Ryanair Manchester superbase ?
Maybe ...maybe not, but the evidence is somewhat compelling !
This may be a leap of faith but stick with it.... I must declare I am not a great fan of RYR , but I do think there is a lot more to this story than we first imagined and I am suprised that our more distinguished armchair analysts havn't commented in more depth!
Rumours regarding new airlines have always circulated at Manchester many weeks in advance of an "actual announcement". Manchester is normally as leaky as an old tap when it comes to new schedules. Somewhat curiously this one didn't leak out, there has been the odd comment about a return but nothing tangible.
...more so than any other negotiations MAG kept these talks TOTALLY underwraps !
Out of the blue, "or so it seems" RYR announced a sprinkling of routes, at 9 weeks notice AND this less than 2 years after pulling out in acrimonious circumstances.
Some commentators have suggested they came crawling back, NOT SO, the fact that MAG "approached them" (much to the chagrin of EZY, if rumours are to be believed), suggests a major change in MAG strategy with the new CEO leading the charge !
...the BIG question is, why on earth would you risk possibly peeing off one of your best, albeit latest customers to court an airline that you fell out with and who historically are so difficult to deal with, unless what was on offer was so fantastic and unbelievebly attractive ?
What will RYR possibly offer MAN this time round ?
Maybe the answer lies in the comments in the M.E.N .. with the promise of
"5M pax a year, blah blah".
We have heard comments like this before of course, I think many of us assumed it was the usual RYR spin, ie the offer of a few services bringing in a totally disproportionate opportunity of employment ! Poor old BHX fell foul of this a few years back BUT maybe in MANs case the situation is different this time .
RYR have a massive number of new aircraft on order, Manchester has already proved itself AND crucially has the spare capacity !
Could the 5m equate to 12 or 15+ based aircraft ?
There were raised eyebrows when T2 was mentioned to house the new services, BUT it is absolutely logical....the terminal is empty for much of the day and needs filling. Likewise the second runway is barely used.
Manchester needs a radical and quick soution otherwise it would be in the doldrums for years. LS, EZY, MON might add 1 or 2 aircraft BUT they are not going to add the massive number of aircraft that Manchester needs.
RYR generates demand where none previously existed, they attract an incredible number of pax to their website, they could fill numerous gaps in the destination network, they have proved this in the past! Cities like Bremen, Dortmund, Cacassone etc would work from MAN but realistically only with RYR.
As last time Manchester is a logical choice for a "major base", being as it is at the epicentre of Northern England, less than an hour from Stoke to the South, Liverpool to the West , Leeds to the East and Preston to the North. It already attracts massive inward flows as a destination in its own right so we are not just talking about outbound pax.
It will be interesting to know how this will pan out but if it can be made to work this time there is little doubt that just maybe MAG needs RYR, and maybe RYR needs MAG ...we will see !
Anybody up for a discussion ?