Whilst, Manchester has the largest range of long-haul destinations available, second only to Heathrow, it is nowhere near on a par with other major European cities such as Milan or Munich. Manchester has also lost a lot of long haul traffic for exactly the same reasons that Birmingham finds it difficult to hold on what should be Birmingham's core long haul routes to India.
Manchester has lost more long-haul scheduled flights than it has gained, such as:- BA, BMI, Air Canada, BWIA, Air Jamaica, Cubana, South African Airways, Air Seychelles, Air Mauritius, Egyptair, Syrianair, El Al, Saudia, Gulf Air, Air India, Uzbekistan Airways, Bangladesh Biman, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas
Also, American Airlines, Pakistan International, Air Blue and Singapore have either dropped routes, decreased capacity or cut frequencies.
And, it has to be said that Singapore Airlines are on the critical list.