Ancient Chinese Proverb
"He who thinks route in bag needs to relook at marketing/communication strategy"
Well they taxied up the apron past the tower but sadly straight on down the other side !
So what did go wrong, if indeed it did ?
Maybe it is a genuine shortage of aircraft, internal bickering, slots etc
Well in truth we don't actually know but on the face of it , it currently looks as though Manchester lost out, it hasn't, at least not yet !
The BHX flights are not an "instead of" between two airports, they are a different type of operation but let's be 100% clear it's a situation that Manchester should be very, very mindful of. The two offers "Manchester Scheduled" and "Birmingham charter" are thus far exclusive.
BUT if this isn't a wake up call to explore every opportunity and make sure you exploit it to the full I don't know what is. The BHX operation could gather enough momentum to morph into something much more very very quickly !
When the Chancellor announced that the framework for UK/Chinese bilateral negotiations offered the opportunity for new service from Manchester did any of us really consider they might actually go to, wait for it, Birmingham, I mean ".....Birmingham, really?"
Maybe that was also the thinking at Olympic House ?
Well they havn't done YET ! ... but they just might......
In the last 2 years we have been offered a drip drip of puff
PR peices almost exclusively promoted by my favourite organ the M.E.N.
Manchester was reaching out seemingly saying and doing all the right things, I am the first to appluad the promotion of "The business opportunity", roadshows, commerical opportunities etc The Manchester Forum but have we been blinded by the optimism churned out every month by men in grey suits ?
The Birmingham strategy has focused purely on inbound tourism, quietly but methodically engaging with the largest travel agent in China, checking in with various hoteliers, and tourist agencies setting up partnerships and lo and behold creating a package !
I'm still not sure what the offering actually is....... but that is not the point, and this is where for Manchester things could go very ary, very quickly unless it gets it proverbial backside in gear.
We are 14 months on from when the first charters were muted for BHX, this year that has increased.
Has anybody at Manchester actually thought to themselves "we need pick up the phone and speak to the Travel Agency involved in the BHX operation and quick? "
Or are we sitting on our hands waiting for them to come to us ?
Is Manchester speaking to any of the tourist agencies /hotel chains /retail outlets across the North Of England ?
Manchester has to be the conduit that pulls all the relevent parties together !
Or is the arrogance mentioned by another poster all pervasive ?
There is no need to panic just yet .......but there soon might !
PS Cathay Pacific, one stop to 20 plus destinations on mainland China, lest we forget !