Two things, they got a good deal out of BRU and they are losing a fortune. Those are supposed to be B77Ws but traffic growth wasn't there.

There's no such thing as a "premier domestic hub", the concept itself is false. LHR still has a fair few domestic connections plugging in long haul into the regions. I think GLA serves more UK destinations than any other, at least it did until a few years back, but the actual numbers are not massive, particularly since Gordon Brown is trying to tax the concept out of existence.

'could MAN emerge as a credible contender to be the UK's premier domestic hub?'

er No.............Your head has clearly been in the clouds for
some time and you have therefore failed to keep up to date on
the latest 'trends' re: credit crunch.

MM

I would be surprised if MAN didn't lead the revival of air travel in the UK. BBC are moving a number of offices 'up north' and added to that the process of renovating the most invested city on the planet will start to be fruitful as the economy recovers, I predict MAN to lead the way, even if it is small.

I would also be surprised if we don't see an airline, over the next 5 years, move into MAN and create a hub system. I personally hope for either Lufthansa/BMI or Jet Airways and if, as said above, they are losing money by the flight I would like to think they may make a move to the UK. It would be a major benefit for MAN to grab six daily flights, whether A332 or B77W.

I some how see it a far fetched fantasy in the short term but in the medium (5 years), I would like to think a large long haul carrier would look at MAN.

We shall have to wait and see...:ok:

Is that the time!................

MM

I'm intrigued as to how the whole BD/LH saga will play out. If BD needs to get more capital into the company, the "quick" way will be sell LHR slots- a.net has a suggestion regarding what destinations to be pared back or cut, with MAN being downgraded to 4 a day. This has the potential to mean that Star Alliance will have seen a large chunk of feeding traffic at LHR from LBA/MME/MAN taken away from it in the space of 12 months. Therefore, will LH add a frequency to FRA and MUC or add capacity, with TK and LX tweaking their ops as well? or perhaps the alleged new plan in the BMI thread about the A330s being brought back may indicate the intention of creating what the Americans would loosely call a "focus city" (but that u-turn would look particularly silly even for bmi).

If any UK destination were to get an Indian airline operated scissor hub, it would be BHX.

I love Manchester but really?????

Manchester Airport is an enigma. They have 3 of the largest UK charter operators (TOM/TCX/MON) putting hundreds of thousands of pax through all year round. TCX calls it home base. The charter pax spend FAR more in the terminals than scheduled pax, yet the airport master plan is to shove all charters into T2 and leave T1 for the 'premium' scheduled traffic. Absolutely ridiculous!!! The airport chases a single rotation schedule operator like they were the golden goose egg and then crows about the airports' international connections. They really need to look at where their main revenue stream is coming from and invest some time and money there. One extra 777 might make the spotters go whooppee in the viewing park but they actively turned away the opportunity of an extra plane from my outfit. Newcastle were much more supportive both financially and operationally. The whole airport is a mishmash of ill-designed and badly laid out buildings and taxiways. They have installed a 'new' guidance system onto stand 23. Half the time it doesn't work and MAG think they are doing a great job. Half the developing world has proper guidance. Manchester has to file an ICAO difference due to its' non standard stand guidance.

Absolutely ridiculous. The people at the top need to take a long hard look and stop spouting about master plans for the next 300 years!

I think you will find there has been more money spent in Manchester since the turn of the millennium than any other city on the planet - that includes Dubai.

MUFC

you talk about a major carrier making MAN a 'hub' with upto 6 rotations a day. GOSH, so many!!!

TCX alone has somewhere between 10 and 15 based aircraft making around 30 rotations daily. Doesn't that count. I guess not because the charters are the great unwashed. Good job the big guys like Singapore are here. MAN really need their landing fees!!! Have you any idea how much TCX/TOM/MON pay compared to these wondrous scheduled carriers. And the charter brigade are treated like dirt.

It's about time the airport woke up and smelt the coffee and treated its existing customers properly and provided the service that they pay them for.

The six flights a day that I was referring to were meant to be compared against the CURRENT six at BRU.

Also, I have never once doubted the charter carriers - I fly with the 3 times a year minimum! They do provide MAN with a great income yet they are an economic IMPORT. We as a nation need more economic EXPORTS and in the shape of foreign airlines bringing in/transferring foreign nationals.

I think MAN are trying to increase the level of service by doing up the airport. It may be focused on retail but it is not MAN's fault that they need to make money from somewhere - you get what you pay for...

MUFC, The money was spent on football players ,deffo not on Manc airport !

It actually takes everything into account:

New sporting venues (Commonwealth games etc.)
Upgraded sporting venues (yes...OT)
New buildings (Hilton Tower etc.)
New transport links

etc. etc. etc.

I also think it will include the money spent on MA, whether it be a lot or not.

£9.5million investment in Manchester’s Biomedical Research Centre (School of Medicine - University of Manchester)

Just over a month ago they got nearly £10 million...

MUFC

Yes, you are absolutely right. You get what you pay for. Which in the case of Ringway over the years, has been the square root of nowt. A lovely shop is great, but some of the most confusing taxiway layouts and dangerous aircraft maneuvering areas and shambolic stand facilities DO NOT engender any faith in the running of the airport. And don't even get me started on economic imports and exports! An airport is a gateway - simple. The aircraft arrives and picks up. Goes elsewhere and then arrives back and disgorges. That is the simple economics. It matters not where the pax come from or where they go to, it does to an extent matter how much they spend in the retail outlets. Schedule services are not money makers. they are break evens at best. They just happen to give a supposed cache to the airport. MAN is one of worst airports within the UK at recognising its existing customer base and working with it to improve. And I say that from a knowledegable viewpoint, not as a pruner.

MUFC_Fan your posts are often spot on but on this you are mixing up millions with billions....

Sorry, my bad!:ok:

Does anybody expect any worthy news to come from the conference/meeting or whatever it is concerning Jet Airways et al. at Manchester?

Manchester - 7
 

Does anyone have the answer to why the single runway shuffle was in full effect yesterday morning? what chaos . . . all together now (according to rumour) . .
'There's a hole in my runway, dear liza dear liza,
There's a hole in my runway, my runway a hole . . '

T-M-D

Then Mend it Dear Liza!
 

But, alas no,
We'll patch it dear Liza dear Liza dear Liza
We'll patch it dear Liza, dear Liza we'll patch it.

But hey there's another hole in my runway dear Liza dear etc etc etc. - and taxyway, and apron - ohhh how I could go on! :{

This will continue for the foreseeable future as the budgets for repairs have been slashed yet again. Taxyway Alpha opposite the AVP will eventually sink into to its own Mud!!
To add to this R 2 is being shut-down from 10.30 - 16.30 every weekday and only open mornings on Sat and afternoon on Sun, thus placing even more strain on the worn out 23R / 05L and taxiway A - what a great piece of forward thinking? ( I haven't even mentioned "Slippery when wet" !!! - I believe that they are considering having illuminated sign boards along the edge of the runway in order to minimise blame / risk :rolleyes:)


I couldn't agree more with you flyinthesky - spot on.

As a pax at T1, ground level check-ins, then UP to security, then Down to shopping world, then Down to a bus then UP again to an aircraft - pathetic.:oh:

Confirmed that yesterday. Flying out to Frankfurt and saw EK017 on the depature board. Thought it was a mistake but started seeing paxs with Emirates tags on their handbaggage.
On way to gate came across Emirates crew and they were all lost in T1. Apparently terminal changed on Monday, good job I saw it as wife going to Thailand next Monday for months holiday so likely I would have still gone to T2 if I hadn't seen it yesterday.
Bad mistake in changing terminals. Would have been better the other way around with all charters T1 and scheduled T2. Manchester wtf!!!:ugh:

Why ?

As a user of both terminals I personally have no preference.

Personally I'd rather they found the cash to build the mid field pier opposite T2 as they'd originally planned. That would provide sufficient short-medium term capacity to put all traffic through T2 and free up T1 (and possibly T3) to be demolished and a new, compact easy to negotiate terminal to be built in their place over the longer term.

However this is but a pipedream and no doubt the current policy of meddling and making do with the original 1960's structures will continue well into the forseeable...