Several pages back there was the comment that the only economic benefit of Manchester Airport was to the owners. No one seemed to be able to find any evidence of the economic benefit of the Airport.
However, a few seconds on google found this document - Item 10 of a GMCA Committte report from 8th June this year. It is of course written for Greater Manchester and was authored by someone at the Airport, so therefore will be a farrago of puffery, lies and obfuscation in the eyes of some on here...
https://www.greatermanchester-ca.go...iness_growth_and_skills_overview_and_scrutiny
For anyone who can't be arsed to download it here's some relevant bits (my bold)
3. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MANCHESTER AIRPORT
3.1 Manchester Airport supports the growth of the GM economy in several ways, of which the most significant are:
i) International connectivity for businesses, residents, visitors, investors and trade. And as set out above, it is the best connected airport in the UK outside London, strongly supporting GM’s internationalisation agenda and also the development of the Northern Powerhouse, given the importance of world-class global connectivity to the ‘prime’ and ‘enabling’ capabilities of the North identified in the NPIER. (Advanced Manufacturing, Energy, Health Innovation, Digital, Financial & Professional Services, Logistics and (Higher) Education. effects).
ii) Ground transport hub – Manchester Airport has also developed into a key ground transport interchange for GM and the North, being a key 24/7 node on the rail, road/motorway, Metrolink and bus/coach networks. With the development of the HS2 station, the airport will also become a key node on HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. Importantly, this ground connectivity supports further airline route development by broadening and strengthening the airport’s catchment, whilst also being a key transport asset for the North.
iii)
Major employer – MAG is a major employer, and businesses operating across the airport employ nearly 24,000 people, with further multiplier benefits for firms across the region. MAG’s investments onsite will also support significant construction employment over the coming years.
iv) Strategic development area – because of its connectivity, the airport is also an ideal area for development. With Enterprise Zone status, Airport City Manchester is one of GM’s strategic development sites, with ongoing developments on course to deliver significant growth in mixed-used space and employment opportunities.
Taken together these factors mean that the airport is one of the most significant and strategic economic assets in GM. Further growth at the airport will deliver economic benefits not just for the local area but also for the whole North of England, through connectivity and economic multiplier .
The section below quantifies these benefits in further detail from independent analysis carried out for MAG by York Aviation.
INDEPENDENT ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT
3.2 Manchester Airport as a company and as a site is one of Greater Manchester and the North West’s largest employers. The site is also the headquarters of the wider Manchester Airports Group (MAG), one of only a few major corporates with their headquarters in the city. Whilst MAG employs 5,367 people, in total there are 23,400 people directly employed on the airport site.
3.3 York Aviation estimates that multiplier effects from the site support further indirect & induced jobs, deliver business productivity benefits and support tourism across the North West.
This gives a total impact of Manchester Airport across the North West of 71,000 jobs and £4.6 billion of gross value added (GVA). With the growth of the airport, this contribution has also increased by 60% or nearly £450million over the last four years.
3.4 MAG’s contribution to the national economy is even greater, partly because MAG operates other UK airports (London Stansted and East Midlands), but also because the multiplier effect of MAG’s operations and connectivity extend nationwide, benefitting businesses across the UK as a whole. This contribution has also increased strongly, both with the acquisition of London Stansted and the expanding operations across MAG’s airports. As such, York Aviation estimates that MAG delivers an overall impact to the UK economy of 244,690 jobs and £16.6billion of GVA, as detailed in the table below.
Note the table won't cut and paste in a good format but it shows that the wider impacts generate some 52,000 additional jobs in the region
3.5 As Manchester Airport and the wider Group continue to develop, adding new routes and new business areas, it has also seen employment grow strongly. MAG’s total employment grew by 50% with the acquisition of London Stansted Airport in 2013 and since that time, the strong performance of the business has driven a further 28% growth in employment to 2016/17, with further growth this year.
Strong growth at Manchester has seen total employment across all businesses on the Manchester Airport site grow by 17% over the last five years, a further 3,400 new jobs for GM.
3.6 Manchester Airport is a key asset for the whole North of England in giving residents direct access to the whole range of international leisure destinations, but as importantly for the economy, also provides a gateway for international visitors to GM and the wider North. GM’s visitor economy is a major economic driver, generating £8.1billion p.a. of GVA, and attracting 1.38million international visits (in 2016), a growth of 24% over the last decade. This makes Manchester the third most visited UK city by international tourists behind London and Edinburgh, with Manchester Airport being an increasingly important gateway for these visits.
And later a section on connectivity
4. INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIVITY
4.1 A key driver of the wider economic benefits the airport delivers is international connectivity, which allows business travel, brings visitors, and supports trade. Manchester Airport’s extensive route network also supports the delivery of airfreight carried in the bellyhold of passenger planes, second only to Heathrow in the UK, at 123,000 tonnes in 2017/18.
4.2 Recognising the importance of international connectivity to GM’s internationalisation and growth agenda, the airport has worked closely for a number of years with GM stakeholders to deliver direct services to China. In 2014, Cathay Pacific launched a new service to Hong Kong, which was subsequently upgraded from four services per week to a daily service in 2017. Over 455,000 passengers have used the Manchester– Hong Kong service since its launch in 2014. In 2016, Hainan Airlines launched a Manchester-Beijing service. Since the launch, 173,000 passengers have flown on the route. The China Dividend report was an independent assessment by Steer Davies Gleave (SDG) for the Manchester–China Forum of the economic benefits of the new Beijing route, which showed unambiguously the wider economic benefits of international connectivity. The fact that the route was previously unserved provided an opportunity to conduct a ‘before’ and ‘after’ study of the impact of a new link to a key market. The key findings were:
higher than planned passenger numbers in the first year, with 38% more people travelling from Manchester’s catchment, driving a 21% uplift in total UK–China air passenger journeys;
Manchester is now the second largest UK air route for exports to China;
an increasing pipeline of inward investment projects and a marked uplift in Northern Powerhouse inward investment projects;
a 54% increase in Chinese interests in property;
business and civic links, leading to an increasing number of senior delegation visits, which will in turn lead to new partnerships and investments;
a contribution to the visitor economy of c.£139million annually on a net present value basis over the coming five years and the inclusion of Manchester and the wider North of England in Chinese tour operators’ leisure tour programmes; and
an increasing Chinese student population.
The SDG report concludes that these impacts will not just multiply in line with increased passenger volumes, but they will also interact with each other to deliver a long-term and sustainable set of benefits that will make a major contribution to the creation of both a prosperous Northern economy and a balanced and outward-facing UK. The flow of goods, services, and people in both directions is further enhancing the perception among Chinese officials, businesses and individuals that GM – and the wider Northern Powerhouse – is an attractive place to visit, invest in and trade with.
4.3 Building on the success of the Beijing route, further route development work is ongoing, with two key successes recently coming to fruition:
A new direct service from Manchester to Mumbai with Jet Airways will operate four times a week from 5 November 2018. This will be the first direct flight from the North to India’s economic capital, and is an early success for the Manchester–India Partnership (MIP), of which the airport has been a leading member.
A new route between Manchester and Addis Ababa, Africa’s largest hub, will be operated by Ethiopian Airways from 1 December 2018. This will provide passengers within the airport’s catchment area with connectivity to 60 countries across Africa.
ENDS
So of course the airport only benefits the shareholders...
Anyway, who are these people demanding that they all have services to the Airport. Politicians, business organisations and residents of far flung places seems to be part of the answer. Look at the kerfuffle from North Lincolnshire when there was some thought of terminating TPE South at Donny and having a Cleethorpes connection from there. Or the massive fuss in and around Furness when the number of trains to the Airport were cut.
Now it should be remembered that there was an option in the last TP franchise submission for some north TPE services to go to alternative destinations such as Liverpool rather than running round to the Airport. AFAIK no such proposition was made by the bidders. Why? Well I don't know but one suspects commercial considerations had as much to do with it as political pressure.
Incidentally it took several years of intense lobbying before the Government finally caved in to pressure decades ago to allow the airport station to be built in the first place as I remember well. And the initial proposal was to have a through station - but not out to Ashley but as a one way loop in cut and cover looping around to the north and back onto the airport spur near the runway end to allow loco hauled trains to operate from Piccadilly to London via the Airport