If we keep waiting Harry 1st May is only six weeks away and still no sign of the type of aircraft to be used so not too much time to get organised I.e. flight plans, handling etc.
Do you know how long it takes to file a flight plan?
Back in the day, for exercise 'Avon Express' in/out of Fairford, for three days solid we had a movement every 10 minutes and for a 12 hour shift at a time, in Brize Norton Ops, I would be hand writing a flight plan every 10 minutes and when I got ahead of myself I might have even had a cup of coffee.
A flight plan takes 5 minutes!
On to Handling:
Southend Airport ... "Can you handle us please?" ... "Yeah Sure" ... "Oh by the way, not that it's important, but what aircraft type are you?"
Back in another day I worked for Air UK in STN, that day I was acting Operations Duty Officer whilst the Operations Controller (who I was training) went for his 90 minute lunch break, as he left for lunch all was quiet.
By the time he returned all hell had broken loose, in 90 minutes I had sub-chartered in six different aircraft and operators, I had a Captain answering the telephones, it was chaos, Operations Controller just burst out laughing that my blood vessels were protruding from my head etc., we laughed about it for many a year thereafter.
So if it takes 5 minutes to file a flight plan, 15 minutes to sub-charter in an aircraft, with six weeks to go at which point should we start panicking to satisfy the spotter fraternity?