TDC has lost control of Manston

At first I thought that might be a surprising, or even shocking, headline. But on reflection, I'm sorry to say it isn't. At all.

TDC have never really chosen to exercise any control; Manston does pretty much whatever it likes; and us poor sods who live under the flight path (especially those who have used Manston's pitiful complaints system) are all too well aware that Manston operates what is technically termed "uncontrolled airspace".

All this relates to the now infamous 5th October "Wakey Wakey Ramsgate" incident. As you will see from their confession, Manston ignored the S106 agreement and flew planes in and out through the night.

If they get their way with their next night flights application, we'll be getting this kind of misery every night. Click HERE to see who to write to, and keep writing to them until the penny drops.

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Psst! Want to buy an airport?

CEO confirms: Prestwick for the chop

Well, Dear Reader, you can tell your grandchildren that you read it here before you read it on Bloomberg!

Infratil's Supreme Commander has gone on record in an interview with Bloomberg telling the world that Prestwick doesn't have a long-term future in Infratil's portfolio, because it "isn't performing".

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Outlook gets gloomier for Infratil

BAA airport sale squeezes Prestwick

Have you ever had one of those weeks when things just seem to go from bad to worse? If so, you'll be able to empathise with Infratil.

In response to the general downturn and gloom, the bucket shops are reducing capacity and cutting routes. Flybe, the mainstay of Manston's struggling passenger business, is on the ropes and cutting routes that are busier than the infrequent services out of Manston - which doesn't bode well.

And now, to cap it all, BAA (easily the largest airport operator in the country) is moving the goal posts and increasing the competitive pressure on Prestwick, Infratil's busiest airport outside New Zealand.

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Q: What DOESN'T connect George Best, John Lennon and Robin Hood?

A: Flybe

George Best is Belfast's airport, John Lennon is Liverpool's and Robin Hood is Doncaster's. Flybe used to have scheduled flights connecting them, but that was before their share price fell through the floor after their recent profit warning.

In Charles Buchanan's position, I would be rather by worried by the second paragraph of Flybe's statement...

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Noise monitoring at Manston Airport

Noise? What Noise?

More needs to be done to monitor noise created by airplanes at Manston airport, Thanet council officers have admitted after a grilling by councillors.

During the meeting of the Airport Working Party last Wednesday, members quizzed council officials on what had been done to make sure Manston airport operator Infratil sticks to the conditions of its planning agreement, a Section 106, with the council. Labour councillor David Green said he did not think the monitoring was sufficiently independent or transparent, adding:

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CPRE Protect Kent

The Campaign to Protect Rural England - a bit of a mouthful, but it does what it says on the tin. Their mission is "to protect our natural landscapes from destruction and degradation".

Protect Kent - sounds pleasingly more like a battle-cry, and they're our local bit of the CPRE. Their mission statement begins:

Protect Kent seeks to ensure the survival of our County’s landscapes and heritage, and aims to protect the County from inappropriate developments wherever they may occur.

My kind of people! They are busy the length and breadth of Kent, battling the selfish and the senseless, for the greater good. Construction of superstores, destruction of woodlands, the Lower Thames Crossing and the Operation Stack Lorry Park - you get the picture. Of particular interest to us is their recent heroic performance at the Lydd enquiry:

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Flybe plummets

Flybe seems to be having a rather tough time at the moment. Following the grim fact of its second profit warning in 5 months, the market analysts don't have anything very encouraging to say. And if you think the words are bad, wait till you see the pictures...

All this will come as unwelcome news at Kent Irrational Airport, who like to present Flybe as a sign of great things to come. Unfortunately, it appears that the so-called "thin routes" that Flybe is operating out of Manston are the ones most susceptible to the downturn in demand.

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Woken in the small hours, 5th October

Updated on Oct 5, 2011 at 23:27 by HBM

Yup, another night of misery for Ramsgate, as you'll see from the comments below. Here's a number of things for you all to think about:

• There will be a public meeting of KIACC (the Consultative Committee for the airport) on Tuesday 11th October. This is usually held in the passenger lounge at Manston. Time to be confirmed. [Correction: the KIACC meeting is Friday 21st October, time TBA. I was cruelly misled!]
• PLEASE could you check through the piss-poor replies you've had to earlier complaints for late Tuesday nights/early Wednesday mornings - I think we may have an unofficial timetable operating. Use the comments on this post to enter the date, time, and operator/aircraft details.
• A new contact within TDC for you is Madeline Homer, on madeline.homer@thanet.gov.uk - Ms Homer has taken on Brian White's role in Regeneration, and reported to the recent Airport Working Party that:
  • the S106 is voluntary (wrong)
  • the current monitoring gives no cause for concern (judge for yourselves)

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John Stewart, UK’s “most effective environmentalist” barred from entering US

This is just plain bonkers.

So this guy John Stewart is a campaigner against airport expansion. He's been active in the campaign against the third runway at Heathrow and, presumably, a number of other campaigns.

When he's in mid-air on his way to the States, the US Government decide to deny him right of entry, with the result that he's deported as soon as he lands. He is treated like a dangerous ideological extremist, for being against airport expansion. Dontcha just love America?

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Manston's dreams and nightmares

"Nostrildamus nose the future"Nostrildamus says:

• Infratil's Charles Buchanan will shortly unveil his plans to stuff our ears with plane noise 24 hours a day.
• He will brandish carrots and sticks as if they were real.
• He will repeat the mantra that the airport will have to close if the proposals aren't accepted.
• He will never say that he will close the airport - far too personal.
• He will want to distract attention from the fact that the closure of the airport is  a purely commercial decision, already more than half-made.

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Manston dragging its heels over night flights

No haste = no need

OK, let's just make sure we've got this straight...

The night flights that Manston is hankering after have been portrayed as essential, crucial, make-or-break. Without them, so we are told, the airport won't be able to deliver on its fairytale Master Plan.

I find this VERY hard to square with (a) any facts in the real world, and (b) the airport's conduct over the last year. If night flights really did matter so much, why would they spend a YEAR dragging their heels?

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Infratil complaints

Some of our readers have been asking who they should complain to about Infratil, the owners of Manston airport. And some of our readers have been telling us about who they have complained to about Infratil.

As a public service, we shall be helping the first group by telling them about the second group's efforts. First up: the New Zealand High Commission in London.

The New Zealand High Commission is an overseas post of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The focus of the High Commission's work is managing New Zealand's political, economic and trade relations with the United Kingdom and Ireland. They have now been told that "Infratil is as welcome in Thanet as a nasty rash", which probably came as a surprise to them.

More suggestions welcome.

Liberty Hall

Is there anything I can’t do at this airport?

Well, regular scheduled night flights by the very noisiest freighters would get penalised, but...

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Green vs Greed

Are there any activities which might be prevented at Manston on environmental grounds?

Are you kidding?

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Sleep tight before the night flights bite

Does it matter how many people I wake up each night by flying over them?

Of course not.

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Sleep-shattering noise? Grand. Fine.

One of my airline clients has an Antonov, the noisiest freight aircraft in the world. Can I land this at Manston in the middle of the night?

No problem!

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Fly over Ramsgate all you want. Whatever.

I'm talking to an airline that wants to use its fleet of Boeing 737s to take off for Europe just after 6 o'clock in the morning every day. The S106 says I can do this. Can they save fuel by flying straight over the town of Ramsgate?

It's up to you, really.

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Manston swept away

Here's a handy way of illustrating how much flexibility Manston Airport has under the current S106 agreement with Thanet District Council. Let us suppose that someone, somewhere, is interested in buying Manston. Clearly, this is hypothetical.

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Ruritanian-based airport operator Infidel has thrown caution to the wind and is sniffing around Thanet, looking for an airport to buy.

Instead of, ahem, doing any proper research to find out if Manston is financially viable, they've sent us a few questions about what they would be allowed to do. Read on...

Can I allow a Jumbo jet to fly in at 03:00 on a Sunday morning?

Of course you can, as long as you didn't schedule it in advance. We've got an amazingly tolerant noise regime here at Manston. Even a 747-400 can be landed here at any time of night without paying a penny in fines to the community fund.

Iran Air at Manston

Yet another one of our eagle-eyed readers has raised an important and interesting question:

HAS ANY ONE NOTICED THAT THERE ARE AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK FLIGHTS TO MANSTON BY IRAN AIR? I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE CARRYING TO THE U.K.

You can tell it's important, because it's all in CAPITALS.

And it's interesting because not many Iran Air planes are even allowed to fly anywhere near Europe... Here's what our beloved Foreign & Commonwealth Office have to say:

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Safety and Security - Local Travel - Air Travel

The state carrier, Iran Air, has been refused permission to operate services to the EU with the exception of 14 aircraft of type A300, eight aircraft of type A310 and one aircraft of type B737. This restriction has been put in place because Iran Air has been unable to demonstrate that a number of aircraft in its fleet (including those of type A320, Boeing 727, B747-100, B747-200 and B747-SP) meet international safety standards.

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Glasgow kiss-off

Prestwick Airport passenger numbers fall

Prestwick Airport saw a drop of nearly 20% in passenger numbers in July, compared with the same month last year. Infratil, the Ayrshire airport's owners said there were 37,800 fewer passengers during the crucial first month of the school summer holidays.

New Zealand-based Infratil said the July passenger numbers fell from 194,500 last year to 156,700 this year. In recent years, the number of passengers at Prestwick topped 230,000 during the month in both 2007 and 2008.

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