Leodis said:
The future of Manchester airport as a major regional hub or gateway will continue to look grim. When the economy picks up, the regional airports will continue to expand further reducing Manchester's airports role. Airports such as LPL and LBA will continue to expand and gain services to places like Dubai and onward from there which will in turn further reduce the need for long haul services from Manchester.
Your basis for this in terms of land availability, multi-modal transport links and the continual increase in "extra" charges on LCCs at a time of recession is?
[Philbky - your posts reflect the continued deluded view that Manchester has ever or will ever be a significant hub airport. Yes it has a fair sprinkling of long haul routes. That doesn't make a hub. The trail of tried and failed long haul routes out of MAN grows longer by the year, and will continue to do so regardless of the presence of other airports in the region. Do you honestly believe that if LPL, LBA and BLK had never developed MAN would be a major hub? As I say, deluded.
Andy H52, before you even drew breath I had some involvement in the promotion of Manchester and its airport. My delusions are based on knowledge, experience and continued contacts with the industry - yours are based on???
BTW, I didn't use the word "hub" and your interpretation that a succesful airport needs to be a hub isn't borne out by either current realities or history.
And any airport built at Burtonwood would not have been 'Manchester' Airport. It would have jointly served the needs of Liverpool and Manchester...
You need to check your facts before posting. The move that was proposed when the USAF gave up Burtonwood was for Manchester Airport to move to Burtonwood and both Ringway and Speke be closed, Speke at the time having minimal service by Starways, Cambrian and Aer Lingus. It was proposed that the operator would be the City of Manchester as Liverpool City council was lukewarm about the idea - indeed was lukewarm at the time about Speke and even threatened to close it in the mid 1960s after ideas about Burtonwood had been abandoned due to subsidence and Manchester had continued to expand.
Nothing like seeing a bunch of fanboys desperately trying to 'big up' their own local airport while sniping at the competition...
Andy_S, for your information Manchester has not been my local airport for 23 years and in the last 10 years when visiting the UK I've used Liverpool 3 times for every time I've used Manchester - and I visit between 3 and 6 times a year.
davuidjohnson6, there is much in what you say but good management is all about looking at trends, foreseeing outcomes and adapting your business model to realities.
After years of a love hate relationship with BA and its predecessors, when the LCCs came along the management at MAN looked at BA and the amount of One World partners then serving the airport and decided they were the future and keeping LCCs out was the way to go. With many Star Alliance partners also serving the airport those in charge saw that LCCs would only dilute income and shunned them. Bad decision.
A better plan would have been to build an LCC terminal on the south side and charge lower fees for the different environment. easyJet would have been in there like a shot and income would have grown and the scenario of BA et al asking for lower fees would not have arisen.
As it was BA shafted the airport, by gradually withdrawing long haul services, playing games with the QANTAS service when BA was involved with that carrier and have pressurised other One World carriers to downgrade or withdraw services. It then withdrew all its own services but those serving its London bases - which it only keeps to feed its long haul from London and these services will go when the Heathrow rail link is made accessible to trains from the provinces.
Manchester's future lies in dealing with Star Alliance (led by LH), developing LCC routes and looking for niche long haul routes serving both business and leisure markets.
As for the other airports in the region, Blackpool hangs by a thread - currently Aer Arran and Jet2, Leeds is Jet2 and some of those flights now route by Manchester to fill seats, Liverpool has been doing well but Ryanair's downgrading will have real consequences for income - if easyJet do the same then trouble will set in.
As for Doncaster it would make an excellent freight port but East Midlands got their first - for once this century MAG got something right.