Representation by Patricia Jupp
- Date submitted
- 12 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Infrastructure
Since 1998, when Manston became a commercial airport, 3 owners have failed to make the airport profitable.
The new proposal moves from mainly passenger flights to freight flights which will include more than 8 night flights with all the noise attendant with that.
Placing a cargo airport on the Isle of Thanet is totally wrong. the Isle of Thanet is surrounded by water on 3 sides; it is 32 miles from the nearest motorway M2 and a further 29 miles from the M25. The immediate road system is mainly dual carriageway with the main A299 often slow moving. The airport has no fuel station of it's own and will need to bring in many tankers per 24 hours to refill planes. Plus cargo from planes will need to be loaded onto trucks making already busy roads impossible. There is surplus capacity for cargo at Heathrow, Stanstead and East Midlands airports. All have much better infrastructure for cargo than Manston.
A cargo airport is not needed at Manston and for the reasons above will not become commercially viable.