The government stump up money to develop the Amsterdam route and before the contract ends the route may disappear. I would be interested to know how the flight was being used i.e. inward tourists v/s out bound tourists and the actual number of business passengers . I often hear that flights like this generate "x" £m for the local economy and generate "y" thousand jobs but i fail to see how outbound tourism would do that?? Im not sure how long the subsidy for the Stantead route continues for but wonder if it can support itself once the subsidy runs out and as with the Amsterdam route whether the passengers are bringing wealth to the region ? All these subsidies on top of an airport loosing a substantial sum of money every year that will probably need some major refurb or upgrade some time soon. Given that perfectly good transport links are available a short bus ride away at Edinburgh, the question is, is this just a vanity project ?
bb