On the day in question there were a further 48 aircraft movements (takeoffs, landings, internal flights etc). These were all between the hours of 10:12 am and 4:34pm. Therefore the airport was busy enough to justify having all the required services (atc, fire etc) in attendance on the day. The 747 doing training was a bonus.
If the airport was kept closed on quiet days to save money, no doubt somebody would chip in that there could be a missed opportunity in the event there was problem at a major airport nearby and Manston could not take any diversions.
Anyway on another note I shall take the bait no longer from now on and will keep my fingers away from the keyboard in response to certain types of posts from users that are just made to stir up reaction.
Last edited by Twitcher; 8th Feb 2007 at 15:34.
Reason: ammended a word