Unfortunately it's not just Mr Brady that some of us consider to be misguided as shown by the article below.
The first comment by a reader after the article is perhaps a fair reflection of the concerns of those of us that see a risk (I put it no stronger) of MAN being adversely affected in terms of long haul routes, passengers and jobs. If there was such an adverse effect for MAN, I'm not convinced it would be outweighed in the North West by, for example, LPL getting a few shuttle flights to LHR.
Quote:
Group of northern Labour MPs sign letter backing Heathrow expansion -
Travel Industry News and Travel Jobs from Travel Weekly - www.travelweekly.co.uk
As for the North East, NCL and LBA already have connectivity to LHR and I can't understand how a few more onward long haul destinations would make the sort of difference that's being claimed.
I guess it depends what their goal is. Increased connectivity or increased competition. There is nothing inherent in worldwide airport capacity, or European capacity that prevents the North East or Yorkshire from being connected to the rest of the world. There may be places that are viable through LHR that are not viable routing through CDG, AMS, etc. However, these are probably not that many. However, if the only route is via a single airport there is a possible competition advantage in having a second route on a different airline.