MANSTON -3
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As example CWL has a railway station, they nenamed Rhoose village station 'Airport' and, I think, a bus shuttle to/from is provided, if Manston is trying to copycat SEN then Manston doesn't have SEN's advantage of a railway line passing by the end of the runway!
LTNman
The railway station named Teesside Airport is 15 minutes walk from MME and only two trains per WEEK stop there, on Saturday and Sunday. Hardly a valid comparison with what SEN can offer or what, maybe, MSE will be able to offer one day.
The railway station named Teesside Airport is 15 minutes walk from MME and only two trains per WEEK stop there, on Saturday and Sunday. Hardly a valid comparison with what SEN can offer or what, maybe, MSE will be able to offer one day.
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LTNman,
It seems we agree, the point I was making that to build a (remote) railway station near to Manston would be a waste of taxpayers money.
Manston is one of those 'oddball' airfields, ex military yet for a decade or few the only military aircraft based there were a couple of choppers thus it began to operate commercially whilst still under military control.
But, with the military now gone, it doesn't mean that there is a market for it to operate successfully as a commercial airport, particularly a passenger airport with a catchment area that only might stretch as far as the Surrey and Sussex borders, other than that passengers would need to travel past the London airport(s) to get there, why would they want to?
If there were a market for every ex military airfield to operate as a commercial airport, for every village or town to have it's own airport, then East Anglia would have, perhaps, 50 airports, Lincolnshire perhaps 20 airports and so on!
Other airfields operate successfully without airline services, airfields such as Dunsfold, Lasham, Cambridge, Biggin Hill and they manage it without having rail stations!
It seems we agree, the point I was making that to build a (remote) railway station near to Manston would be a waste of taxpayers money.
Manston is one of those 'oddball' airfields, ex military yet for a decade or few the only military aircraft based there were a couple of choppers thus it began to operate commercially whilst still under military control.
But, with the military now gone, it doesn't mean that there is a market for it to operate successfully as a commercial airport, particularly a passenger airport with a catchment area that only might stretch as far as the Surrey and Sussex borders, other than that passengers would need to travel past the London airport(s) to get there, why would they want to?
If there were a market for every ex military airfield to operate as a commercial airport, for every village or town to have it's own airport, then East Anglia would have, perhaps, 50 airports, Lincolnshire perhaps 20 airports and so on!
Other airfields operate successfully without airline services, airfields such as Dunsfold, Lasham, Cambridge, Biggin Hill and they manage it without having rail stations!
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Other airfields operate successfully without airline services, airfields such as Dunsfold, Lasham, Cambridge, Biggin Hill and they manage it without having rail stations!
True but those airports are surrounded by people, Manston is mostly surrounded by fish. Even with a station, as can be seen at Teeside, does not mean passengers.
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Parkway station
I am an avid Manston fan and live rather selfishly in the hope of some useful routes, but I just do not see the merits of the parkway plan. What would be the time saving in getting off a train and then on to a bus at Cliffsend as opposed to the same at Ramsgate or Minster? Unless there was a monorail (think Gatwick North to South) linking the terminal to the station I do not see the logic (I am not suggesting for one second that anyone will build a monorail). Adding another station would also mean that the current train times from the rest of Thanet would have to increase to allow for the stop. A useful station would have to be much much closer to the airfield. Ah but wait haven't KCC just spent millions on a new dual carriageway that now blocks any simple solution? How I wish Manston would flourish but until it is under an hour from the terminal to St Pancras I think I am just a dreamer. ps I cannot understand KCC's opposition to Boris Island. East Kent desperately needs jobs and investment, we also need a lower Thames crossing. London MUST have more capacity over the next 20 years, An airfield out at sea is the best of the a bad bunch as far as safety and population disturbance is concerned and has been shown to work (Tokyo and HK amongst others), the Dubai soverign wealth fund has said it would finance the project, and Manston in such close proximity could become the freight hub for the scheme. All that said, a link from Manston to a major hub airport would make travelling so much easier (for me)! But so would Boris Island.
Last edited by furmanek; 26th Jan 2011 at 08:48.
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Furmanek,
Manston is on a peninsula, the passengers can only travel there to/from the west, not from the north, south or east, alas to the west of Manston major airports already exist with available capacity and/or empty seats.
Should, at a time in the future, London need more capacity there might be a case where LGW goes to a dual runway operation, they've already considered more runway(s) at STN, Southend is developing, Cambridge is sitting there with an M11 link to/from London, Biggin Hill might 'lose' it's 'ticket sales' prohibition and then there is Birmingham with approval in place for a runway extension, a motorway complex, rail station and monorail already in situ and with train times from/to London set to decrease.
There is no need for an island airport and Manston stands very little chance of significant scheduled traffic, perhaps some IT charter work but Manston stands a better chance concentrating on maintenance, freight, parked up aircraft etc.
Manston is on a peninsula, the passengers can only travel there to/from the west, not from the north, south or east, alas to the west of Manston major airports already exist with available capacity and/or empty seats.
Should, at a time in the future, London need more capacity there might be a case where LGW goes to a dual runway operation, they've already considered more runway(s) at STN, Southend is developing, Cambridge is sitting there with an M11 link to/from London, Biggin Hill might 'lose' it's 'ticket sales' prohibition and then there is Birmingham with approval in place for a runway extension, a motorway complex, rail station and monorail already in situ and with train times from/to London set to decrease.
There is no need for an island airport and Manston stands very little chance of significant scheduled traffic, perhaps some IT charter work but Manston stands a better chance concentrating on maintenance, freight, parked up aircraft etc.
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Disagree very very strongly with you, LTNman. Sorry, but Ryanair haven't been at every airport for all eternity, so how in heaven's name do you suppose that airports survived in the late 1990s when Ryanair was not such a major player (compared to what it is today).
There is hope for Manston. Indeed, it has huge potential and it will probably only be half a decade until the airport is needed on the SE England/London airport scene to take capacity. Why demolish or indeed build?
Just use Manston.
There is hope for Manston. Indeed, it has huge potential and it will probably only be half a decade until the airport is needed on the SE England/London airport scene to take capacity. Why demolish or indeed build?
Just use Manston.
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PF, don't worry, I'm not falling into the same snare incurred by a certain BHX fanatic 
.
My point is just that investing in Manston is considerably cheaper than building in the Thames, and would have less effect than expanding Stansted, or for that matter Gatwick or Heathrow. Musn't get too carried away (!!) but you see my point?
. My point is just that investing in Manston is considerably cheaper than building in the Thames, and would have less effect than expanding Stansted, or for that matter Gatwick or Heathrow. Musn't get too carried away (!!) but you see my point?
Last edited by Aero Mad; 27th Jan 2011 at 15:30.
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Aero Mad,
Do you believe all the passengers travelling thru the London airports originate and terminate in London, in England?
No they don't, many are connecting passengers that, they hope, will not set foot outside the airport ..... however transferring between LHR T1/2/3 and T4/5 has become an inconvenience, National Express do a roaring trade transferring passengers between LHR, LGW, STN, LTN or similar, just how far is this supposed to go?
When I travel with KLM, or Lufthansa, or Swiss etc, I am not required to arrive at RTM and depart from AMS, arrive at DUS and depart from CGN or arrive at ZRH and depart from GVA, one transfers to/from the same airport and this is where London is already failing to compete with the competition.
If Manston were ever to get anywhere the people that would need convincing would be the paying public, people that live in Middlesex only want to fly from LHR, people that live in Sussex only want to fly from LGW, against their wishes they unwillingly need to transfer between the two, try selling them tickets from/to a Battle of Britain airfield on the Kent coast ..... WTF!
Do you believe all the passengers travelling thru the London airports originate and terminate in London, in England?
No they don't, many are connecting passengers that, they hope, will not set foot outside the airport ..... however transferring between LHR T1/2/3 and T4/5 has become an inconvenience, National Express do a roaring trade transferring passengers between LHR, LGW, STN, LTN or similar, just how far is this supposed to go?
When I travel with KLM, or Lufthansa, or Swiss etc, I am not required to arrive at RTM and depart from AMS, arrive at DUS and depart from CGN or arrive at ZRH and depart from GVA, one transfers to/from the same airport and this is where London is already failing to compete with the competition.
If Manston were ever to get anywhere the people that would need convincing would be the paying public, people that live in Middlesex only want to fly from LHR, people that live in Sussex only want to fly from LGW, against their wishes they unwillingly need to transfer between the two, try selling them tickets from/to a Battle of Britain airfield on the Kent coast ..... WTF!
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Yes, Manston probably won't be good for transfer pax but what about the millions who do originate from London/SE England and have access to public transport (for future rail connections to Manston etc...)
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Aero Mad,
Can you name one scheduled service destination to fly to whereas you can be assured that no passengers will want to be connecting from/to another flight or flights?
Can you name one scheduled service destination to fly to whereas you can be assured that no passengers will want to be connecting from/to another flight or flights?
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On the basis that Manston would a decent service to more than 10 destinations, some passengers would be able to transfer however those who could not would obviously need to use another London airport (you don't need to shut Gatwick or Heathrow!!).
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Aero Mad,
But if Heathrow and/or Gatwick are offering the same destinations as Manston why would the passengers want to travel, incurring additional travelling expenses in the process, all the way to Manston?
But if Heathrow and/or Gatwick are offering the same destinations as Manston why would the passengers want to travel, incurring additional travelling expenses in the process, all the way to Manston?