Sorry to go back a page, but,
Shed:
It is the numbers which do the talking and they don't care what you or I think. The numbers are the same regardless of whether or you interpret them positively and I interpret them negatively.
You are correct, it is the numbers that do the talking, and with month on month increases in passenger figues, added premium capacity from the likes of Emirates (up to the A380) and Singapore (taking out economy seats to add more expensive premium economy seats), as well as the increased dividends paid out by the airport to the council, it seems you have to do a lot more work to prove a negative case than positive.
Right now, the capacity increase projected for S15 versus S14 doesn't look so robust.
Im sorry to sound harsh, but, we are talking about the same airport here, aren't we? I mean, increases of some variety on the majority of our long haul network, several new carriers, several new based frames, more new routes than I have seen in a long long time (with still some major ones to come), linked to nearly every major EU capital for the first time in years, versus some, naturally expected decreases, I seem to be seeing a completely different picture to the one you paint
We may have been lulled into expecting otherwise because most of the setbacks are spread across a small subset of carriers, whilst new capacity is spread across many operators.
Is this in itself not to be seen as a positive? The fact we have such a broad range of carriers that MAN is not held to ransom by one or 2? Do we not remember what the XL collapse did to MAN? Surely it should be seen as a huge plaudit that the los of 3 based frames has been well and truly absorbed, I mean, that could be enough to really leave a smaller airport in the mire.
If Monarch had dropped three and Ryanair had added three most of the rest would be jam. But that didn't happen.
And why has the onus been left on Ryanair? Monarch loose 3 based, but, Easyjet, Thomas Cook, Enter Air and Jet2 have all added one based each, as has I think flybe. Im sorry, but I make that a net gain of 2 based aircraft already, before we even contemplate talking about away based flights.
And don't forget, Ryanair dropped a couple of routes too. The gains v losses margin is tighter than we may have anticipated.
1 route was dropped, which was a 3 weekly Bremen. Again, this was directly countered by adding a 6 weekly Stuttgart. And there lies another gain.
Im sorry if it seems I have singled out your post for scrutiny Shed, but, as you can see, this is one point I simply cannot agree with you on. Yes, we have lost some, but, I do personally think that what we have gained far outweigh those losses, and the pasenger number trend at the moment seems to back this up.