”