MANCHESTER 1

[roverman]

The purpose of my post regarding MAN's imminent progression to the 25mppa+ league was essentially to beat the drum a little and say 'didn't he do well?!" and especially without the advantages enjoyed by most or all of the other players.

As for my factual basis or reasoning, which some have questioned:

1. I think we can all agree that Manchester is not the UK capital and not its dominant city in aviation, tourism and GDP.

2. State funding. I cannot say categorically that MAN has never benefitted from any central government financial machinery such as public loans but I feel reasonably secure in claiming that MAN has never been owned or managed by an agency of the national government and has never since WW2 had national government investment in the core infrastructure - runways, taxiways, terminals, ATC. As another poster pointed out, MAN has made substantial financial contributions to the rail and tram infrastructure serving the airport, indeed it stepped in to ensure the rail link was built in 1993 when BR got the wobbles.

3. Flag carriers. I concede that for many decades up to 2008 the UK flag carrier in the form of BEA/BOAC/BA did operate a base at MAN, and at one time had a reasonable network of European destinations and a token North Atlantic service. This no doubt helped to establish MAN as the principal airport in the North. However it was a double-edged sword because the flag carrier often used its influence to prevent others operating international services from MAN to new destinations, despite having no intention of flying the route itself. Terminal investment needs to be recovered in fees and charges, but we know that MAN could not sustain the £33-£42 per passenger charged at Heathrow, (MAN currently £7 to £14 including Security). So I think I am right in saying that flag carriers will pay hefty charges for top class facilities at their home hubs, because in BA's case at least, clearly they are doing.


Position in Europe, by volume:

MAN has indeed slipped down the league table of European airports measured by passenger volume alone. When you look at the ones which have overtaken MAN they are all airports which have at least one of the advantages which MAN does not enjoy, the ones I listed in my previous posts.

MAN openly acknowledges that its terminal facilities have become out of date and fallen behind many other airports. This will be more exposed once it moves into the 25mppa bracket and is measured alongside the major hubs in ASQ surveys. The T2 expansion project will address this but will be a few years in delivery. MAN does exceptionally well with what it has and we can look forward to a continuing excellent choice of destinations and services and an improved, if not gold-plated, customer experience to come.