Manchester Airport funds spent on existing airlines

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Money, Manchester Airport had set aside for encouraging new airlines to use the airport is instead being spent on convincing current airlines to stay.

Between 2008 and 2012 they are receiving £2.5 million from the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s (NWDA) air services development fund. NWDA said that the funds started out as money to encourage new airlines but is now being spent on keeping the high spending North American routes.

“We had to allow the development fund to be used to support routes in the short term as there was a danger that carriers would pull out. But the aspiration is to secure new routes from the west coast of America,” said Nick Brooks-Sykes for NWDA.

British Airways and BMI are two such companies to cancel transatlantic services from Manchester. Manchester Airport’s commercial director, Andrew Harrison recently was urging business users to use the routes on offer or face losing them altogether.

Continental Airlines have recently announced that they will be reducing their Newark route to just four days per week from October until March next year. “Winter is about trying to align a lower demand with supply,” said Bob Schumacher of Continental Airlines. A close eye is being kept on Delta Airlines after they recently suspended their Edinburgh New York route, they still have a Manchester to JFK service going.

Thanks to www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk for the above quotes, for more information on this story please visit their website.

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