Air, Freight News

Council ponders Manston reopening plan

[ August 4, 2014   //   Chris ]

Thanet Council is to draw up a plan to reopen Manston Airport, closed by its owners the Gloag Foundation in May in the face of heavy losses, the BBC reported. Councillors have accept the recommendations of a new report by Falcon Consultancy into how to make the airport viable and Thanet said it would test the market to gauge interest in buying the airport. However, the report had suggested hundreds of millions of pounds of investment would be needed.

Stagecoach Group founder AnnGloag, who bought the airport from Infratil for £1 in October 2013, had rejected offers from US investment firm RiverOak.

Manston Airport was used by all-cargo operators in the UK as an alternative to busier airports like Stansted, although there had lately been a fall-off in the market due with British Airways’ decision to stop operating its own chartered freighters and Saudia’s switch to a seasonal schedule.

Tags: Manston