Sadly, the "bit of good news" about Manston is mostly without substance.
Passengers-
Despite the issuing of an up-beat press release, Kent Escapes were seriously considering whether to use Manston at all this year, and have cut service by 65% on last year due to lack of interest.
Newmarket are operating 10 return charter flights to different places, and have managed to fill the Croatia trip. Nice, but not significant.
Jersey sales are decribed as "exceeding expectations" - a wooly phrase which commits the author to nothing, and has often been used to describe poor performance at MSE in the past. Some years ago there was a Jersey service which had to be discontinued.
Cargo-
We are told MK are due to quit Manston, and that they have applied to use other UK airports.We do not know if they will choose to return. In any event this may not matter as the common belief is that they are paying low fees for the facility.
Other cargo operators operate at a skeleton level and are not significant.
Infratil have never acheived the annual tonnage peak realised by Planestation.
Manston remains a third division operator in this field.
I have also heard the rumour that the Infratil board have started taking a closer look at how much money MSE is losing. Their website predicted a profit as early as August this year, and there is no chance of this materialising.
Up-beat comments from enthusiastic amateur locals are fine, but professionals should think carefully before viewing MSE as a long term concern.