Night Flights are for Freight
Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) put Manston’s request in the context of increasing demand for aviation services, particularly in the south-east of England:
[p3] … the demand for aviation services is set to dramatically increase in the next 20 years. The conclusion is therefore that better use needs to be made of the existing facilities.
The obvious solution would be for Manston to use its daytime capacity, but this never gets a mention.
The PB report says Manston wants night flights for freight:
[p4] … the ability to operate at night will be a crucial factor in attracting a regular air freight service provider which will improve the financial viability of the airport in the short-term.
The PB report says Manston's forecasts in its Master Plan are unrealistic:
[p4] … despite the forecasts only being two years old, the airport is not achieving the level of forecast passenger growth
The PB report says short-term passenger growth would come from carriers based at other airports, which would not need a night flight facility:
[p5] Therefore, in the short term we do not believe that the airport can justify a night flying quota system to support passenger growth.
Next installment: Manston’s in the wrong place
Forecast, Freight, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Quota Manston, Night flights 
Reader Comments (1)
Lets face it Infratil don't want to mention day time capacity weakness because it exposes their weakness as a business. If they were good at their job they would have been using their daytime by now. This is basic capitalism logic! If the model as a passenger airport was sustainable the east kent residents would be voting with their wallets, but they are not!
This sounds more like a failed business to me than a reason to blame it on recession and anything but Infratil's failure to attract carriers. Infratil even begged for Govt funds to fund a new passenger route! It's pathetic that a multinational (that makes plenty of money elsewhere) cant fund it themselves! They just want a slice of taxpayers cash to fund their incompetence!
TDC need to find a better custodian of the airport, or just let the idea go! We all face grim times with potential recession, but its in times like this that TDC need to lead and not juggle with this hot potato of an airport. Its become so laced with political weight that its now lost a common sense outlook.
I wish TDC were bending over backward to help my business!