Manchester Diversion Policy
Whilst the following extract relates to Manchester's Winter Operations Plan for 2015-2016 it does, I feel, give an insight into the reasons why the No Diversion NOTAM has been issued on a number of occasions previously.
Capacity Monitoring
"In order to protect our normal schedule of flights, Airfield Operations will closely monitor the operational capability of UK Airports and determine the number of parking stands available for diversionary aircraft. This assessment will be made at intervals of not less than 12 hours between the months of November and March inclusive.
The ADM will set an “inbound diversion cap” and notify ATC of any capacity limitations. The“cap” is intended to identify the number of inbound aircraft which can be accepted without impacting upon stand allocations plans associated with our normal schedule of flights. In the event of a mass diversion scenario, the ADM and TDM will activate Diversion Control in the CMC.
Further information concerning the procedures for handling excess traffic can be found in the Aerodrome Manual Part 2.
In the event of significant disruption at Manchester Airport and limited availability of parking stands, a decision may be taken not to accept inbound diversions. Such decisions will be promulgated by NOTAM, SMS and Chroma Fusion. Requests from Manchester Airport airline customers to accept inbound diversions and extra flights will be considered on a case-bycase
basis by the CMC, subject to the provision of a Ground Handling service."
Please let's not swamp the forum with individual responses, but accept that this is the reasoning behind the decision and that it is a policy made by the airport in the best interest of the existing customers.