£800m development near Manchester Airport

[droylsdenblue]

A guy I know, an ex mayor of Tameside who sits on the Airport committee told me the Abu Dhabi government had twice tried to buy Manchester airport and the money they were offering was beyond belief.

Let's say it was 5 billion. Why not spend that on giving our economy a boost and lessening the pain of the public sector cuts for a few years??

GMC don't seem to think like that, it's like the supposed £300m offer for the Etihad stadium they allegedly turned down while they were making mass cutbacks and redundancies.
I suppose once the income has gone it's gone.

 

[MCFCTrick]

Re: £800m Manchester City Airport Revamp

Manchester Airport needs every single penny of the proposed £800m spent on it and ASAP.
When compared to the likes of Zurich, Stuttgart, Schipol etc it is a toy town of an airport.
It is an embarrassment to the City of Manchester.

I have been to quite a few airports around the world and Manchester is one of the better ones I have visited

Ditto...it is better than many similar sized city's airports...

 

[Ducado]

A guy I know, an ex mayor of Tameside who sits on the Airport committee told me the Abu Dhabi government had twice tried to buy Manchester airport and the money they were offering was beyond belief.

Let's say it was 5 billion. Why not spend that on giving our economy a boost and lessening the pain of the public sector cuts for a few years??

GMC don't seem to think like that, it's like the supposed £300m offer for the Etihad stadium they allegedly turned down while they were making mass cutbacks and redundancies.
I suppose once the income has gone it's gone.

You are correct it's a buisiness decision (who are GMC anyway I presume you mean the Local Authorities that jointly own the airport) why should they sell something that gives them a regular income and will do so for many years to come, and in the long term they (meaning you and me) will get more from the deal.

Anyway it's a fantastic bit of news for Manchester and the North West in general

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Manchester Airport is not at all bad, having used it many, many times over the years. They could do with a little monorail or something to get between terminals better but apart from that it's ok. Access to it is good and everything's pretty accessible once you're there.

I worked with the senior management in 2000 to help them convert their 15 year strategy into reality but it was hard work. They wanted to double passenger numbers by 2015 but they've barely increased them. They were a bit sniffy about the budget airlines as the they thought they had a premium product but that ignored reality. You have to sell routes to airlines but it can be a Catch-22 as you have to have something to offer but that's difficult unless you have a busy airport. Also there's only so many people in the catchment area, which limits the appeal. To be a successful hub, you need volume and low costs and the latter is currently impossible in the UK.

The local councils have never shown any ability to design and implement a workable strategy. They should let someone run the airport who can invest in it and has the will and ability to make it work.

 

[EricBrooksGhost]

Manchester Airport is not at all bad, having used it many, many times over the years. They could do with a little monorail or something to get between terminals better but apart from that it's ok. Access to it is good and everything's pretty accessible once you're there.

I worked with the senior management in 2000 to help them convert their 15 year strategy into reality but it was hard work. They wanted to double passenger numbers by 2015 but they've barely increased them. They were a bit sniffy about the budget airlines as the they thought they had a premium product but that ignored reality. You have to sell routes to airlines but it can be a Catch-22 as you have to have something to offer but that's difficult unless you have a busy airport. Also there's only so many people in the catchment area, which limits the appeal. To be a successful hub, you need volume and low costs and the latter is currently impossible in the UK.

The local councils have never shown any ability to design and implement a workable strategy. They should let someone run the airport who can invest in it and has the will and ability to make it work.

The owner MAG has bigger ideas. It now owns Stansted after a little help from an Aussie investment group. I have a feeling they will look abroad as well. Seems they have a knack of generating investment at the moment.

 

[NPBlue]

As someone who has grown up and lived most of my life near the airport, the undiluted hype regarding it's importance to the area begins to fade after a few decades.

Does anyone remember the ridiculous claims that building the new runway, which is back to front and the wrong way round, would create 50,000 jobs?

Over the years I have got used to inflated claims from the publicity department of MAG. They are very quick to phone the press up and tell the world record numbers of passengers have endured the misery of air travel through their airport, but are strangely quiet when passenger and freight numbers tumble.

There are acres of unused office space around the airport at the moment, and they want to erect more buildings that will be similarly under occupied.

Let them build them, and I'm sure the airport directors will pat each other on the back and move on to their next ego massaging project.

It's just my opinion, but most of the buildings will remain empty for years, like the ones currently on site.

 

[Ducado]

As someone who has grown up and lived most of my life near the airport, the undiluted hype regarding it's importance to the area begins to fade after a few decades.

Does anyone remember the ridiculous claims that building the new runway, which is back to front and the wrong way round, would create 50,000 jobs?

Over the years I have got used to inflated claims from the publicity department of MAG. They are very quick to phone the press up and tell the world record numbers of passengers have endured the misery of air travel through their airport, but are strangely quiet when passenger and freight numbers tumble.

There are acres of unused office space around the airport at the moment, and they want to erect more buildings that will be similarly under occupied.

Let them build them, and I'm sure the airport directors will pat each other on the back and move on to their next ego massaging project.

It's just my opinion, but most of the buildings will remain empty for years, like the ones currently on site.

I don't think the development has much to do with the airport

 

[TGR]

Manchester Airport is not at all bad, having used it many, many times over the years. They could do with a little monorail or something to get between terminals better but apart from that it's ok. Access to it is good and everything's pretty accessible once you're there.

I worked with the senior management in 2000 to help them convert their 15 year strategy into reality but it was hard work. They wanted to double passenger numbers by 2015 but they've barely increased them. They were a bit sniffy about the budget airlines as the they thought they had a premium product but that ignored reality. You have to sell routes to airlines but it can be a Catch-22 as you have to have something to offer but that's difficult unless you have a busy airport. Also there's only so many people in the catchment area, which limits the appeal. To be a successful hub, you need volume and low costs and the latter is currently impossible in the UK.

The local councils have never shown any ability to design and implement a workable strategy. They should let someone run the airport who can invest in it and has the will and ability to make it work.

Zurich have turned their airport into a highly succesful hub these days and Switzerland is far from a low cost economy by any measure. They have taken traffic from London, Paris & Schipol and continue to do so. The airport is genuinely superb with fantastic facilities. Your bags are virtually always on the conveyor when you arrive, there are very few problems if any with queues at security it is modern, spacious and as far as an airport can be it is pretty welcoming. It makes Manchester Airport look like what it is: A shabby, provincial 'holiday airport'.

 

[yerwot?]

Manchester Airport is not at all bad, having used it many, many times over the years. They could do with a little monorail or something to get between terminals better but apart from that it's ok. Access to it is good and everything's pretty accessible once you're there.

I worked with the senior management in 2000 to help them convert their 15 year strategy into reality but it was hard work. They wanted to double passenger numbers by 2015 but they've barely increased them. They were a bit sniffy about the budget airlines as the they thought they had a premium product but that ignored reality. You have to sell routes to airlines but it can be a Catch-22 as you have to have something to offer but that's difficult unless you have a busy airport. Also there's only so many people in the catchment area, which limits the appeal. To be a successful hub, you need volume and low costs and the latter is currently impossible in the UK.

The local councils have never shown any ability to design and implement a workable strategy. They should let someone run the airport who can invest in it and has the will and ability to make it work.

The presence of the local councils as decision makers would surely deter any serious money coming
in. Local politics, and rank amateurs make a big red flag, and will maintain MIA as a minnow for the forseeable future. The low-cost carriers give traffic volume but not profit as they drive a very hard bargain, having other regional airports as leverage.

 

[york away to this!]

Does this mean I will be able to smell more aviation fuel whilst sipping cocktails on the south terrace?...