Originally Posted by
davidjohnson6
I know that T1 is due to close, but MAN airport always seems to me like a higgledy-piggledy mess - a bit like a warren of tunnels, lifts and other closed-in passages. I'm comparing it against LGW, STN, EDI, as well as other airports of similiar size like VIE, CPH, ATH, DUS, etc.
Am I the only one to think it feels like a lot of pieces stuck together with glue and string ? Will the closure of T1 really improve this ?
It is the way it is, much like any large piece of infrastructure, because they are the consequence of decisions over a long period of time. The original shell of T1 is from the mid-1960s. This would have had a plan at the time and will probably have latent provision in the plans for future expansion. But there is no way those plans could look 50+ years into the future.
So what you get over time is the expansion within the original plans. You then get more piecemeal provision where they think it can be fitted in as it is often cheaper in the short-term until you run out of options or decide to bite the bullet on the more expensive longer-term plans.
You need to look at the building of T2 for when Manchester started to look to the now and the future. The original T2 had plans built into it to allow for the expansion you are currently seeing, with the ability to expand further using the footprint of T1.