Plugging in to the China Syndrome
And so we await further news on the choice of Terminal for CX MAN-HKG services, and indeed for any prospective service to elsewhere in China. Ideally, alliances would be co-located within the same terminal, but that gets difficult as airports reach capacity, as happened at LHR during the on-going terminal redevelopments. Some carriers there had services using more than one terminal (BA still do). MAN now faces such issues. T3 has very limited wide-body stand availability unless and until it is extended. T2 would seem to be the best fit for CX. Let's wait and see. T1 and T2 have no domestic capability, T2 is a distance from T1/T3. T2 has few short-haul flag carrier services and so any feed to long-haul there must rely on a good inter-terminal transfer product. For an airport with such passenger volume and number of long-haul destinations (relatively speaking), and such an excellent range of domestic flights, MAN underperforms on transfer traffic. Improving the transfer product must now be a priority if MAN is to capitalise on its growth towards a critical mass where the connecting possibilities fuel further growth in destinations and frequency.
A 'critical spoke' is how Skipness 1E describes MAN. Indeed, that is now assured. However, I believe that given the right transfer product a mini-hub (sub-hub?) is achievable, even without a major based carrier. Life is always interesting and full of opportunity at this unique airport.