gazza007 - Airports do not operate in isolation. MAN's future prospects cannot be meaningfully considered without taking account of developments affecting its principal competitors. Certainly, LHR is one of these, and a third runway there would affect MAN. To what extent would it affect MAN? Well, that's part of the reason we discuss the topic. Clearly, a second runway at LGW would impact MAN far less, as well as leaving a much larger sum of taxpayer funds available for public infrastructure initiatives elsewhere in the UK. It is anticipated that LHR R3 would cost GBP6 Billion in public funds (plus private investment) whilst LGW R2 would require sub-GBP1 Billion from the taxpayer.
Like yourself, I welcome the 'Devo-Manc' proposals. But we do need to keep this in perspective. The government budget for this is GBP1 Billion (spread across all functions). Compare this with Crossrail 2: projected cost (from private and public funding) is GBP27.5 billion and LHR R3 is GBP18.5 Billion. One analyst already anticipates a GBP4 Billion overrun on top of that LHR figure. Now you see the problem. It is all about scale.
As we all know, MAN is planning for a major re-development of its terminal complex. It will be very interesting to note the costing projections for this and to observe how the required capital will be raised and over what time-frame.