I am a fan of Manston, so I hope that it flourishes under this new ownership.
I was on the first flight out to Amsterdam with EU-Jet a few years ago, and was disappointed that they shut down. It took me the same time to drive to Manston as it would to Gatwick from here, but it only took 3 minutes to get parked and to the check in desk at Manston. Then a leisurely boarding and a quick hop to Amsterdam, great. For me it worked, and I would happily use it again. I only recently found out that KLM were flying the AMS route so will now see if I can get this into my travel plans.
As I see it, Manston's catchment area is such a small arc of the country that it is very difficult to attract that many people and airlines, so maybe it should be balanced by lower airport taxes to encourage the use. Yes I guess I am saying subsidies!
I just did a quick exercise to see if it was cheaper to fly from AMS to HKG versus LHR to HKG, if it was cheaper because of not paying UK APD then this could be an advantage but excluding the fare to AMS it was at least £180 more to fly from AMS excluding the MSE to AMS flight! So this plan wouldn't work!
What might help is if the train stopped right outside, ok this may need a bit of new track, or they could do a light railway or tram. If Manston can make people aware that it is quick and easy, and there were a few more airlines flying to a few more places it surely would be more successful?
Last edited by flyingman-of-kent; 16th Oct 2013 at 18:31.
Reason: slight omision