So my view, for what its worth, is firstly very bad news re those who will loose their jobs at this time, we should all remember that hard working and dedicated people will soon be looking for work.
We have to be realistic that we are where we are whoevers fault it is, and yes they should be taking some of the fallout from this too but we know management rarely likes to discipline itself. Hugh is unlikely to punish the management team when he himself probably was part of the team that appointed them....anyway regardless of that, the new proposals are worth a try at least - we cannot get much lower than a 60-70% drop off in passengers. It will be interesting to see how the split terminal will work, and i know that highwide has already said he wouldnt like it.
The thing is many airports around the world now have low cost/charter only terminals, some airports just have one really good one and one rubbish one - like Munich for example - BA flies in and out of a bad terminal there in terms of look and amenities, go to the Lufthy terminal and its a much different story. As MME cant fill one terminal we cant offer two separate ones so a split one might be the answer.
I would think their proposals on WIFI, Dedicated Lounge and Speedy Security lanes and check in are the norm now in most airports with business/scheduled routes so by having this where the number of passengers is potentially fewer than a charter flight makes sense.
Eastern for example at Aberdeen & Southampton i think already has dedicated facilities and obviously large airports have airlines lounges and the like, so I think MME offering all Scheduled flights this option is actually quite clever because its something a bit different to a lot of other airports.
Am sure they arent going to make it uncomfortable for charter/low cost passengers who use MME, but more people means more space required and some of the amenities offered to a scheduled/business passenger might not take priority over seating and facilities a bigger population can use.
Will just have to wait and see.....although in this day and age WIFI should be available to all!!
Interesting i think the Northern Echo article mentions specifically that the airport is lining up a new route with an airline - other articles reference on going conversations with many airlines on routes but the Echo is a bit more specific - I wonder who..
Extract taken from online article:
"It comes as airport director Kerry Quinn, in a letter to stakeholders, said that DTV expected to announce scheduled flights by a new operator in the next few days"