No, you can fly to these places from LBA. They are marketing it as such because many people will not think of using BA or KLM and instead drive to MAN or LHR for direct long haul. How it's embarrassing is beyond me...?
It is pretty clear there is only one airport in the north capable of offering the critical mass of passengers for viable links to long haul destinations. This one airport for Yorkshire thing died when the Ferrybridge proposal was ignored in the 60's..