looks like the below is an exmple of how not to do it........ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-52539141

GVROS just on finals, 5 of the remaining 7 VS B747s now at MAN.

Interesting that the BBC reports Virgin is to quit Gatwick, following in the footsteps of BA. No mention of VS at MAN - so kind of good news for MAN (maybe?)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52542038

The Sky News report includes this:-

"The re-focusing of operations on Heathrow and Manchester airports is a major blow to Gatwick, which was notified last week that BA might never resume flying from London's second-busiest airport"

If this is correct, and if Virgin survive, then this is great news for Manchester and possibly the development of a proper long-haul base.

Looking at the announcement by Virgin the B744's next operations will be leaving MAN to end their days in the desert (or some other airport for scrap).

Thats what it looks like next stop Marana, really cant see the B747 coming back unless there is some sort of major demand for MCO and BGI. ( Should have been on VS75 yesterday ).

The company have already said the 747s are being retired?
its not speculation its in the sky news item.

Being reported in today’s MEN that local councils are to lend MAG £260m to support it through the current crisis. Suspect it may be to plug the gap that the Council’s themselves will be facing due to the likelihood of no dividends being paid out by the airport for at least two years.

It doesn't actually say that, nor have BA.

Re VIR

It was on the Sky news bulletins.
LGW to close with focus on LHR and MAN.

Never saw that route launch coming

Could we see a MAN-GLA & MAN-EDI to follow alongside the GLA-BHX and EDI-BHX routes?

GLA and EDI are relatively close to MAN with regular rail services offered directly from Manchester Airport Station using brand new Nova train-sets. EDI should be offered by air with Loganair as well. So probably not opportunities for EasyJet.

However, Newquay is a different matter. Long surface journey times. Attractive tourism destination. Links a remote region to hubbing opportunities at MAN. No worries for pax concerning different rules for crossing into another country. Route has previously supported multiple daily rotations by FlyBe using their larger Embraer Jets. NQY-MAN is currently unserved and looks tailor-made for an EasyJet operation. MAN-IOM would make sense for them too. And an increase to daily on MAN-JER (from 3 x Weekly ops) once some 'normality' returns to air travel.

On the MAN-IOM front, the island (during normal times) requires multiple daily frequency to the Island from Manchester, unless easyJet could do at least 2 flights a day I believe the island may favour the current plan which would be Loganair operating E145s on multiple daily rotations per day. It would be amazing to see easyJet on the route but I’m not sure if they would.

You say 'hubbing' opportunity: easyJet doesn't really do hubbing. Even with their worldwide by easyJet, it's not a true hub and connection operation. I also do not believe Manchester is an airport where they offer that service.

If easyJet take up the route, I can't see there being connections beyond self-connecting on separate tickets with another carrier at Manchester. It may still be popular, though, with people wanting to go to the South West during summer.

If easyJet did launch MAN-IOM, I would be surprised if the frequencies are regular and consistent. They're not regular and consistent as it is on their LPL-IOM route as they operate at different times on different days.

Didn't EZY apply for MAN-IOM slots last year but it was dropped last minute?

This is reassuring to hear. The local authority shareholders have recieved handsome dividends from the airport for a good number of years now without making any significant investments themselves. Being a shareholder is not a one-way transaction and I'm already anticipating my MCC council tax bill will rise next year!

It was reported on twitter [i think by someone who works at MAN] that crew rosters had MAN-IOM on them. it was later reported that the rosters were subsequently changed to MAN-BHD for the times in question

I know there’s been a fair few times that the MAN crew have been called out to do LPL-IOM off standby, so you never know - missed communication and assumptions might have been the culprit.