One benefit of being a “Grumpy Old Man” is being around long enough to know something of the history of MAN and its relationship with BA. I am loathe to bring this often repeated subject up yet again but the history may explain the resentment to them at Manchester, and also why MAN never reached full potential !
After WW2 the Air Ministry designated two airports in the UK as "gateway airports", Heathrow and Prestwick. Prestwick was chosen because it had the longest runway of any civil airport outside London and because there was still significant traffic between the US and UK, and little traffic to the rest of the world , at that time it “seemed” a natural location for an international gateway.
Fast forward to the 1970s and by now Manchester had established itself as a major airport, Pan Am TWA, Seaboard, Qantas amongst many many others all applied and failed to obtain rights to serve Manchester, quite simply the air agreements between countries didn't allow it. Heathrow became fully established as the UK's ONLY true major international gateway airport, its an undeniable fact that its success today is built on the monopoly it enjoyed at that time !
Heathrow's position was strengthened even more with the merger of BOAC and BEA in the 1970s, this was possibly the start of the "hub concept" certainly in the UK, with the introduction of "The Shuttle".
This provided fast hourly connections from Manchester Glasgow, Belfast , and Edinburgh with very few cancellations and a "guaranteed seat", there was even provision for a back up aircraft on standby if the 1st aircraft was full, I only mention this in the context of the frequent cancellations which occur today !
Now enter Gil Thompson (in the early eighties), something of a visionary regarding MAN and an ex-BA man who knew the politics relating to those long standing air agreements which had thus far prevented Manchester from becoming a major international gateway. Using the same calculations quoted in recent postings on this thread he demonstrated to airlines such as SIA and AA that a significant % of traffic was being moved via Heathrow on "the shuttle", to destinations that could be viable served with a direct service.
Incredibly the air agreements written 30 years prior were "still" in force and BA continued to use these very effectively to block any expansion at Manchester for many years, understandably they simply did not wish to dilute their Heathrow shuttle traffic. BA lobbied the Thatcher government of the day by suggesting that airlines were of course free to use PWK (which of course was no threat), but the rules did not permit flights to MAN. It was of course complete and utter nonsense but it worked. Airlines which were becoming constrained by frequency at Heathrow now looked at Manchester but were continually rebuffed.
Gil Thompson backed by a massive publicity campaign finally managed to convince the government that this was a crazy situation and eventually SIA and AA were allowed in, that was in 1986. That "should" have been the start of major expansion but the dreaded agreements continued to be used as obstacles to Manchester's growth !
Sadly the angst with BA continued to fester as airlines which had been sold the concept of viable 3/4 a week service using the same calculations quoted on this thread suddenly found themselves with competition. Inexplicably BA which had long argued and fought to prevent an expansion outside the South East announced there own commitment to Manchester..blah blah blah".
Sadly in most cases this commitment only went as far as starting on routes already established by "other" airlines where there was simply not the traffic to support two carriers. In addition other routes where BA did not compete but were seemingly successful, simply evaporated as BA entered into more and more code share or partnership agreements.
This hopefully will explain once and for all the long standing antagonism toward BA, I suspect it will never disappear, but as others have said time, it really is time to move on !
I must confess I was sceptical that we would ever see an A380 in Manchester, but there is talk this may even be increased to 3 or even more, bring it on ! Many airlines have tried and failed at MAN even though they "appear" to carry full loads, it is a conundrum.
Manchester is not "A Heathrow" but it is much much more than just a regional airport. Maybe fast and frequent service to Dubai is the answer and might just be Manchester's salvation for renewed growth ?
As the CEO is from the North West it may be that he more than most, fully understands Manchester's potential and what might turn out to be a sustainable formulae for success !