Personal opinion here but I think it is outrageous that Stobart is looking for taxpayers money to subsidise a route where not only does Stobart own the airline proposed to run the service but it also owns both the airports that the service would run between. If Stobart has confidence in the route then by all means let them try it but with an hourly rail service that does city centre to city centre in 3 hours 23 minutes and a sparse population in Carlisle of just 71,000 people the route would never work without government funding.
As easyjet has found out, for whatever reason domestic services don't seem to work from Southend while they can be successful from other London airports. Logic would dictate that to maximise passenger appeal Southend would not get a look in if other London airports were considered but with Stobart owning Southend logic goes out of the window as they are thinking that the money would benefit all 3 of Stobarts enterprises.
Last edited by LTNman; 6th Oct 2015 at 09:27.