Manston could help ease strain of games

Clipping: thisiskent

Bosses at Manston airport have revealed they are in talks with Olympic officials such as organising committee chairman Seb Coe to give the airport a role in the 2012 London games. Chief executive Matt Clarke believes the airport’s location and facilities will mean it can be used to fly in athletes, fans and equipment to the London gamese the inevitable strain placed on Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and London City airports in 2012. He said:

"The Olympic Games is the biggest sporting spectacle in the world and competing athletes, their coaches, equipment and spectators in large numbers will be flown in from around the world during a relatively short period of time. Given that the London airports are frequently congested under normal circumstances – let alone when the biggest sporting event in the world comes to town – it is quite clear that Kent International Airport will have a role to play."

The airport chief predicts their will be a build-up in charter flights over the isle before the games but also expects private jets to be shooting across the isle. He continued:

"We expect to see is an influx of private jets, inbound chartered passenger flights and freight services immediately before and during the Olympics. We do not expect to see an increase in jobs relating specifically to the Olympics business as we will already have the resources required to accommodate the brief step-up in activity. The biggest constraint for an airport close to an event of this scale is more likely to be aircraft parking space as there is sure to be a vast number of aircraft from all over the world to descending on the south east in a short space of time. We have had discussions with a number of people involved in the planning of the event and they are aware that we have significant capacity to accommodate air traffic during what will be an extremely busy period."

London Mayor Boris Johnson is also setting his sites on Manston. Writing his column in the Daily Telegraph he said:

"South-eastern councils and the London authorities have decided to look again at all the options around London that could save us from the mistake of expanding Heathrow. They include making better use of existing assets, not least Manston, which has the longest runway in the country."