a credible backer who says he can make it work
Sure it can work if there is someone at the helm steering it in the right direction.
It's not going to happen overnight but, as I posted previously, Manston is not going to break even nor profit from passenger ops, NQY have had an aircraft (part of it flying) museum move in, Kemble makes a living from general aviation and an aircraft knackers yard, there's talk of Llanbedr opening up as a knackers yard (or similar), CWL has a significant BA maintenance base part paying the bills, whilst it seems Manston have been wasting their bets on passenger ops moving in.
Sure KLM, so long as they haven't been p1ssed off already, is a nice slice of bread and butter but Manston needs to broaden it's horizons to survive.