Going Loco - I understand how my point can give the impression that I am just trying to defend Manchester. I am arguing that free market access to serve any route from any airport is damaging the development of regional hub traffic. The north of England doesn't generate enough of this to be able to spread it thinly across multiple airports. Up until the Millenium, Manchester provided some degree of international hubbing and offered a good range of international and intercontinental direct services to the north of England. Much of that has been eroded since the lo-co boom, as legacy airlines have lost the benefits of massing at MAN and been forced to look for lower costs or to drop marginal routes. There is only room for one hub in the North, logic says that is Manchester. If the North is to enjoy world trade links (direct services to as many destinations as possible at a good freqeuncy) only MAN can achieve this. The present situation is more concerned with having flights to the Costa Brava and new EU watering holes from every 'local airport' in the region. Whereas MAN is the local airport - that is the point about good surface transport access. MAN is within reach of nearly everyone in the North by car or train within a couple of hours, much less for many people. The other northern airports are not nearly as accessible. Until we move away from the need for every town and city to have its own airport, competing with its neighbours, we won't get a regional hub. As an analogy, would you want to get Sainsbury's closed down in your local town so that you can go to every little shop on the high street to do your weekly shopping? Manchester Airport benefits the cities of Liverpool and Leeds in a way that Liverpool Airport and Leeds/Bradford Airport can not match in return. They can complement by providing niche air services, but should not duplicate routes.