Paarmo, good start then it all goes Pete Tong...
Housing on the site? 2 chances fat and no. There would be huge problems getting sewage away from the site which would result in the main sewers being upgraded to an enormous size which would mean Middleton St George being cut off from the world for 6/9 months. The cost implications are also enormous. Factor in the location of the site which is not a commute to anywhere of any great size, the current available housing stock in Teesside and South Duham and the land bank of the major house builder's both still operating and also bankrupt together with the parlous state of the economy and also the fact that the site is a featureless piece of flat land surrounded by more flat land then housing is a non starter for at least the next 15/20yrs.
Light industrial units ? There are enough of these within 30 minutes of the airport to keep that part of the market going for the next 15/20 years again.
Major industrial complex? Not unless Nissan want to relocate.
This leaves you with either an airport or a piece of scrubland.
Agreed - but unfortunately airlines can't seem to make money out of it as an airport?
Jet2 in cooperation with Stobart? It might just work. Jet 2 are based at an inaccessible airport with terrible weather and Stobart cannot get planning permission at Carlisle.
Really? What's in it for them? Jet2 already have substantial bases just to the North and to the South. If LBA is that inaccessible and the weather that bad, why do far more airlines and passengers chose it over MME? And if they really feel these problems are that bad isn't DSA a better alternative? (next time, why not chuck in the short runway as well?!)
Teesport is absolutely booming at the moment and Stobart may see a link into there with perishable goods as he already ships for Tesco and they have a decent import presence there.
Does ANYBODY believe Stobarts speil about using CAX to distribute perishable goods etc to the North, Scotland etc - they want CAX for a road freight distribution centre and the rest is just window dressing - if they don't get it they move to the North West (Widnes, Warrington) before the North East.
If Cobham have any spare cash then they might just be tempted to buy in to a joint venture.
Again - why would they? Cost of relocating to somewhere like HUY/DSA/PIK as against any potential investment?
Whenever Thomson's have run decent destinations at a decent price they have always reaped the rewards from Teesside.A joint venture may look at this and their own interests and think that it might be the start of something very profitable and stategic for them.
What's the most flights a week TOM have ever run out of MME - if they had reaped the rewards wouldn't they have more now? Also goes against there current policy of retrenching into the major airports and reducing presence at the minor regionals (and I'll not even mention COV and DSA...)