On what is one of the busiest weekends of the year for most airports, Manston is silent, I keep hearing about Newmarket and Kent Escapes. Did they not bother doing any flights for Easter? When do they start? Are they planning to operate for just a couple of weeks in the Summer?
And I keep hearing about investment in the airfield. Personally, I would draw a distinction between investment and spending money on repairs and maintenance. The radar was stuffed. It had to be fixed. That's not investment. It's just running costs. Real money will have to be spent on sorting out the airfield's drainage and fuel tanks. Again. this is money down the drain (pardon the pun). These things don't increase your revenue stream (like a new terminal). They just allow you to keep going.
I think Infratil have some tough decisions to make. The airfield needs investment, millions of pounds. If they're as hard-headed as everyone says, I think they'll, want to see concrete evidence that they will get a return on their investment. The odd flight, now and then, doesn't really constitute hard evidence.
P.S. 1.5 million passengers in the next two years. Let's assume they shift 100,000 this year (I'm being generous). They'd have to announce some pretty massive deals to hit this target. Let's not forget, the existing terminal was never designed to cope with these sorts of numbers. They can only cope when there's a steady stream. In my humble opinion, it's doubtful you could get anywhere near this number without a new terminal. Oh look, more millions required.