Manchester and the USA

 Manchester and the USA. What went wrong?

Dear oh dear. Manchester really has had a tough time on its USA flights since 2018. The airport was once connected to 14 airports almost simultaneously, ranging from Seattle, San Fransisco and Los Angeles in the West, to Newark, Boston and Miami in the east.

But for 2022, that list has dwindled to just 6 destinations, namely New York JFK, Atlanta, Orlando, Houston, Los Angles and Melbourne. And one could argue that it’s a rather strange mix to see Los Angeles but not Las Vegas, Houston but not Newark. But, it’s where we are, so the question is, how did we get here?

The slippery slope started in 2018 when American announced that their Chicago route was ending. A route that had been served continuously for over 20 years. And from there, things didn’t get much better. In 2019, perhaps the biggest blow was Thomas Cook entering administration, wiping out several routes in one swoop, such as Seattle and San Fransisco. There was a brief reprieve when Delta announced that 2020 would see it return to Manchester, by adding a Boston route. Phew!

But then the hits just kept on coming. As Covid started to rear its ugly head in early 2020, United pulled out of the airport rather quickly despite being another carrier with 25+ years of heritage and previously year on year growth. The next body blow was American pulling its last remaining route, another previously strong performer, Philadelphia. Last but not least, Virgin announced that Las Vegas wasn’t returning and Delta seem to have no intention of adding Boston back in. Boom, 8 routes wiped out quicker than you can imagine.

After all this doom, there was a glimmer of hope when Manchester was selected to be Aer Lingus’ first U.K. TATL base. ‘Rejoice!’ Was the word. But have the wheels come off their expansion already? From a base of 4 aircraft initially promised, with 4 routes to match, we now have just ‘2’ aircraft based and 2 summer routes (yes there is a 3rd in winter but we are talking primarily about the US market here). Ouch!

Now, post covid, Airlines have to put their assets where they make money. That’s sensible and no one can begrudge that sentiment, it’s been a tough 2 years and Airlines need to recoup their dollar. But what has happened at Manchester?

Aside from airline specifics, Manchester has always lived with the somewhat ‘tarnished’ tag of being a primarily leisure focused market. ‘Airlines don’t expand at Manchester because there aren’t enough business passengers’. Fine. It is what it is. It’s ‘too leisure’ and we get it. But now ‘leisure is king’ and that’s what the airlines want, all of a sudden, Manchester is apparently ‘not leisure enough’. Huh? What’s the saying, always the bridesmaid but never the bride?

Surely when leisure is king, and Manchester-Orlando selling out its first few flights in lightning time, routes like New York and Las Vegas should be like shooting fish in a barrel? I mean, United had year on year growth pre-pandemic. That demand didn’t just disappear? Las Vegas had up to 9 weekly flights with an average 85-92% load factor and your telling me that market has just ‘gone’? US Airways served Philadelphia for nearly 20 years on almost a pure widebody Schedule all of that time, and as soon as American get their hands on it, that 20 year heritage just vanishes almost overnight? Something isn’t quite adding up there really?

But, what can Manchester do about it?

The first part, and a big key to the puzzle is education and advertising. 

Too often, I see people on forums and social media that seem to think Manchester Airport serves just Manchester, and nothing else. And that as far as long haul goes, London serves the rest of the U.K., including areas well within the Manchester catchment. And it’s time for Manchester to shout about its catchment. MAN isn’t just Manchester, it’s York, Liverpool, Leeds, Chester and dare say it, up as far as Newcastle and down to Birmingham. It’s the Lake District, it’s North Wales, it’s the sport, the history, the nature and so on.

People know Munich Airport doesn’t just serve Munich or Milan’s Airport just for Milan, it’s a way into the Alps. People know Heathrow is access to other parts of the U.K., and that Dublin Airport is also access to the west coast and Northern Ireland. Maybe it’s time for Manchester Airport to make itself know that it doesn’t just serve the city like many people seem to think.

The next part is to entice the US carriers back. Incentives, advertising (again) and get tour groups on side. Foreign nationals often like to travel with their home nation airlines. Virgin and Aer Lingus can only penetrate so far. The ‘prestige’ of American, United or Delta is also worth a lot of its weight in gold.

But then, has Manchester been punching above its weight up to now? Is this set of destinations a reality for the foreseeable? Is it time to accept some links just aren’t coming back in the medium term? It poses a lot of questions. Yes, MAN could go out and attract the likes of Norse Atlantic, but, would it be enough? Would they be a success or is it just another sticking plaster over a bigger problem?

There is a lot of work to do, and I suspect 2022 is going to have to be a year of trying to prove its worth again. There is going to have to be a lot of networking and a lot of advertising. Obviously this article is quite negative, but when you see such an important market being absolutely decimated, it’s hard to see the positive in that, and questions do have to be asked. I like to remain positive where possible, but, when something is negative, we can’t just pretend it isn’t happening. This article isn’t about ‘whinging’ that MAN has lost out, its about asking the questions of: what’s happened and what can be done about it?

So, what are your thoughts? As ever, let me know.