MOD are shutting bases, not opening them...
The right answer is D) - any sensible person wouldn't be starting from this position, so it's a false question.
The way Thomson were treated/handled, effectively hung out the "closed" sign in terms of the airline industry - it all looks a bit odd - the only logic I can see is that the deal just agreed with Thomson was so bad that it was kicked into touch once somebody did the hard sums. Note also that all the comments from Peel are along the lines of "if somebody comes along we'll talk to them", not that they are out looking for business (this may just be the realistic approach that there isn't anything out there).
Also, although the MasterPlan seems to be heading in the right direction, in my view the inclusion of housing means that it will preclude anything but the most minor development of the current terminal site for airline services. Clearly Peel aren't that confident in the airports fortune's or they wouldn't need such pump priming funding for the rest of the development - as Beefer points out regularly, they aren't exactly short of a bob or two.
Expecting the southside industrial development to be occupied by largely aviation related activities also looks "optimistic", unless a tenuous link can be drawn to more general logistics businesses.
Maybe CO is right though, and there is a master plan behind the "MasterPlan" that nobody else has spotted and it will be alright on the night
Last edited by SWBKCB; 12th Sep 2016 at 20:24.