One Sixty Until 4,
Thank you for the update. I agree this is good news and hopefully the Oslo-Manchester link will be successful.
Overall I think the recovery at Manchester is definately more than green shoots. This is quite evident now, especially with Madrid and Berlin links back, as well as some downright exiting (and hopefully successful) new routes from Easyjet like Bilbao. With Easyjet clearly committed to MAN, Jet 2 and Monarch likewise and with the prospect of interesting potential destinations like Bologna and Seville potentially on the cards for next year, as well as the new Jet2 'new' offerings to Barcelona, Toulouse, Bergamo and Paris, it will be now be interesting to see how both Flybe and Ryanair play their cards.
With regard to Flybe, I would love to see them expand into destinations in the south of France (and publicise it) as clearly they have done a good job in the north based on the number of satisfied customers who travel with them from Manchester to that region. My only concern with them is that in the past any offering to S. France has been a bit half hearted i.e. limited to the school holiday season, so for example if anybody wanted to travel to Avignon for a weekend in June they would need to travel via SOU. This is where Ryaniar could potentially clean up on the south of France routes from MAN if they wanted to.
Ryanair will be interesting over the next month or so. What do they do? Having come back to MAN they are clearly interested in developing their business from here. I and many others would love to see them do so however nobody likes to be blackmailed however we also understand that costs need to be controlled. Also MAN was quite right to do a deal with them as it really gave Easyjet the jolt they needed to provide something more exiting than what had been provided previously. I think this will be a real test of business judgement on both Ryanair and Manchester Airport's part. We clearly want the opportunity to fly with Ryanair from MAN as we do with other airlines and are prepared to pay for them on reasonable terms commensurate with the airport keeping a competative selection of airlines, and a good quality service to customers.
With the disposable income in the Greater Manchester/ Cheshire area, and the opportunites this would bring for Ryanair if they provided a significant expansion from MAN my view is that they would be successful if they are up for it. However as very welcome Madrid was, it would also be good to see them offering some unique routes from MAN e.g. destinations in France (Nimes, Toulon, Marseilles etc.), or similar airports not currently served from MAN in Italy or Spain. On this basis I think it would be a mistake on Ryanair's part not to expand from MAN within the next month or so. However I fear that pride may get in the way of business acumen and this will see FR either providing a minimal service from MAN, or reasons will be found to storm out (in the face of competition) and see FR cast off back to the Liverpool's of this world. I hope I'm wrong as I think MAN would benefit significantly from FR as would FR from MAN, and I think MAN are being very reasonable (no I don't work there) but I think FR are quite easily capable of looking a gift horse in the mouth. One rhetorical question for on the back of a card, why should an airline and airport be prevented from getting the business and service that customers want and are prepared to pay for because of management intransigence in one company or another?
There finishes my sermon of the week,
DomyDom
