Airport's new owners 'in for the long haul'

Steve FitzgeraldKent International Airport could be as busy as Glasgow Prestwick in five years, according to Manston’s new boss. The forecast comes just weeks after Infratil, the New Zealand investment company, bought the Thanet airport from the administrators of former owners PlaneStation for £17 million.

Infratil already owns Glasgow Prestwick which has seen a surge of growth in recent years, employing 500 people directly with a further 3,500 jobs related to the airport.

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KCC defends £100,000 airline gamble charge

Council chiefs have rejected claims that their decision to invest £100,000 of public money in EUJet was a gamble that backfired. Cllr Alex King (Con), Kent County Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and the man responsible, said he accepted the investment was high risk but claimed it had produced "a good return" for Kent by demonstrating that a budget airline could be viable from Manston.

KCC lost its £100,000 investment when EUJet faced financial problems. The authority subsequently agreed to put in an additional 15,000 Euros to provide "working capital" to PlaneStation, the company that owned Manston Airport but which recently went into administration.

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Questions still remain over EUjet collapse

Mystery surrounds the delay in appointing administrators to failed airline EUjet. While Grant Thornton partners are sorting out the financial affairs of PlaneStation, the airline’s parent company that collapsed with estimated debts of £22million, and subsidiary London Manston Airport Plc, EUjet is not subject to the same rules.

The Irish-registered operator, which was grounded last week with the loss of at least 127 jobs and left more than 5,000 passengers stranded, is still run by its directors, including chief executive P J McGoldrick. The airline is subject to Irish law and an "interim examiner" is understood to have been appointed but this person does not have the power of administrators.

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EUJet doomed from the start

Expert claims airline was doomed from first flight

EUjet was a flawed business model that was bound to fail, according to an airline expert. The low-cost airline and its owner PlaneStation, which also owns Kent International Airport at Manston, crashed into administration on July 26 after the Bank of Scotland pulled the plug on PlaneStation’s credit line, thought to be around £25million.

The collapse left thousands of passengers stranded overseas, cost hundreds of jobs and cast a shadow over the longer-term viability of scheduled services operated out of Kent. It was also embarrassing to Kent County Council which had invested £100,000 in the fledgling airline to bring it to Manston.

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Council promises 'hard negotiations' with airport

A three month consultation has thrown up a range of concerns from residents in Thanet, Sturry and Herne Bay, that will be discussed with Manston airport owners, PlaneStation. Inappropriate penalties, inadequate noise monitoring, off-route aircraft, and concern that cargo flights may increase, were among the worries voiced. Council leader Cllr Sandy Ezekiel pledged that the local authority would "go into hard negotiations" with the airport owners over a revised Section 106 environmental agreement that will update the original five-year-old voluntary agreement that he described as "rather woolly".

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New era dawns at Kent airport

Kent is finally joined by air to the rest of Europe. EUjet’s new low cost services got off to a flying start yesterday when the first flight - a Fokker-100 - took off from Kent International Airport at Manston, at 6.15am for Dublin. It marked the start of a service that is set to boost east Kent and turn Kent at last into an aviation hub. It has already brought 300 new jobs to Thanet and there could be 100 more over the next 18 months.

Flights on day one were 75 per cent full, with more than 600 passengers flying to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, Nice and Girona. A smaller number flew back to Manston, reflecting the lack of marketing effort by EUjet at the destination airports. By the end of the year, EUjet will be flying to 22 destinations including Prague, Madrid, Milan, Palma, Malaga, Turin, Edinburgh and Manchester.

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Airport broke night flight rules

Manston airport has been fined £52,000 by Thanet Council for operating night flights that break an environmental agreement. The Section 106 clause specifies that no flights can take off from the airport between 11pm and 07am, but it does allow for a maximum of 12 humanitarian, mercy or emergency flights by relief organisations during any calendar year between those times.

The level of fines on night flights between January and August 2003 from the airport had already assessed. Councillors considered 17 subsequent night flights between September and December last year. Information from the airport operators stated that all 17 flights were humanitarian and that the cargo carried was replacement Iraqi currency, designed to help the country's reconstruction and recovery programme.

Councillors decided that this was not what they considered to be ‘humanitarian’ flights and that payment due under the 106 agreement should be enforced. Cllr Sandy Ezekiel, council leader, said:

“This council is firmly committed to the environmental agreement because it was put in place to help protect local residents. Councillors are determined to enforce the agreement where we believe that it has been breached. Night flights disturb sleeping patterns and cause annoyance. While the council is committed to the development of Manston as an airport, it does not want to see this take place to the detriment of the local environment or local residents."

kentonline 23rd Feb 2004

Manston "overlooked" by airport planners

Airport planners have been accused of using out of date facts to ground Manston's chances of easing the looming capacity crisis. They dismissed Thanet's aviation jewel in a couple of paragraphs in the SERAS report that included a controversial airport at Cliffe marshes in a list of options.

But Wiggins Group has told the Government that its advisers overlooked the huge potential of Manston. In its official response to an inquiry into the future development of air transport, Wiggins said the consultants only visited the airport in 1999. Wiggins claimed they took no account of the expert study by Arthur D Little in 2001 suggesting that Manston had the potential to grow into a "sizeable" airport.

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It's your choice, Manston told

Manston Airport has taken a step into the big league by unveiling an £8 million apron and taxiway. Aviation minister David Jamieson officially opened the 10 acres of concrete by cutting a ceremonial ribbon. The new facility can take more and larger aircraft under a master plan that could see £150 million invested in the Thanet airport, including a new terminal and fast rail links with London over the next 10 years.

These plans could see jobs rise from 400 to 6,000, and passenger numbers soar to thee million within five years. Talks are already well advanced with low-cost airlines to operate scheduled services and a deal could be finalised by the end of the year.

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Manston not told of rival airport

Airport chiefs insist that plans for Manston will not be deflected by speculation about a new airport on north Kent marshland. Bosses at Wiggins Group, owners of London Manston, were surprised when they learned about the leaked proposal to develop Cliffe marshes, a unique wildlife site.

According to company sources, they were not consulted about the possibility of a rival terminal just 30 miles away. They also say that experts advising the government about possible sites to cope with the looming capacity crisis spent little time at Manston. In a preliminary report, Cliffe was mentioned as an option alongside possible extra runways at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Wiggins has invested heavily in new navigation aids, is investing £7 million in a new apron and taxiways and has extensive plans for further development, including a new terminal. Before the shock revelations about Cliffe, the group said it hoped to create more than 6,000 jobs and attract 10 million passengers through the terminal over the next 15 years.

Airport director Alastair Robertson condemned the Cliffe proposal. He said:

"We see absolutely no point going through the considerable time, trouble and expansion of building a very speculative airport in an area of environmental sensitivity."

It was ludicrous to consider damaging a wildlife site "when you've got a perfectly viable alternative at Manston which is already operating".

kentonline 12th Mar 2002

Storm gathers over airport leak

Council chiefs are demanding urgent talks with ministers after reports that the Government is considering building a new airport for London on the north Kent marshes near Cliffe. According to a report in the Financial Times, Transport Secretary Stephen Byers is weighing up the idea of an airport at Cliffe and the Isle of Grain to cope with additional air traffic over the next 20 years. The leaders of both Medway and Kent County Council are furious at the prospect.

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Manston: Timeline

1915

Early war planes start to use the open fields at Manston in preference to the cliff-side airstrip at St Mildred's Bay.

1916

Two distinct units stationed at Manston, the Operational War Flight Command and the Handley Page Training School.

1917

The Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of England.

1939-45

Manston was heavily bombed and airfield buildings destroyed during the Battle of Britain.

1950s

During the Cold War the United States Air Force used Manston as a Strategic Air Command base for its fighter and fighter-bomber units.

1960

With the USAF's withdrawal from Manston, the airfield became a joint civilian and RAF airport and was thence employed for occasional package tour and cargo flights, alongside its continuing role as an RAF base.

1989

Manston became styled as Kent International Airport, and a new terminal was officially opened that year by the Duchess of York.

1999

It was decided to close the RAF Manston base. The 'airside' portion of the base was signed over to the commercial operator of Kent International Airport. The MOD decided to keep the central fire training school (CTE) facility open, and almost the entirety of the 'domestic' side of the base became FSCTE Manston (Fire Service Central Training Establishment).

2002 Mar

The proposed airport at Cliffe comes as a surprise.

2002 Aug

New apron and taxiway - 10 acres of concrete, £8 million.

2003 Jan

Manston snubbed by Goverment airport planners.

2003 May

EUjet start operating as an airline.

2004 Feb

Manston fined £52k for breaching S106.

2004 May

PlaneStation buys 30% of EUjet.

2004 Aug

EUjet starts flying from Manston to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Dublin, Nice and Girona. KCC have invested £100k in EUjet.

2005 Jan

PlaneStation by the 70% of EUjet that they don't already own.

2005 Jul

Cllr Sandy Ezekiel pledged that the local authority would "go into hard negotiations" with the airport owners over a revised Section 106.

EUjet and PlaneStation go into administration owing £25m. KCC lose their/our £100k.

2005 Aug

Infratil buy Manston from the administrators for £17m.

2005 Sep

Cllr Alex King criticised for his £100k punt - in view of a warning from officers that any investment would be "high risk", the decision "beggared belief".

2006 Jan

KCC's investment in EUjet now reported to have been £121k. KCC have spent £50k in consultants' fees looking at trans-Atlantic flights, and have allocated £265k for the Virginia venture.

2006 May

Manston's 30 year old radar disabled by lightning strike.

Flights to Virginia announced - planned to start May 2007.

2006 Sep

Cosmos start taking bookings for flights to Virginia in May 2007.

Manston say state-of-the-art replacement radar will be installed by the end of the year.

2007 Feb

Cosmos pulls the plug on Virginia flights, having sold 800 of the necessary 100,000 tickets.

2008 Feb

Boris Johnson announces Boris Island.

2008 Sep

Seguro Travel, operating out of Manston, goes bust leaving 2,400 people abroad and scrapping holidays booked by a further 17,000 people.

2008 Oct

Manston's 25 year MasterPlan forecasts 6 million passengers and half a million tonnes of freight by 2033