Am I the only one with a sense of deja-vu here?
Anyone familiar with Planestation's ownership of Manston will recall how, at regular intervals, stories would appear in the press suggesting that flights to X, Y or Z were on the cards. The reality, if you actually read those stories, was that a 'survey' had been conducted to gauge interest in those destinations. Putting aside the wretched EUjet, who had a common owner with the airport, not one of those stories ever became reality.
Here's a thought. KLM, or their subsidiaries, pulled out of both Gatwick and Stansted in the last 10-15 years. Why should the economics of operating from Manston be any better?