Well said mickeyman.
The desire not to embrace LCCs at MAN in the early years has been one of the main reasons that forecasts have not been realised.
What MA needs - and has at last got by the look of it - is a good balance of all types of traffic to cater for all the different types of business - legacy scheduled, long haul and ITs as well as LCCs. And the LCCs now coming in are the two biggest brand leaders that everyone in the UK will have heard of.
There will undoubtedly be casualties - there always have been even before LCCs were invented. And the next set will depend on the EZY/FR destinations. But there will always be a space at MAN for some of the legacy carriers in Europe, especially those with good hubs like KL,AF and LH.
As far as Long Haul carriers are concerned, this will always be difficult. London and particularly LHR have incredibly strong F and J demand - mainly because of the financial industry- yes all those bankers.
Alliances mean that long haul pax can be attracted to the larger European hubs to connect. There are economies of scale here for the Long Haul boys.
Those airlines that do look at MAN are often trying to compare yields from MAN with those of London. And then there is quite often a bilateral issue with MAN routes which is not the case with London or other destinations where the airline may be looking at sending that aircraft. So why bother with all the hassle? And when they do manage to jump all these hurdles, sometimes the demand does not materialise.
So to pin any growth on Long Haul and Legacy Carriers only would be foolish indeed. Sorry chaps and chapesses, but the civic pride in attracting long haul flights does not pay the bills.
So let's be thankful that some growth now looks possible again and the business risk is spread across all types of pax traffic as well as the burgeoning freight sector - a recent success story that doesn't receive the attention it deserves. Other airports in the region don't have the luxury of such a spread and if the low cost bubble burst ......
Suzeman