JET2
2 or 3 years ago I recall the minutes from a Gtr Manchester counsellor who suggested at the Manchester Airport Consultative Committee meeting,
"....why not share our aviation wealth across the region"
He was referring to traffic being artificially diverted to Liverpool away from Manchester if it "got busy", he will I suspect have been putting the garlands up today.
one wonders if he knew something ?
Jet2s decision to set up a new base down the road is in my view final confirmation if need be that the strategic management of Manchester in the last 10 years has been misguided, others may react more strongly, the handling of the transformation programme being the proverbial icing on the cake.
In 2015 the North of England was promised massive expansion, a single 35m pax capacity terminal with world class facilities, including pre clearance (now dropped) notwithstanding a pandemic it's now 2023 and progress is glacial with continuing adverse effects on day to day operations and seemingly no thought for the impact this might have on airline strategic thinking nor their operations ! Well we know what Jet2 are thinking ! Who will be next ?
(NB... worth mentioning the pandemic did not affect this timeline it was touted as a min 10 year project as far back as 2015).
Manchester has already abdicated its once superb freight offering created by one of the airports former CEOs, Gil Thompson, but now it appears worse is to come, with passenger movements also strained.
4 aircraft with high utilization has effectively provided a gift to a competitor airport 35 mins away. The CEO at Liverpool will i suspect be raising a glass to the MAG board today.
1.3m pax a year on plate without lifting a finger and of course if successful why not base more over there. If growth at Manchester remains constrained why not ? It's 1.3m pax EVERY YEAR and who knows, there might be more to follow.
Manchester is not in a position where it can dictate to airlines when and how they operate. Yes Manchester needs to sweat the assets, that is understood , but whilst appreciating it needs to fill up slots as best it can, (61 max per hour), and indeed smooth out peaks and troughs, it is equally dependent on based units crucially ensuring they return on wave 1 and wave 2 providing recurring/repeat daily services, more so than airlines operating services from remote locations. Manchester is not Heathrow, where demand always outstrips supply and slots can be traded at a premium.
With over £1 billion poured into the ongoing Terminal Transformation Project (which seems to be effectively choking off growth rather than creating it ), why has there not been a corresponding increase in apron capacity to allow for a flex in demand and to cover the seemingly never ending disruption of WIP? We are not talking months here, its now been 8 years with seemingly no end in sight.
If "wait for it" , 10+ years to extend a terminal wasn't bad enough, there will now be further ongoing disruption as MAG decide to build another pier, but don't worry we are not done yet, as there is no plan for a mothballed decaying terminal which when emptied will act as a skeletal building simply to park aircraft prior to tow, to what will hopefully be a completed shiny new terminal. More on that plan no doubt in 2 years.
Manchester is to all intents and purposes a facility for LoCost passengers, why do they need more piers? Without wishing to decry the facilities offered to EZY, RYR, TUI and JET2 passengers who make up the bulk of the traffic and whose holidaymakers will ultimately be the benefactors when the old terminal is closed down, one does wonder if this is becoming a gold plated vanity project as a legacy of current senior management before they collect their pension ? Thus far the new terminal seems to be struggling to attract the new long haul offering we were promised.
In order to ensure the current level of passenger aircraft is squeezed in , we have the transfer over the last 6 years of cargo operators , systematically moved to EMA in an effort to free up space for passenger movements. The farce of PPE traffic using Liverpool and indeed practically every airport in the UK except Manchester during Covid should have been a wake up call that "something" was going dramatically wrong in terms of strategic joined up thinking.
Constraints on handling freight has now seemingly infected passenger movements. Some mainline charters and biz jets with Manchester originating passengers now appear equally affected.
Manchester City ladies team, The Manchester City Youth team, Manchester City supporters, and even 2 weeks ago a Qatar government A340 which was due at MAN for parking subsequently cancelled and ended up in Brussels at 36 hours notice. Coincidence, maybe, maybe not. On Wednesday this week the airport hosts an influx of executive jets for the football, most will drop off passengers but some will then have to depart.to Liverpool for parking.
The simple truth no matter how this is dressed up, is that Manchester may be heading toward a situation where it regularly has little option but to turn away some business on a weekly basis, the worry is how bad will it get ?
Jet2 setting up a base up the road should set alarm bells ringing They would not be duplicating cost and basing 4 aircraft at an airport which as the crow flies is 20.7 miles away if Manchester had flexed sufficient apron space at the appropriate time.
There were 44 departures from Liverpool on Monday 15th May , over half , (23), were to Eire, N Ireland and the IOM. Unless JET2 are starting charters to Dublin, Belfast, Knock and the Isle of Man they cannot possibly be chasing market share, not when the market from Manchester is 5 times larger, why move aircraft to an airport 5 times smaller than the catchment area you currently serve , it makes no commercial sense, it points to an artificial displacement of service from Manchester does it not ?
It's a bit like Qantas justifying a new additional service but operating from Birmingham.
Poor decision making has not been restricted to infrastructure spend in certain areas. Promoting the MD at EMA to CEO at Manchester was another puzzling appointment akin to a top 4 premiership team employing the manager from say Northampton Town. Baffling !
At least the latest CEO from LGW has played for the big boys lets hope he has the autonomy outside the MAG board to make the right decisions moving forward. and quick. If some concrete is not laid growth at Manchester will reach a celling not governed by the 35m pax terminal but an inability to service it fully.
Long live the late Sir Gil Thompson, I suspect he would have handled things differently.