Skyman
This is how I see it .
Peel came along at a time when the local authorities couldnt really afford to run the Airport any longer. Their bid was put in at a bargain basement rate on condition that the Taxpayer, i.e the government office , development agencies and what have you, put in cash and resources to match Peels investment and on the back of a grandiose plan to create a Freight Village similar to the earlier failed effort of a company called (I think) Moorfield Semley who have since disappeared from the radar.
Behind this was the cynical and shrewd reasoning in the Manchester Boardroom that should the aviation industry suffer a downturn here was a very large flat site which could easily be turned to a variety of uses.
We have now arrived at a situation where two locos have been ,seen and not conquered , and one of the 2 mainstay routes has ceased to operate after a couple of sucessful decades. Add to that what seems to be very little interest being shown by the "bucket and spade" operators and the installation of a "puppet management team" controlled from Manchester and you have all the signs of a business which is following Woolworths and the Dunfermiline building society.
Peel Holdings however still have a lump of estate which has roads, power and gas to it which, in the good times that will eventually follow the recession, can turn a very good profit.