MANCHESTER - 5

[Suzeman]

Manchester Airport ‘must grow or die’ -report

Just discovered this little gem on UK Airport News.

All sorts of interesting nuggets for discussion in this one including "half of the emissions around airports are caused by standing traffic".

Always struck me that over the years there have been a lot of regional talking shops which come up with regional strategies that quietly get dropped with little achieved. And it's all very well talking about growth at MAN but where is it all going to come from - especially with the present economic state ( which of course is only a blip....)

Enjoy

Suzeman


23.06.08

Civic leaders need to concern themselves less with carbon footprints and more with effective planning to ensure that Manchester Airport becomes the focal point for growth in the region, Crain's say, quoting an international expert.

Dr John Kasarda, who was recently invited to speak in the city as part of the Innovation Manchester initiative, said civic leaders needed to prioritise airport growth over environmental concerns. He said: ‘People who talk about putting caps on passenger numbers are basically putting caps on Manchester. On your ability to compete, to raise income levels at the bottom of the ladder and to attract companies from around the world'.

Dr Kasarda, a director of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School and a leading exponent of the aerotropolis theory of airport-based city growth, said: ‘Stability is not an option either for passengers or cargo - you either grow or you die.’

His comments have special significance for Manchester Airport, where passenger numbers have been flat at 22 million for the past two years. However, Dr Kasarda said Manchester Airport's public ownership model meant that it possessed a unique opportunity to develop ‘both inside and outside the fence’, as long as it was not sidetracked by promises to reduce carbon levels.

He said: ‘You can go back to the Stone Age and reduce your carbon footprint to zero, but I don't know of any metropolitan area that has ever shrunk to greatness. There has to be a balance.’

Dr Kasarda argued that half of the emissions around airports are caused by standing traffic and the best way to reduce it is to better organise land use so that businesses which use the airport most are located nearby, together with a dramatic increase in road and rail capacity.