There are so many more long and medium haul markets ex-Manchester, yet to be exploited.
Bangkok, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai, Male, Colombo, Dhaka, Tehran, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Cairo, Nairobi, Mauritius, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cancun, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Detroit and Montreal must be at the top of the list!?!
Manchester should have the likes of Thai, Cathay, Qantas, JAL, Air India, Sri Lankan, Biman, Etihad, Gulf Air, Egyptair, Kenya Airways, Air Mauritius, South African and Northwest operating flights. Other airlines have shown that there is much potential in more long haul routes from Manchester. For example, going by CAA fligures for September, one route in particular, San Fransisco, is carrying HALF the monthly equivelent of the US Airways MAN-PHL route, at approx 4000 pax/month. This SURELY shows that there is a market for at leats 3-4 weekly widebody flights, direct from MAN to SFO. What makes matters even stranger is that the MAN-LAX market is larger than the SFO one, and no-one is even flying that one!
Regards
Mike