Crystal balls

Matt Clarke (CEO of Kent International Airport a.k.a. Manston Airport) is returning, like a cheerful homing pigeon, to New Zealand. I spent a few hours with Matt at Manston recently and he struck me as being a likeable and decent guy, doing his best to make the best of a bad job. I wish him and his family well.

Spookily enough, it was foretold! Right here, over six months ago. Here it is, electronically shrunk:

Moving bullishly onto the next manic assertion that I shall shamelessly repackage as far-sightedness should it ever come to pass: no night flight/S106 consultation this side of the general election (May 6th being the current odds-on favourite). The rationale, such as it is, runs like this...

On the airport side, there may be a little more listless finger-drumming than usual in the limbo period until March when Matt hands the baton to Tom Wilson, the chief executive of Infratil Airports Europe. Tom will run the show for an interim period, "while a permanent replacement is sought". If the head-hunting goes smoothly, Manston may have its third CEO of the year in place by mid-summer. This level of boss-churn is not the ideal backdrop for re-negotiating your terms of operation. Infratil (and TDC) may prefer to wait for NewBoy to get his feet under the desk.

On the Council side, the collective attention is drawn ever more strongly to the forthcoming election, like iron filings to an approaching magnet. For all their talk of growth projections and strategic needs, Infratil haven't been in a rush to re-jig the S106, or even present adequate paperwork to apply for night flights, thereby demoting themselves in the councillors' attention rankings - losing magnetism, if you like. From the Council's point of view, nothing's immediately imperilled if the airport just carries on as it is - there's no urgency. The election is a different matter. It will trigger one of Nature's great spectacles as local politicians arise in a monomaniacal swarm to preen and bolster their Westminster brethren, in the hope of making mightier masters for themselves, a mighty master being 'a good thing' in the ramshackle network of neo-feudal patronage, fealty and group-think that is our beloved democracy. Grumble, grumble.

Anyway, the upshot is that the fliers and the liars will be too busy looking after themselves to be bothered with what anyone else thinks, so no consultation until Just-when-you-thought-it-couldn't-get-any-worse Day is over.

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Sign the petition against night flights.

.:.