And Now Manston Sold….

In an ideal world yes it would make sense to use it rather than build a new airport. Snag is the customer airlines won’t like it at that location. They need it on the outskirts of London pref to the W/NW. That way it can benefit from shorter travelling times to other destinations in the UK. Quick links to London, HS2, M1, M40, M4 etc
To use Manston you need to connect to HS1. Even then that will not suit a lot of people who might decide to drive.
If however the decision is to move away from London and put in better infrastructure then I’d agree it would make more sense to develop Manston than Boris Island.

It would only serve the SE without some major infrastructure going in to get people there.

Don’t you agree though that it seems bizarre to want to spend many £bn’s on building a brand new airport when there is a perfectly good facility that already exists and could/should be developed; if it was given a chance to grow then it could at least go some way to alleviating the current capacity crisis that the UK is suffering from and at a significantly reduced amount?

KLM have announced their suspending their flights to AMS and that all customers who have got bookings on flights after April 10th are now being re-booked to fly from LHR…can you imagine having to drive all that way just to fly practically right over your house again in order to get to AMS…it’s madness?!

I can’t see the point of a major passenger airport in that location. It would only serve the SE without some major infrastructure going in to get people there. Even then it adds on time to get there if you come from outside of the SE.
As a training base and place for freight then yes. Personally I’d put a rail freight yard in there. Drop off cargo from a/c and also add on containers from HGV’s that have come across the EU and transport it across the UK without using the roads.
But as I look after some of those roads these days I would say that.

I would say that’s a pretty likely summary of the situation.

With more support from the council and from government in Manston as a part of future airport development in the south east it might have been a different story.

http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/manston_airport_ryanair_and_ba_freight_blows_behind_closure_1_3457492

So according to the above news article, the blame for the possible closure is being put down to the failure of flights to emerge from Ryanair, which were scrapped as a result of their second profit warning, and also a proposed freight deal with British Airways that also went elsewhere.

Frankly, I think that this is all just smoke and mirrors and the owners are trying desperately to pass the blame on to someone else.

Firstly, we all know what Ryanair are like when they choose to establish routes out of underserved airports. They tell these airports that they are willing to operate flights but they want to be paid a hefty fee upfront because they simply say that if it wasn’t for their flights there wouldn’t be an increase in the number of passengers using the airport. I really don’t think that their second profit warning had anything to do with it…more likely that the new owners were not willing to bow to Ryanair’s demands.

As for the proposed BA World Cargo move to Manston from Stansted…wasn’t this dealt with back in 2009, or has there been talk of them looking to re-locate their flights to Manston for a second time? BA have in fact just recently announced that they are cancelling their flights out of Stansted (operated under contract by Global Supply Systems/Atlas Air) altogether in favour of making use of more of their passenger fleet based at LHR in order to transport their freight/cargo around the world, so again I don’t think that this has anything to do with it.

Ann Gloag, founder of the Stagecoach empire, is believed to have decided there was no chance of the company becoming profitable in the medium term.

This statement made me laugh to a certain degree. Surely if she is as successful in business as she has clearly become as a result of her other business ventures, you might have thought that her due dilligence would have allowed her to come to this decision before she actually chose to buy the place…?

I could see it taking several years before the airport could even think about becoming profitable…so it very much depends on what she sees as a “medium” term outlook. Personally I think anyone who chooses to buy an airport with just a “medium term” outlook really should re-consider doing so because it clearly shows that she didn’t really have as much desire as she initially claimed and it also gave false hope to the locals that support the airport and for those people who actually work there and now risk loosing their jobs.

It still stinks of it being a cheap pile of tricks in order to gain a substantial amount of land that can/will be sold off for development at a substantial profit to what she actually paid for it when she bought it last year!

Having said all that though, I guess that if she had not chosen to buy it and another buyer was not found soon then we would more than likely have been looking at a possible closure of the airport much earlier than now.

Really is a sorry state of affairs. 🙁

And now nearly 8,000 signatures to the petition to stop it closing.

Since we never had any announcement about their plans one has to wonder if the Gloags intentions all along were to sell to developers and make a healthy profit on the deal. The local council has never offered more than lukewarm support and what has now happened is scarcely a surprise.

I have signed up but I am not optimistic that it will make any difference.

There is a parallel thread running in Historic which the mods have not yet merged.

Looking bad!! The closure of the airport is being discussed this morning. So much for the Gloags’ plans!! Wonder what will become of the two excellent small museums…:(.

Indeed, it has come as a huge shock to many, and apparently KLM have stopped taking bookings on their website from 8th April until such time as the future of the airport becomes clearer.

As many have suggested already on various social media sites, what would be the point of selling it on to developers…they’d only demolish all the current infrastructure and build a huge housing estate on the available land, which would provide short-term jobs during construction but then nothing at all after that other than more people living in an area that desperate needs investment and more jobs.

And the last time I checked the South-East of England was seeking additional aviation capacity…so why not spend some money developing Manston and improve the transport links to/from it in order to make it accessible to more people.

Not to mention the historical importance of the place too. I was only down there last week as I was meeting a friend for lunch and I visited one of the museums for the first-time and thought it was amazing.

It will be such a shame to see this place closed if that is what happens.

There is already a campaign that has reached 6,000+ signatures so far to try and save the airport from closure, below is a link:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-manston-airport?bucket&source=facebook-share-button&time=1395315011

From the airport website:

Today we advised our staff that Manston Airport will be entering a period of consultation over the possible closure of the airport.
We plan to continue to operate as normal during the period of consultation. Please contact your airline or tour operator over your specific planned flight arrangements.

KLM: 0871 231 0000
Newmarket: 0843 316 1156

B………. hell, keep us informed!

Looking bad!! The closure of the airport is being discussed this morning. So much for the Gloags’ plans!! Wonder what will become of the two excellent small museums…:(.

Indeed it was announced a few weeks ago but without great surprise, I suppose. Ironically last year we had Manston and Folkestone was cancelled now this year it’s the other way round.

I see that the Manston Airshow has been dropped again
It did receive a lot of negative publicity, especially with parking.

http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Manston-air-cancelled-talks-airports/story-20431419-detail/story.html

Exactly so, hence my scepticism. But I will be keen hear what the Gloags have to say in detail, once the deal is complete.

It’ll only work if they can get a major airline involved. Like EazyJet have with Southend.

As said, they will need the rail links in first.

Well that’s true and the plans have been around quite a while, I believe. A new station linking to the HS1 Javelin line is essential for any serious development plans. Manston to St Pancras in an hour is crucial.

Although unrelated to the Gloags, there are plans for a new 800 housing development to be built close to the airport, with the potential for a “Thanet Parkway” rail station to be built that will offer connections to London using the high-speed line.

http://www.manston-green.co.uk/

Thanks, although I thought you had found some new information on their plans. Perhaps she will put some flesh on the bare bones of the announcement once the deal is completed scheduled for the end of the month.

More information on the new owner for those of us not familiar with the lead up to this acquisition.

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Scotland-s-2nd-richest-woman-new-Manston-airport/story-19953741-detail/story.html#axzz2jahmfhq7

I too wish it well, being a local boy, but until the Gloags declare their detailed intentions I remain a sceptic. Apart from anything else it needs better links to become a serious contender.