RiverOak Investments respond to Avia Solutions report
RiverOak Investments have posted this statement on their website in response to today’s viability report on Manston Airport by Avia Solutions. http://www.riveroakinvestments.co.uk/avia-solutions-report-thanet-council-irrelevant-thin-evidence-says-riveroak-investments/
Avia Solutions report for Thanet Council ‘irrelevant’ and ‘thin on evidence’ says RiverOak Investments
Oct 4, 2016 | Media statement
RiverOak Investments will be continuing to develop its exciting plans for Manston Airport given that Avia Solutions “does not offer any opinion about the reasonableness or otherwise of RiverOak’s commercial plans for the airport” making their report irrelevant. *
The report is also extremely thin when it comes to evidence on freight demand. The only ‘forecast’ they rely on is in fact a statement of freight volumes from 2000-2012, when it is widely accepted that there is a considerable and growing level of unsatisfied demand. The report bases its freight projections on a continuation of the current levels of growth and ignores the ample evidence from at least eight respected studies by the likes of Transport for London, the Centre for Economic and Business Research, Boeing and Oxford Economics, that air freight traffic levels in the UK are severely constrained due to the lack of runway capacity and there is enough demand to satisfy not only a thriving Manston in the future but also, in due course, a third runway at Heathrow too.
On the basis of conducting just four interviews on freight, two of which were positive, Avia concludes that ‘there is limited interest from the cargo industry in using a re-opened Manston Airport for air freight’. In contrast RiverOak’s own consultant has carried out 17 interviews and counting, all positive, the results of which will be published in due course. We therefore recommend that Thanet Council waits to see the evidence that forms part of our application before reaching any conclusions on the viability of Manston Airport as a cargo hub.
RiverOak Investments will also publish a more detailed response to the Avia Solutions report in due course..
*Footnote 2 of the Avia Solutions report
If Manston is to be a viable Airport, we need to add an extra Freight Terminal, revamp the existing Passenger terminal and increase the Number of Car park Spaces at the site
If we applied half of the landing fee of that at Heathrow for an Airbus A380 then it could generate around £4000 per Aircratf for Freight Operations and for a Passenger Flight each day
Image having BA, Emirates, Qatar and Virgin Airlines all on site with large aircraft both freight and Passenger Orientated, that could generate £16000 a day for the Airport and pay one Handlers wages for a Year, then Imagine Low cost Airlines Like Easyjet , Ryanair and KLM coming to Manston, we could have a field day, but then you have the capacity to Operate a local Manston to London City Route for commuters to get into London rather than by the new Rail Link planned for the Airport.
Why is there No One who has the Gumption to make this work and Lobby the Government to get the Airport running as it should, it has the potential to make East Kent the high paid high skilled job market that everyone wants, not a waste of money offered by Stonegate Park Developments, so lets get on with it and make this happen.
Andrew, Sir Roger is trying….
Well said Mr. Briggs. There could be a third runway in the South East in a fraction of the time and cost of Heathrow or Gatwick. I have urged Mrs. May to tackle the extreme wastage of money in this country, including the building of extra runways at Heathrow and Gatwick at enormous cost and disruption.
I have lived my entire life in a country forever verging on bankruptsy, mostly the fault of inept governments. I came through World War Two intact, and even at that early age I knew the Country was on its’ knees but then soon we were involved in Korea, more huge expenditure. Thankfully we kept out of Vietnam but when Mrs. Thatcher took over she found we were again virtually bankrupt. Somehow we won the war in the Falklands but then came the huge blunders of Iraq and Afghanistan. Now at last hopefully we have a sensible government, a government who will manage the finances in a business-like way and will say “Let’s not spend billions on a third runway in a densely populated part of London, let’s take Manston and build not a runway but a newly revamped airport for London at a comparatively tiny cost”