When I was down in July you could see the difference in the number of Ryanair flights it was very noticable
Are you sure it wasn't the time of day that you went. Between 2 and 4 in the afternoon there isn't much in the way of Ryanair traffic or really any other traffic for that matter. When I went in August between 11am and 2pm, there were Ryanair flights every few minutes and coming in litterally one straight after the other for a time.
I have a couple of interesting links below. It shows us a little more about what we can expect to see under the new ownership:
Manchester Airport buys Stansted - but what does it mean for you? We find out | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk
Simon Calder's Q&A: Manchester airport buys Stansted - Business Analysis & Features - Business - The Independent
It appears that their aims are to:
- Fight for short-haul traffic from Gatwick and Luton by offering airlines good financial deals
- Diversify Stansted's traffic away from the dominance of Ryanair
- Attract airlines big at Manchester like EasyJet, Flybe and Jet2 to add new routes to Stansted
THERE WILL BE NO AIR LINK BETWEEN STANSTED AND MANCHESTER!!!