The news that the Air China are "next up" should not be underplayed.
Manchester now has clear 1st mover advantage.
Agreed - particularly as Roverman posted earlier
The Chinese Consul-General, based in Manchester, went further than Charlie Cornish in his address. He spoke of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong service, Hainan starting today, and then specifically mentioned 'Air China to Shanghai' soon / later this year.
It would be a tremendous loss of face if this was not to happen now.
One wonders whether loss of face issues were involved in the cancellation of the BHX service after Keyhole went very public very early on? In the case of MAN, these announcements seem to be part of an agreed strategy between the two sides.