In retrospect, MAN made a serious misjudgement about LCCs, believing they would be a short-term phenomenon, and preferred to stick with legacy carriers and charter operators
It has paid off that MAN is now welcoming LCC's with open arms, but, credit to MAN, it has managed to keep a broad range of carriers, unlike some airports, in the face of likely having to do deals with said LCC's to bring them in.
Not only has the LCC market grown, but, the traditional legacy carriers have also grown, with the addition of airlines/frequencies from TAP/LH/SK/KL/EI etc, maintaining a robust charter market, that even though is smoker than what it was, still has TCX/TOM as well as the smaller carriers in the UK such as Germania, Small planet and Condor.
Having such a broad range of carriers means your eggs are not all put in one basket. It means that if one of the carriers were to cut back, yes, it would set MAN back, but, would not be a disaster.
Look at Monarch, it has cut 5-6 routes from MAN this year, but, thankfully, the effects will be little felt due to increases on not just the routes Monarch have cut, but, other increases in general.
For example, Monarch have cut MAN-LCA, but, Jet2 are using an A330 on that route this year, and, Thomson are using a B787 there too, and TCX are adding 2 flights a week there. That should go some way to absorbing the Monarch loss. The loss of 5 routes in one go would have hit some airports very hard, but MAN, it was barely a drop in the ocean. That's not a bad position to be in.
What I do find interesting this year, is, winter is traditionally a weak season for MAN, as the charters cut back etc.
However, this winter, there have been many increases, which, mean winters are beginning to balance out against the summer. Not only have MAN just announced their busiest ever December, but, February will see more increases than I can ever remember in that month.
From February, Icelandair are running periods of 4-5 weekly, Emirates have just announced the 2nd daily A380, Etihad upgrading the morning flight to B77W for 2 months, Qatar returning to full 2 daily schedules, Easyjet begin 2 weekly Funchal and Flybe increase Amsterdam to 2 daily Mon-Fri.
So, yes, the original forecasts may well have been well off, and yes, the decision to turn away LCC's originally was a mistake, however, with MAN on the up financially, service wise and passenger number wise, even the 'glass half empty' crowd must be pleased with the way things are going at the moment.