Is there anybody working at MAG who shares Shed's/Roverman's passion ?
The silence from MAG board members has been deafening, its as though they are afraid to voice an opinon.
At Least when GT was running the show we had press releases spewing forth almost weekly, they EVEN got past the M.E.N. and made the national press and Radio4 etc !
These were matched to a constant onslaught on MPs across the region to back expansion at Manchester.......it almost became boring BUT there is little doubt in my mind that it did influence policy changes albeit on the margins !
Surely in 2011 there must be a corporate view on how these changes effect Manchester and it passengers but I for one would love to know what these are ?
Bagso
You seem to be quite worried by all this lack of public comment? Why? It doesn't mean nothing is happening.
If you think that MAG has no views think again. They certainly do - it is just that most of the time they choose to express it to the movers and shakers rather than through the press and to us on Prune. Why should we be told? Does every company have to reveal its policies and strategies in public - I don't think so!
MAG has always been highly proficient in lobbying and putting its views forward with a great degree of success. If the press needs to be used it will be. As you say, when Gil Thompson was boss, there was a need to use the press as the Sir Humphreys in Whitehall (who by and large tell their "here today - gone tomorrow" ministers what to do) did not take note of oiks from a small aerodrome north of Watford. They were in thrall to the views of BA (who were desperate to stop foreign carriers operating to MAN and other airports) and to a lesser extent the owners of LHR, the BAA.
In the instance of getting SQ in, a massive press campaign added to cross-party pressure from MPs publically shamed the Transport Minister of the day - can't remember who now - and they started. Many other lobbying exercises have followed over the years, mostly sucessful. Most of these you will be totally unaware of because a result was achieved without a need to involve the press. The end result of this is that the MAG view is now respected in Whitehall - may not always be agreed with - but at least it is heard along with other interested parties. So all the lobbying (public and private) has been rather more than
influencing policy changes albeit on the margins !
There will be an official consultation on aviation policy this year and you can be sure that MAG will be responding. I'm sure that they will issue a press release at the appropriate time and I seem to think that all the responses have to be made public anyway?
What about BHX and the press? Almost certainly, Kehoe at BHX was pressurised by the press to respond to the suggestion about the rail link and so had to say something.
As to the nonsense issuing from Boris and other politicians, it is just that, as Skipness has said. But BHX may indeed become an alternative for some passengers in the South East when the rail link is up and running. And when will that be? 2026 is the earliest date that it will be in use and there is plenty of potential for delay. What happens in the meanwhile? Possibly extra capacity at LHR with parallel runway ops - still a political hot potato. Limited capacity at LGW and capacity available at STN/LTN.
So when LHR finally is totally full what choice do the airlines in the South East have? Each airline will make its own choices. Bigger aircraft ? Possibly. More ops at other SE airports? Quite likely. Additional ops to some UK regional airports like BHX, MAN and Scotland? Also quite likely. Some new flights will also go to Continental Europe instead of coming to the South East. That is a consequence of the policy and prevaracation the UK has adopted over airport expansion and it's too late now with AMS, CDG, FRA all expanding. The market will decide.
So a lot of froth being created about this. I'm sure we will continue this debate when we know what the MAG views are
Suzeman
PS Excellent posts Mr Shed - couldn't agree more.