Infratil STILL trying to flog a dead airport

Infratil's year-end report is out, and it seems they're having more trouble scraping Manston off the sole of their shoe than they expected:

The Infratil Airports Europe segment comprising Glasgow Prestwick and Manston Airports is presented as a disposal group held for sale following the decision of the Group to sell these businesses and the subsequent sales programme. The Group remains committed to the sale process, and it is the expectation of the Group that a sale will be completed within the next financial year.

You can download the full report HERE, but the only page that mentions Manston is reproduced below.

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Reality hits home, Infratil leave town

Delusion has finally been swept away by the onslaught of reality and Infratil are throwing in the towel. This has been a long time coming, and Nostrildamus predicted it in November 2010.

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Manston Airport has been put up for sale. Bosses at Kent International Airport told staff at 10.30am yesterday (Friday) morning. The shock decision was made by owners Infratil. The New Zealand-based company also plans to sell its airport at Prestwick near Glasgow.

IoT Gazette 8th March 2012

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This is obviously bad news for all those employed at the airport. Manston was clearly one of Infratil's rare bad investments, and the workforce at the airport did their best to make a silk purse out of a flying pig's ear, but to no avail. After having been strung along for so long, I hope that they get decent redundancy packages from Infratil. Except Charles Buchanan, and whoever runs their complaints department, obviously.

One excellent aspect of this is that TDC now have an unmissable opportunity to start with a clean slate. If Manston is sold as an airport, the Council can enter into fresh negotiations with the new owners and arrive at a planning permission that satisfies the owner's need for a stable long-term framework within which to develop their business plans, and the Council can write a new S106 agreement that is effective in protecting the interests of the residents of north-east Kent.

Have a look at these posts for a positive take on how we could get a win-win result.

Manston is sellable

New Zealand sacrificial lamb steaks

The chief executive of Infratil has not ruled out selling stakes in Manston airport if a buyer can be found, according to a business website. Marko Bogoievski is quoted on www.stuff.co.nz in an article prompted by the New Zealand based company posting big business losses.

The website reports that analysts said Infratil's European airports, including Kent International Airport and Glasgow Prestwick, and energy developments were the most likely assets to go on the block.

Infratil Airports Europe posted an $18.9m loss compared with $1.2m of earnings the previous year. it claimed, adding that Infratil's investments as a whole returned $356.3m compared with $315.9m the year before. Earnings were up at its three major investments, TrustPower, Infratil Energy Australia and Wellington Airport.

Mr Bogoievski is quoted as saying he did not rule out selling stakes in Manston and Glasgow Prestwick if buyers could be found adding: “In the meantime you do what you can control and that's the operating cost structures of those businesses.”
thisiskent.co.uk

Apart from the consistent mis-spelling of 'steak', the thrust of the message has a sad inevitability about it. Infratil over-reached themselves, expanding into foreign markets they didn't fully understand, which lead to them making poor buying choices. Manston is in the wrong place, and failed to make money for Infratil even in the recent air transport boom years.

Manston has gone from white elephant to lame duck to dead in the water, and Infratil are smiling hard and pointedly not holding their nose as they try to sell it, any of it, to anyone.