Wednesday, March 11, 2009

No Happy Landings For BA At Manston

I'm afraid the jet lag got me there for a bit... and I was having a lovely dream that British Airways World Cargo had decided against flying their crappy 747s over my lovely cliff top mansion all day and night!

Must have been the flight from Canada... but no, hang on, what's this headline in Thanet Extra? 'Blow for Chas 'n' Dave International as BA Cargo stays at Stansted'? Surely it can't be? I must still be dreaming!

Now regular readers will know that I'm not one to crow every time I'm proved right, which is nonetheless frequent and often. But I did say months ago that Manston was just being used by BA to get a better deal at Stansted, end of. I know these airline Johnnies quite well, and they'll try any shonky manoeuvre to rinse the last red cent out of their existing suppliers.

What this whole sorry episode does demonstrate, however, is the willingness of our supine council to lick any squillionaire's, er, rusty sherriff's badge until it's white as a soda cracker. When one of the island's top restaurants wanted planning permission to set up here it took them three months. Now it attracts hundreds of visitors to the island every week. Contrast that with the fact that TDC were rimming BA's ringpiece in less time than it takes to say 'KY or Vaseline, Sir?' And cargo 747s? Well, you might get a few planespotters parked up in their P reg Peugeots over at the airport of a Sunday, but they'd almost certainly bring their own soggy egg sarnies in a Tupperware box!

Click here to read full story in Thanet Extra

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back ECR. You bring good news with you.

Anonymous said...

Councillors must be pig-sick. Infratil called and the Council couldn't wait to show them how compliant they were:
"More night flights? Of course sir, and would you like unlimited landing slots with that?"
The Council should be resigning en masse. They've demonstrated that they don't give a fig for the people of the area and are just the faithful servants of Infratil.

Anonymous said...

Like I said to my ex:girlfriend, "what exactly is the problem with owning a P reg Peugeot, sitting over at the airport every Sunday and eating soggy egg sarnies out of a tupperware box?"

Anonymous said...

Out of interest what restaurant was that?

Richard Eastcliff said...

Ah... if I had wanted to publicise that I would have done, 10:39! But as it's you, I was referring to the Indian Princess in Margate.

Anonymous said...

Yes-the Indian Princess is fabulous,did'nt realise it took them 3 months for planning-anyway it is was well worth the wait as it is like no other indian restaurant i have been too,dining at it's best
Lily

Anonymous said...

small businesses, which actually serve Thanets public AND employ people, are being treated like second class citizens in comparison to "big" business that comes with a shiny piece of kit, like a plane, a helicoptor, or a big boat.

TDC forget the bread and butter business that keeps most of the isle employed and entertained, chasing some mystical white elephant, sorry, knight, which will resolve all of our ills in one swoop.

small businesses need to unite and start kicking the idiots in charge.

Anonymous said...

3 months? That ain't bad.

There is a bar on Ramsgate seafront that waited 13 months for 'change of use planning permission' from a derelict restaurant (it had been empty for 27 years) to a bar.

Trouble is, as every small business owner knows, TDC can make your life a misery. Therefore small businesses tend to keep their heads down.

Anonymous said...

Yes i heard some terrible stuff about restaurants and bars in Thanet who are not in league with chums on the council or ahem have very upstanding backers... talk about wild west.

Anonymous said...

Question: will the extension to night flights that TDC hastily rushed through without consultation now be rescinded? If not I would argue that our bad neighbours Infratil have banged another nail in the coffin of Ramsgate under false pretences.

Anonymous said...

Well Anon 9.16 if you actually understood what had been agreed you would know that as BA are not coming to Manston the extension has not been activated so there is no reason to rescind it.