Originally Posted by
Charley B
Brilliant posts and most eloquently put
They are indeed eloquent words; unfortunately, an airport can’t run on eloquent words…..
There is no doubt at all that local businesses found passenger services out of Manston useful. Unfortunately, there were never enough of them to make the airport commercially viable. Various airlines gave it a go, without success. The jury was still out on KLM; the MSE-AMS flights never achieved more than an average 50% loading, but let’s be generous and assume that KLM would have carried on if MSE had remained open. That’s two rotations per day. Even if that were viable for KLM, it’s nowhere near viable for the airport.
As for the rest, all the arguments about Manston’s runway length, transport links and lack of capacity at the major London airports have been doing the rounds for as long as I can remember. While I generally agree with claims made (although at risk of being picky, I would question the “4th longest runway” statement) the reality is that despite these apparent advantages, passenger airlines have been almost completely indifferent to Manston. That should tell you something….