Replying to a point made about changing at St Pancras to get to Heathrow, Gatwick. You would still have to get across London to Victoria by bus taxi for Gatwick.
Not for Gatwick you wouldn't. The reconfigured St Pancras station is going to have an interchange with Thameslink which will allow direct mainline rail access to Gatwick. Heathrow - point taken, but I would argue that Heathrow serves a different market. Manston, if it does any passenger business, ought to be targetting the leisure and short haul business travel market - tour operators and budget airlines. As such, Luton, Gatwick and Stansted are your competitors, and as established and succesful airports already I would argue that anything which improves access to them will not be to Manston's advantage.