Perhaps you're not in business, but I'm afraid you aren't quite right here.
Perhaps I am in business or perhaps I am just applying a cold, hard, accountants' look at the realities?
many investment projects have been put on hold until there will be enough capital available and market demand to make them worthwhile again.
Yet the opportunity was there for this airport to work prior to the economic mess. DSA too opened at a time of economic growth, with promises of 5m pax pa, and this just hasn't happened.
Demand is there but we see from DSA's chronic lack of business-orientated routes it isn't well placed to take advantage of such demand.
If the demand is strong enough, KLM would have opened DSA-AMS. After all, what does the S in DSA stand for? Why haven't they started this route?
Even if SZD could re-open with a 3x or even 5x daily to AMS, is that enough to sustain the kind of costs needed to run the place? What other destinations could realistically work?
ludicrous decision when the population of the whole of East Kent is only slightly larger than that of the city of Sheffield alone?
Population alone is not a dictator of viability. MSE happens to be much closer to AMS, so maybe a direct hop will make sense - or maybe not, let's see.
London-Southend's station, opened when it had only a few thousand passengers every month going through, seems to be doing pretty well?
Opened on:
(a) a line already going right past the terminal
(b) a line that is going TO somewhere (ie Southend Victoria, so no extension needed).
Also, there already were 8 trains per hour, on a stopping line, so they just had to add an additional stop. Generally, this would be complete overkill for a service terminating at an airport that size.
Southampton only has small regional jets and similarly has a successful little railway station.
Yes, but it has lots of them, going to many different destinations at a high frequency. It also effectively acts as a "London Southampton", given ease of rail access + M3 from Waterloo, Surrey etc.
Don't get me wrong, I understand it would be difficult in practical terms but in principle there doesn't seem too much wrong.
Sorry, but in principle there is EVERYTHING wrong with talking about a tram link to the airport. Firstly, the airport has to re-open, then it would have to project levels of passenger numbers well in excess of either LCY or SOU, then you can start to think about it.
Small businesses not important? What a stupid thing to suggest.
I never said that, just said they spoke for small businesses not large ones. Frankly, I think their attitude on this project is extremely naive. If there is any prospect of the airport re-opening it will need small, medium and large businesses to use it, to use it very often, and to pay very high costs to do so.
Sorry that I just don't see it.