Originally Posted by
Skipness One Foxtrot
Good Lord man can you for once understand the power of brevity and a succint arguement? You think Cathay and Singapore need to send a main deck freighter to MAN? If they had a pressing need would they not already be at EMA? Cos cargo's not that fussed how it gets there. Nor are either MAN carrier at STN. You seriously think if either airline had a need they'd be saying "Manchester Airport or not at all!"
There's no reasoning with someone that claims with a straight face that MAG are wilfully letting down the economic engine of the region. As if senior staff have THAT on their KPIs.
Well this is truly bizarre !
Where have you plucked Cathay and Singapore from ?
Lets at least talk facts rather than using our imagination to make things up and interweave these into the conversation.
You have randomly introduced two airlines plucked seemingly out of thin air which nobody has referenced at any point in the discussion ?
What's worse is the fact you then fantasise even more by making 2 or 3 further statements, as if you are responding to a recipients line of questions. This despite the fact they never made the observations to which you yourself refer in the first place !
Unfortunately its a trait which seems to be embedded in your DNA.
As for your observation......
There's no reasoning with someone that claims with a straight face that MAG are wilfully letting down the economic engine of the region
Shall we drop Andy Burnham, Henri Murison, Sheona Southern, Joe Manning et al a line and see what they think?
I'm pretty convinced the movers and shakers that referenced Manchester Airport as a Global Hub (see earlier quotes) know more about this subject than you, and would be aghast if you suggested inquiries to the airport about operating pure freight flights were met with a blanket "NO" coupled to a decision to go elsewhere, which as a minimum adds many hours and in some cases days to the process.
On what planet is that economically competitive???
Any airline operative making such an enquiry would i suspect be incredulous if they were told to go to another airport, based on no space, no staff and no equipment when there is a perception of a perfectly adequate international airport at the epicentre of the Northern supply chain, not 80+ miles and hours/ days outside its catchment area.
At any level its inconceivable to expect manufacturing and distribution companies in the North to willingly accept such delays and hinders the North's ability to compete competitively with no major freight hub at its centre.
I'm pretty sure that Manchester Airports perceived status and standing as a major international hub is being questioned given such a massive economic hole in its operational armoury.
To me such flights are as fundamental as an approach by an airline to operate pax flights.
And can we knock this issue of having no stand space 24/7 firmly on the head , slots are controlled by ACL, yes of course there are choke points as with any airport, notably 6am to 8am and possibly certain times in Winter where more aircraft are parked, but is still lots of opportunities, and as for agents not being able to meet criteria maybe a review on minimum service levels is required ?