Air Baltic served Manchester before the Ukrainian war broke out. Unfortunately lack of advertising, no branding and no push from the airport sounded its death nell.

We had the usual paragraph in the MEN from the then airport CEO welcoming the service but then zilch.

Manchester Airport has 250k followers on twitter and same on Facebook, I'm sure they could identify some routes and give them a lift "its free". I suspect both platforms are outsourced and run by 3rd parties so unless an airline coughs up for a promo there's nowt down. its a wasted resource that costs nothing.

Egyptair start soon MAN s/b pushing this NOW !

I'm sure CW will get to grips with PR/comms and that department soon.

I’d like to see Amman, potentially Ankara and in a dream world Washington

If we are talking about unserved destinations, there is still a lot of ground to be made up in the US. I am hopeful we may even see 3 or 4 returning destinations alongside LAS.. but watch this space I suppose .

Finnair up to 12 weekly on HEL

What happened with Air Baltic at MAN makes for a most unusual case study. IIRC, they had originally planned to launch MAN-RIX in S20 - I had a booking with them - but then a certain COVID-19 pandemic emerged and launch was delayed. As many will recall, 2021 was a dire year for air travel generally, but Air Baltic made the baffling decision to launch the MAN-RIX route that Summer anyway. Four times weekly with A220-300 equipment, no less. Air travel demand was mega-depressed at this time. It wasn't just the cumbersome outbound covid paperwork. The idea of having to devote one day of a short break finding a covid clinic in Latvia, and explaining (in what language?) that you required a very specific type of covid test there and then, with appropriate paperwork produced within hours at a reasonable cost ... NO, I didn't rebook for that Summer, and I don't think many others did either. Meanwhile, unfolding events proved Latvia to be one of the strictest covid jurisdictions around. They endured draconian covid lockdowns long after the UK had moved on. Air Baltic duly reduced MAN-RIX to 2 x weekly.

As we moved into 2022, things appeared to be looking up. The public had become disillusioned by the whole covid circus; discredited "experts" were justifiably ridiculed, showboating politicians were shown the door. Travel restrictions gradually eased, covid test requirements to return home were dropped, lockdown threats faded away. Though let's not forget that our likely next PM called this easing "reckless". Unfortunately for Air Baltic, as one existential threat receded, another burst upon the scene. Putin invaded Ukraine in late February 2022. This was devastating for Air Baltic. Their East-West hub business model over Riga evaporated at a stroke. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus closed off. Overflight airspace closed to the East. Meanwhile, perceived proximity to the war zone and fears that the Baltic States would be drawn in to the conflict adversely affected demand for air travel in the region. So MAN-RIX limped on into Summer 2022. Confidence gradually improved as all covid measures were rescinded and the war in Ukraine was contained.

I rebooked my own postponed MAN-RIX trip for late August 2022. Then I booked a further four return seats on the route for September 2022. In mid-Summer, I received an email from Air Baltic advising me that my September flights were cancelled and I was being refunded. Curiously, there was no similar message for my late August trip. News soon emerged that Air Baltic was terminating MAN-RIX at the end of August 2022. Meanwhile, Air Baltic had switched to a strategy of wet-leasing out A220's to carriers such as Eurowings, SAS and Swiss to keep the money flowing in. Times seemed desperate. But a surprise awaited me when I boarded that late August MAN-RIX flight ... one of the last operated on the route. It looked FULL! I was amazed. There may have been an odd empty seat on there, but certainly not many. I can't comment on the yield (obviously) but that flight confirmed to me that latent demand IS there once barriers to travel are removed. This made it even more disappointing that my September trip for four couldn't happen.

I can't blame MAG at all for what happened here. Yes, it would be a good thing to see them pursue a general strategy to raise awareness of less well known routes. But I think the challenges which brought down Air Baltic's MAN-RIX route were way beyond anything they could have influenced. However, I would urge MAN to re-engage with Air Baltic now. Of course the economics of MAN-RIX were beyond dire when they did operate the route. The accounts from that time must glow with red ink. But those circumstances were unique and will hopefully never be repeated in our lifetimes. Covid rules are a bad memory and the Ukraine war looks unlikely to spill over into the Baltic States. Those August 2022 flights operated just before the service was pulled demonstrated what the real underlying demand could be. Time to persuade Air Baltic to give MAN-RIX another go, IMHO. And, of course, we still have Ryanair in the fray as well. They're maintaining a 3 x weekly operation on MAN-RIX.

Nope no blame attached to MAG, just an observation for them to keep an eye on load factors and give a heave occasionally.

You can also add the A220 engine issues to the mix…

Can anybody confirm the rumour that Charlie Cornish and his senior executive team have agreed to renounce all salary bonuses until Hi-Lo cargo handling capability is restored to the Manchester Airport campus? Good business is avoidably being turned away to the detriment of the region and potential airline customers. I applaud Mr Cornish and his team for making this gesture - if true - because it demonstrates to shareholders that the executive team cares about the regrettable loss of business implied, and will accept a personal financial sacrifice until they can resolve this unfortunate situation. Stakeholders deserve no less, after all. As one senior exec is alleged to utter frequently: "inadequate service is unworthy of generous reward."

Rumour suggests that they will resume accepting salary bonuses with effect from the date that a fully-trained team handles it's first freighter of the new 'cargo welcome' era at MAN using based Hi-Lo equipment.

Ozzy - a priceless post.

Thank you.

Bonuses are paid for hitting or exceeding previously agreed targets, unless lack of freight handling capability is deemed to be bringing MAN into disrepute…….

MAN in disrepute for persistently turning away cargo flights??? Surely not!!! :}​​​​​​​

A wonderful "rumour" Ozzy. If only .........!

Out of interest, are there any other European airports of a comparable size to MAN in passenger numbers that don't have at least one hi-lo on their site.for upper deck cargo handling?
Athens, Zurich, Vienna & Milan Malpensa for example were of a similar size for 2022.

And second part of the quiz question, how any other European airports of a comparable size to MAN in passenger numbers that don't have at least one hi-lo on their site.for upper deck cargo handling have an airport owned by the same group with a significant cargo handling facility just down the road?

Given the pressing issue of the day is a pain point for parking passenger narrow bodies, how does going after wide body cargo traffic address that priority? One heavy takes up two narrow body stands in the main?

Mrs Mac came through new T2 this morning reporting broken A/C and none working lifts. When speaking to one of the staff at the perfume counter she was told that a lot of stuff is failing on the newly built areas and Laing O,Rourke are very slow at fixing stuff.

Long queues at food counters, and toilets apparently, and the flow through Duty Free badly planned. Now this women worked in the industry actually running airports and knows a bit about how to make them tick,so her points are perhaps more justified than mine as I am just SLF though occasionally have built a few terminals.

My own take on T2 is that the structure looks a little below parr, and is more akin to a bus station but my comments are more aesthetically based and QA/QC of the products used, hers are operationally based and far important for the success of the business. I will not mention her comments on Meet and Greet parking service she has been forced to use due to lack of parking in the terminal apparently. She was not happy handing over keys to a £100k , car so as I said before she will be looking at Liverpool/ Leeds in future. I do hope it comes back un damaged 🙂

Jet 2 were fine with Air Tanker 330. I came down from Munich with LH and no issues and I got to sleep in 🙂

Cheers
Mr Mac

That's only a significant issue between 11pm and 6am - most for the rest of the day there is ample space. That said the remote stands 62 to 72 will be lost soon enough to allow space for the dual taxiway and that will make things a little tricky until the cargo sheds go to re-open space to get those remotes back.

This is all you really wanted to say isn't it.

Liverpool…Leeds..? Good luck there then 🤪🤪 !

Come on Skip, you are better than that, yes there are some choke points but there is no issue re parking.
One could equally argue there is simply no room at EMA 2200 0600 works both ways ?

Manchester is not a poundland Luton airport catering just for Tracey and Sharon who just want their annual week in Ibiza. Its range of operations including freight are absolute critical to the Northern economy, I'm sure the Greater Manchester shareholders who own the 35% stake in the airport would agree. It's remit (was), is to provide a service not just for holidaymakers but the wider business community.

Handling cargo used to be an absolutely vital piece of the North Of England supply chain but now is a spoke of its sister airports and others rather than thee primary spoke. I am now reading airline after airline applying to use Manchester but seemingly being turned away. The airport seems time to be throwing the excuse back at the handling agents who do not have the right equipment..... "Well hang on, get some agents in who do..!!!" All airports in the UK have minimum service level agreements which they have to meet in terms of staffing and equipment.

Manchester Airport it seems is turning a blind eye to this and seems happy to use it as an excuse to turn away business.Prestwick, East Midlands, Birmingham, Stansted, Heathrow, Gatwick and wait for it even Bournemouth all have relevant infastructure in place but seemingly not Manchester.

Lets for one minute turn this round.If this was a policy directive enacted by Westminster major companies, business owners, and agencies such as Marketing Manchester and the Northern Powerhouse Forum would be screaming blue murder, but it is seemingly happening under the noses of Manchester Airport major shareholders without a by or leave.

👌😅😅😅😅