Five Big Ones

Tony Freudmann's latest foray into the land of propaganda seems to have been prompted by adverse comments because more than just the faithful have now been shown the extent of the noise and disruption coming their way.

He has published on RSP's website the following page. View it here

I have published the web page which is viewable at the bottom of the blog however what follows is a detailed investigation of the statements

The art of misdirection is strong in this one so lets take it as it is stated. 

"Even when it is operating at its peak (circa twenty years after reopening)"

Well that's ok then except Tony has no idea when or even if the fixed capacity as laid down in the DCO (17170 cargo ATMs + 9298 passenger ATMs + 38000 General Aviation ATMs = 64468 ATMs which is one aircraft movement every 6 minutes assuming the airport is even successful which isn't guaranteed.

However what is clear from the statement is Tony is prepared to inflict future noise and disturbance on Thanet children simply because he doesn't care one bit.

"Manston Airport will average no more than five large aircraft movements per hour"

So that's all right then? What Ramsgate residents have been used to since 1990, when Manston became Kent International Airport is in the chart below.

Clearly this shows that Manston very seldom had more than 1 flight a DAY now Tony want to inflict 5 movements an hour for 17 hours a day every day 365 days a year.

As an aside all other airports treat night time as 11PM to 7AM but not Tony.

"and will not operate any scheduled services overnight"

The reader will note the use of the word "scheduled" in use here however in the world of Cargo flights the word scheduled is seldom used as the vast majority of cargo flights are not scheduled like most passenger flights. Rather cargo flights into the UK are either belly hold passenger flights (95% of long haul passenger flights have belly hold cargo travelling into Heathrow which by volume is the largest cargo airport with 67% of all cargo into the UK) or they are chartered (non-scheduled) cargo flights arranged on an ad hoc basis when the aircraft can travel full.

An example of this in Manston's history is the African harvest where the customer determines the times the cargo is ready to be flown and the airport grants a slot based on take off and flight time. An example would be cash crops from Africa centrally collected and loaded into an aircraft chartered to fly to the destination when fully loaded

Even Sir Roger Gale understands this when he wrote in 2001 when his buddy ran Manston.

The DCO sets out the maximum capacity for aircraft movements however what the DCO doesn't do is set out the punishments for any abuses such as Night Flights which are monitored by the airport itself.

Careful to tug the heartstrings people ought to remember the British airways training flights which would also come under GA but were large aircraft going round and round for hours.

Clearly 64458 ATMs is one movement every 6 minutes

"minimal impact" what an aircraft movement every 6 minutes including  large cargo and passenger aircraft movements every 12 minutes (5 movements an hour 17 hours a day 365 days a week)

"The numbers are very small" yeah right compared to what? Heathrow, Gatwick, or New York.

Again to repeat the comment above Cargo seldom is scheduled. Most Cargo is chartered and will not fall foul of the restrictions laid out by the DCO, in fact there could be unlimited Night flights.

Interesting that Tony creates a FAQ confirming that they will be so inefficient in unloading an aircraft will take all day to get unloaded. An aircraft doesn't make any money when sitting on the ground, its money is made when it is carrying cargo.

However the DCO places no restrictions on chartered cargo flights both day and night

A nicely swerved answer however most airports impose fines on aircraft that breach the rules especially when it comes to noise and night time disturbance. The Manston DCO is remiss in that it imposes no fines at all.

Finally a word on how Manston will be operated and these are from the RSP application itself . Clearly if Tony was serious about no flights after 11pm then he would arrange for any "late" running flights to be diverted to an airport that had 24 hour operations however that has never been his intention. The 4 main airport operations needed for landing and take off are Air Traffic control, Fire and Rescue,  Airport security, and Operations

I'm sure the reader can clearly see Tony intends an airport that operated on a 24 hour basis

This is the recent page posted on the 29th July 2020