Ah sorry I clearly didn't realise that Manchester was such a backwater that it was unable to deliver a sufficient level of receipt and distribution despite handling 100,000 tonnes of freight a year.

Suggest you consider bringing this up with Supply Chain Co-ordination Limited - The NHS contractor and their decisions on points of entry and the distribution networks .

I am not criticising Manchester Airports cargo ( belly and mostly roaded in and out) capacity under normal circumstances.

In the absence of much MAN discussion :- Think I have seen 3 x B773 of Kuwait Airways into MAN this morning. Purely out of interest, were these Government repat flights or bringing in medical supplies?

they have all arrived empty and are taking Kuwait 🇰🇼 nationals back to KWI. There is 3 planned for today, tomorrow and Wednesday. 9 repat flights in total back to KWI.

KU1320 has also just left GLA enroute to KWI. Are there really that amount of Kuwaiti nationals in the UK?

The answer is clearly 'yes' because the flights exist with that number of seats. If we roughly assume that there are 400 seats on a 773, then four 773 (three to Manchester, one to Glasgow) is roughly 1600 seats. I'm going to presume that some of those seats are taken out for social distancing to make it perhaps around 1200 seats. Maybe 300 or 400 students across universities in northern England and Scotland, then the remaining 900 or so seats divided by an arbitrary household size of 4 leaves around 225 household. Not that many spread across northern England and Scotland, really. Kuwaiti government may have sold some of the seats to other Gulf countries as well.

We have now had 6 x B773 flights into MAN operating repatriation services back to Kuwait, 3 more today following the 3 yesterday. As mentioned above I understand that there are flights planned for tomorrow (29th) also.

Here's some info

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1665211/middle-east

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1665696/middle-east

A KU A330 into DUB as well this morning, plus Jazeera flights into LGW using A320N yesterday and today

Whilst news of British Airways redundancies is a seismic blow to aviation in the capital BA can at least count on the support of one notable member at Westminster, Mr Mike Kane MP.

His twitter feed became wash with indignation and rightfully so given the large number of employees who are about to move from "furlough" to "flung out".

Former employees of Thomas Cook based at Manchester who sadly lost their jobs last year might well be wondering where the protests of indignation from their local MP were when there plight was all over the national press.

Likewise Manchester based Flybe employees who suffered a similar fate when the domestic hub disintegrated are now stacking shelves at Aldi, they too suffered a similar level of deafening silence.

If only the local MP had been a wee bit more vocal in both cases.

Come to think of it who is the local MP for the Manchester Airport constituency ?

"Step forward Mike"

.

Further to this, has he made any comments in support of VIRGIN ATLANTIC which operates the largest remaining programme of Transatlantic scheduled flights from the airport located in his constituency?

If I'm not mistaken the constituency that the airport falls into is Wythenshawe & Sale East.

The MP is Mike Kane

I wonder how many of his constituents worked at MAN with the airlines, (including TCX & flybe), handlers and numerous other companies who now find themselves on furlough or without a job. Perhaps his lack of public support up to now will be in their minds when next time they vote?

Sadly, Mike Kane's constituency is rock-solid Labour. Always has been.

Not a political comment, just noting that the unworthy Kane will likely be re-elected for as long as he remains in that party.

Just going back to the discussion regarding dedicated cargo flights (or lack thereof) at MAN, this was posted on an AirportNewsUK twitter feed yesterday :

'TheHutGroup will begin a new cargo airline to be based at Manairport from October. Will work with SingaporeAir to set up the venture. Absolutely huge news and a welcome addition of pure cargo to MAN, a sector that's been in decline for a while'.

Hope they find some ground equipment to unload these freighters if the service commences !

Constituents need to face Kane down on his views re the local airport the major employer and economical drivers for South Manchester over those of Heathrow and BA at every opportunity.

There are plenty including regular surgeries and similar meetings.

That said R3 is pretty much dead in the water for some considerable time.

The fact he is supposedly a socialist and in probably the safest seat in the land yet cheer leads a commercial and in many ways competing business 180 miles away really needs addressing.

Pity I haven’t lived in the ward for twenty years so haven’t got local voice these days.

Very disappointed that the MP is quick enough to share his concerns about job losses in another part of the country...but last month and since hasn’t bothered to acknowledge his constituents directly & indirectly affected by the loss of Flybe.

Personally if Mr Kane does feel obliged to comment on aviation matters it might be more prudent to cover those which effect his own constituency.

He’s the Shadow Minister for Transport - do you expect him to remain silent on the matter?

The point being raised Andrew is his silence with regards to Virgin Atlantic and Flybe plus Thomas Cook.
These are all airlines that provide, or provided, employment to his constituents in Wythenshawe. Why did he not publically support them?

He’s on record in Hansard speaking about the negative impact of those events on Manchester Airport, the customers and employees and the wider Northern economy.

A quick search of the MEN website will bring up stories quoting him on the horrendous impacts of the Thomas Cook on his constituents who worked for the airline and tour operator.

Here’s one example from Hansard. I am not one for defending MPs but I couldn’t and wouldn’t do their job as quite frankly there’s always one part of their constituency that will throw brickbats at them at any opportunity, and others happy to jump on the bandwagon without checking the facts.

Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)

The Minister went to school a stone’s throw from Manchester airport in my constituency, but is the voice of northern England being heard? After the Thomas Cook debacle, 2.8 million passengers were taken out of capacity. If this Flybe collapse happens, that will affect 1.8 million passengers out of Manchester airport. I know that people are worried about climate change, but APD was a tax devised by London civil servants in Whitehall cooling towers that crippled the growth of regional airports throughout our country, and we are paying the price for that.