My concern is that there has been a seismic shift in airline strategies and that Manchester more than any other airport has been effected by this. I think a few of us have been sucked in by the smokescreen of recession with a mistaken belief that once things "pick up" everything in the garden will be lovely......i am not so sure.
I was naive enough to believe that once an airline especially long haul received saturation at Heathrow the overspill would come to Manchester, problem is I have been observing that for nigh on 25 years and it never seems to get to the tipping point.....
...first it was 5, then 10 and in some cases is now 15 services a day from LHR to JFK, Toronto, Australia, Hong Kong Tokyo, Jo burg etc etc !
Surely Manchester would at some benefit from at least a few directs ?
....and then if frequency was a problem the A380 pitches up ....amasingly frequency has not only been maintained but capacity has still increased massively, and all this despite the recession.
From the other side of the world the distance between Manchester and Heathrow must seem negligible and despite its size we suffer conversley, despite weilding massive economic clout in the region.
Sorry to bang on about this but I would have thought MANs best hope with regard to growth especially long haul, was somebody like Air India who could instantly provide 4/5 new destinations without having to fill the whole back end !
PS there is much talk of the EK380 personally I would much rather see 4/5 daily flights than an A380 !