Thank heavans for that, only very marginal growth in prospect --- Hoorahhhhhh!!! Why so happy? Have you seen the state of the airfield recently? MAplc are now reaping the rewards of very poor operational decisions in past years from what was a totally inept operations department ( now fixed I hope). It was considered better to spend millions on re-furbishment of terminals to the detriment of the airfield infrastructure. which you will see is breaking apart all over the place. Steel plates here, steel plates there, the hot-pour team on 24 hour standby (have to order a bigger boiler). Even the 'New' bits are breaking up. I hear Link Delta crossing point will have to be completely dug-up again in the not too distant future !
Putting it bluntly, the airfield couldn't cope with any increase in movements because their isn't the capacity to cope with it. You can regularly see a queue of INBOUND traffic waiting patiently on taxiways for either their stand to be vacated, or just can't get near a stand because of taxiway congestion.
The other morning we landed and had to wait 19 minutes before being gated, and then it was onto a bus !!!
When BA City Express ( or Connect now) cut back thier services wholesale, I reckon this 'Saved' the airport from a totally embarasing situation of not being able to cope with regular traffic levels at certain times of the day.
Until proper re-investments come on line, and more Peak-time slots can be offered, Manchester may be approaching its growth limit. Shame really when it definitely used to be top of the league for forward planning. The " Fat Controller " has a lot to answer for !!
P.S. The Cargo manager seems to be doing an excellent job. Heard the other day that Air China Cargo are to start in July 3 x weekly to PVG, and MNG Cargo 3 x weekly to IST by the end of March
All we need now is a 'Johnson Air Cargo ' or African Int. DC-8 service and I'd start to emerge from my depression.
