Ladies and Gentlemen,
Can we please just clarify one simple point which may help to resolve some of the silly unpleasantness on this thread. There is absolutely NO suggestion that EZY are going to up sticks from LPL and move to MAN.
What is actually under consideration is the possibility of running a programme ex-MAN in addition to the LPL operation. This may or may not happen. Since setting up the LPL hub, several changes have occurred within the market to prompt EZY to consider their options. In their early days at LPL they had the 'no-frills' market from Northern England/North Wales almost to themselves. Customers would happily travel from the Midlands or Yorkshire to avail themselves of a discounted flight ex-LPL. But now they no longer have to do this.
The Midlands airports EMA/CVT/BHX are saturated with no-frills choices. LBA has its extensive Jet 2 base. NCL has EZY, MME has BMI Baby. DSA opens shortly with TOM. And MAN at last has a meaningful 'no-frills' presence with Jet 2, BMI Baby, Air Berlin (full-frills actually!) and others.
All this means that EZY's core market ex-LPL has shrunk from a catchment area of the entire North of England to Merseyside and North Wales only. And the Merseyside/North Wales catchment area is now under assault from RYR and FlyBe too. So, if EZY wish to protect their market share in the North they will have to consider an additional gateway to supplement LPL, NCL and EMA (I include EMA as it draws some traffic from the North).
The other significant factor favouring the possible selection of MAN as an EZY gateway has been the apparent success of the LGW operation. EZY has expanded quickly at LGW, and succeeded in not cannibalising it's STN/LTN hubs by so doing. The parallels with establishing neighbouring operations at LPL and MAN are obvious.
Now I am happy to confirm that I have no inside knowledge as to whether EZY will choose to serve MAN or not. We will all find out when an announcement is made or when slots are handed back. And I know that most of what I write here is obvious to the majority of you (but apparently not to all). Be assured there is no intention to insult your intelligence but rather to silence this ridiculous slanging match between certain parties on this thread. EZY is NOT leaving LPL; they may however establish a parallel operation ex-MAN on a scale to be announced in the future. We must all wait and see!