The airport operator's view— Manchester International Airport

Extract

Most regional airports are grateful for the flexibility of the approach in the White Paper, but I feel that some more positive guidance ought to be given in some cases. Many airports are still very uncertain of their future. The importance of this longer term planning is very relevant because people in authority have got to make their minds up; some airports have to decide whether to exist or to go under, and they can only make that decision on what happens after 1990. There is a certain freedom of choice obviously left to airport operators and airlines, and one question which we have to ask is, will new services be allowed into regional airports, outside the Government's policy, if both the airport and the airline feels it is going to be a viable service? I think a great deal of care is needed to ensure that any such move of that sort does not undermine the basic airports policy and dilute its effectiveness.