Sorry lads. LBA gives me the willies.
Pax viewpoint here. I'm a confident regular business flyer and very little gives me the willies. But I just do not enjoy LBA at all. On a fine day, bang! On a bad day, it's white knuckles all the way : nauseous crosswind approaches, that floaty sense you're too high over Horsforth then the sudden rush up, galloping down the hill with the brakes on . . . Sorry to sound melodramatic, I am sure the professionals are 100% in control. The point I am making, is that I never even give a moment's thought to airport safety anywhere else, but with LBA the passenger experience is (in my view) materially affected.
Manchester has its problems but I am incredulous at the suggestion pax who would willingly transit LBA-LHR instead of a direct flight from MAN! LHR is so awful I will take a direct flight from MAN in economy ahead of an LHR transit in business every time.
I would love to support the place and still have a soft spot for its relative ease of use. Most of the holiday pax on whom the growth is based, will be oblivious to concerns about crosswind, terrain etc. But if it bothers me, then I assume others may feel the same. Long-haul??? You would not get me on LBA-DXB in a month of Sundays!