Like many others on here I suspect we are all totally lost with this one.
MAG was "essentially" set up by the various councils in the Manchester area to operate invest and expand Manchester. It went off piste a few years back buying initially East Midlands, then Humberside and then even more bizarre , Bournemouth.
With expansion of cargo facilities at Manchester limited there was no doubt some sense in buying East Mids....But Humberside and Bourmenouth ?
And now the current airport directors are on an excursion to buy Stansted, a busted flush if ever there was one.
It was built as Londons 3rd airport but not one major airline has moved from LHR of LGW since it opened.
It got lucky as it opened as final development coincided with the locost boom. Even there there were alleged rumours of massive subsidies (unsubstantiated of course), to entice certain carriers in. Those discounts (if they existed), stopped and in the intervening period it has lost massive amounts of traffic regardless of the economic outlook. As soon as slots appear elswhere flights shift.....
Air Berlin moved en masse to LGW, Easyjet have also moved many of their flights, even shifted some to Southend.
The place is run by Ryanair who as the largest operator must surely have some influence over fees etc , upset them and there is nobody left !
With massive investment required in Manchester to make it one single terminal and therefore more attractive as a major transfer hub, why on earth are MAG looking at investment in an airport which will not benefit anybody in the Manchester area by one iota.
Using this mentality why not take it one step further, buy Stansted but then sell Manchester ?
They could then rename M.A.G. ...S.A.G.
Given recent traffic levels at Londons "so called" 3rd airport it seems a rather appropriate acronym !
Last edited by Bagso; 5th Aug 2012 at 07:21.