Large-scale events planned to take place at Manston airport in 2025

92 Comments

1. They said they had investors for £800m back in May

   Now they need £660M but will have investors “soon”

   They have a letter from the new governmaent but not from the DfT and even then don’t publish it

   • You have your faith many others have theirs.

     • Remind us “Robo” of Freudmann’s business successes….

       • That’s got nothing to do with you!

       • Egon Spendler- How long do you think that would take?

         • Not very long at all.
           On the other hand, a list of his failures over decades would make bedtime reading.

     • You will note, I hope, that there are no approvals in place for the airshow. They need CAA (we asked never been contacted) TDC safety board (cover KCC Highways) no contact with organisers. They mentioned sharing with Eastbourne airshow (on the same weekend) and we asked never been in contact.
       It is scary that despite Shoreham you and the planespotters are so complacent.
       note: Eastbourne displays are over the sea

       • But you can purchase tickets at £10 each now !!!

         They never did have any backers for their airport dream by the sounds of it then. This is all played out by pay now and we will find mugs with money to invest in it. Health and Safety with road closures under the new laws after Shoreham also denied being needed. Scammers or chancers you name it.

   • Mr F was of course the guy who made fanciful claims for Wiggins back in the 1990’s when they ran it-including his near immediate backtracking on the promised vast swathes of jobs for locals he has promised again, this time for RSP.

     Let’s just hope that KKC keep their word & don’t waste any more taxpayer cash on this nonsense, after blowing so much of it from 1998-2014 & having so many experts tell them there is no viable airport there-which is why it has bled money for everybody that tried from 1998 onwards. RSP could have saved themselves a packet if they had put a bid in for it a decade back-they could have got it for the quid Gloag spent.

     • Or even KCC!

     • KCC do not have any spare money for projects, they are really hard up. They have also lost heaps of tax-payers money previously when backing Manston, so they must protect any hard to come by funds from fanciful projects such as this anyway.

2. Amazing!

   If only I could get a bus there.

   • Charter a private jet.

     • If only Wesgate-on-Sea still had an airfield.

       • Try a Fraudemann Hydrogen boat instead 😆

   • I didn’t know you were an INCEL Peter, they are the main people who will be attracted to this nonsense!

     • I had to Google it, and apparently they’re an online community of young men (which pretty much rules you and me out!).

       • I did pretty well Peter right up into my 70’s, although the 1960’s were a bit of dry spell, until the birth control pill was made available to single women, and not just married ones!

3. Oh dear – if I had £800million+ of investment lined up, I wouldn’t want some little pointless events jeopardising any possibility of major heavy construction needing to move in any time… unless they don’t have the investors and this is another way to try get out of debt and make a few bucks…?

   • Read the article properly then.
     All the events are “ not for profit “ with the money going to local charities !

     • However, for the event to go ahead fully in line with official guidelines, it would require the closure of the A299 and B2050 roads surrounding the area – a move likely to gridlock the area during the summer holidays.
       Show organisers say “the team working on the airshow have been in contact with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and have worked out a suitable plan”, but the CAA have yet to confirm details.
       A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson has cast further doubt on this statement, telling KentOnline: “We have been contacted by event organisers of the Manston International Air Show around the practicality of the event going ahead, but no official event or temporary road closure applications have been submitted.
       “This event would need temporary road closures on the A299 and B2050 to be able to hold the event safely in line with the new guidelines issued by the Civil Aviation Authority following the tragic Shoreham Airshow crash in 2015, to ensure the safety of residents and everyone involved.
       Gary Blake says it is all sorted. I’ll bet it isn’t

   • Doesn’t make any sense thst the investors are going to sit on their money until 2026.
     Why wait why not start tomorrow ?

     Think we all know the answer lol

4. The “1/8th mile drag racing event” should be a laugh. Imagine running in those dresses and heels!

   • very good

5. In May 2025 ( 6 months ago ) he told KMFM
   “Well, first of all, I should emphasize to everyone, there’s no public money involved here. So, this is all private investment. It will be internationally sourced investment coming from impeccable sources, you know, details being finalized.
   I mean, you’ll understand that no investor, no sane investor would set aside money in 2019 and wait while we got a final decision on the airfield. So, the investors that we’re talking to now, a couple of them are new people or people who are new to the party. And now is the task for them to start allocating the funds.
   We all know how much it’s going to cost. The final details will be worked on as we complete the new master plan. But in round terms, we’re talking about three, four, 500 million pounds worth of expenditure on the airfield.
   So, investors coming in know that that’s what we have to spend. And those that we’re dealing with now are entirely happy with that because, of course, it’s a huge number. But by airport standards, it isn’t a huge number.”

   • 6 months ago he also said
     “In May 2024 TD said “So, the changes to the master plan will evolve in the next few weeks and months. And once we’ve done that, we then got to complete some detailed designs for the buildings and for the specification of the new infrastructure, and then finally put it all out to tender to a major contractor. And that whole process, we think, will take about 18 months.”
     So he is still saying 18 months so what has he been doing for 6 months?

     • Its a bit like rewriting your weekend ‘to do ‘ list at tea time on Sunday

6. Why would anybody bring freight to Manston when they could fly it to an airport in the middle of England (i.e., to a cargo hub airport)?

   As for the proposed events- well, you’d think the people concerned had never heard of air pollution,dirty fuel, and climate change in general.

   • Indeed (to your first paragraph). A recent story on this site about Airfix moving its logistics from near Canterbury to the Midlands is perhaps an indicator of the actual business realities. Airfix stated their decision was for “significant operational, service and cost efficiencies”, going on to say, “there are significant commercial benefits to be gained from relocating operations from Kent to the middle of the country, closer to a national delivery hub”. I presume there is a degree of analogousness here.

     • Plus Mike Ashley lives in the North-so wants it closer to home. No doubt Airfix, which is owned by Hornby will be relocating their Westwood business up there in due course-they already abandoned it for elsewhere in Kent, before moving back.

   • If you’re so sure it will fail, then you can sleep easy.

     As for ‘Climate Change’ for the UK at least there are at least as many advantages as disadvantages. I don’t know about you, but I prefer the Kent wines of the 21st century to the frozen seas of the ’60s and ’70s.

7. Permission needs to be granted for all these events has any applications been sent ?????? The district council need to police the events being advertised, to make sure licensing is in place and public liability insurance.
   There seems to be a large amount of trust being given to RSP and this large piece of prime land, but thes public
   events need to be organised in a professional manner.

8. International cargo hub? More like Steptoe’s Yard with old containers and disassembled cars lying about! Maybe they should open a circus on the land as they seem to be a bunch of clowns.

9. RSP have owned the site since 2019. Since then, they gave done absolutely nothing to move the project forward.
   Of particular concern are the CAA licence and the MoD’s High Resolution Direction Finder aerial – a plan, to relocate this, approved by the MoD, must be in place before a spade can be dug into the ground.
   £600,000,000 of investment? In an airport project that neither the Planning Inspectorate nor the SoS’s experts (Ove Arup) says is necessary?
   What sort of returns would investors be looking for on £600,000,000? How much would landing fees be, to meet this return?
   Surely the DCO is in support of the original project. If RSP change the plan, won’t they need a new DCO? In the same way that if I get planning permission to build 10 flats on a bit of land, I can’t build a glue factory instead.
   Just admit it.
   There will be several thousand houses built up there before too long.

10. Do the RSP lot do everything ar5e about t1t? Announce an airshow but with no permissions in place? Get permission to open an airport but with no investment in place? I’m planning on winning the lottery this weekend but I won’t bother buying a ticket.

11. What’s the hold up ?

    Why are the investors sitting on the 800million and not starting work on the airport ?

    Well the IoT being doing an article of when the planned works are due to start. In which order etc.
    Well we see articles from the investors stating how soon they expect a return of their 800million.

    What are the planes for the new infrastructure ? Widening of the thanet way and M2.
    How do RSP intent to under cut all the other major airport with the infrastructure in place and in a much better geographical position.

    I’m many local people would like to know what & when it’s all going to start. So far the public haven’t heard any start plans.

    • Is any of this more important than drag racing?

      • I’m surprised the runway is smooth enough for drag racing.
        I haven’t noticed any maintenance work carried out on the runway for the last few decades. Still by the time the runway is sprayed with glue to help the cars get grip !

      • I liked it as the international lorry park back in 2020/2021-with few toilets & nothing to eat, which along with the asylum centre debacle that followed indicates what a mess any airport there would be. And it’s getting me so. It’s getting me so. Airport, ooh wooo wooo woo, airport. You’ve got a smiling face.

        • I loooove that song!

    • Mr X – Hold up is nothing to do with you and neither is investment details. It will what it will be when design etc completed to satisfaction of all parties. Be patient.

      • What’s happening at Manston is of the utmost concern generally to the people of Thanet, and particularly to Ramsgate’s residents.

        • Why? You keep insisting it’s going to fail.

          • Peter – well said – this Andrew character seems not too accept Manston now has permission to reopen as an Airport as and when. Why is it a concern for people of Thanet and Ramsgate when majority approved of it? Seems to have permanent bee in his bonnet concerning Manston Airport?

          • Fed up

            Where is this report that most of thanet people want this airport ? Could you post a link to it please.

            As with most supports of manston they don’t like it when anti manston supports put forward good valid reason.

            With Mr F record of business and his banning as a solicitor I won’t believe a word he says.

          • I didn’t used to care much either way, but now I hope the airport does reopen, purely for the entertainment value provided by a handful of Ramsgate NIMBYs!

        • The only people with the “utmost concern” are the self-obsessed, luddite nimby’s who threw their money at Jenny whatshername with the intention of keeping the airport closed.

          No other reason… just not in their back yard.

          • Alex Peters- There are plenty of reasons for not wanting an airport near Ramsgate.

          • Alex get your facts right
            the JR was to ensure the SoS had made his decision legally
            1st time around he didn’t and had to pay Jenny’s legal costs.
            He tried again even paying for a report (£150K) to back his opinion. (it didn’t so he ignored it) however the appeal court made their decision that his opinion mattered more than what the experts had said. Grossly unfair but unfortunately legal

12. He said: “We will have the backers quite soon.”

    So they aren’t any backers at the moment

    • I expect their cheques are in the post.

    • There never have been any backers.
      This was made clear during the Examination Phase of the DCO process. It took the PI weeks to wheedle out of RSP this snippet. According to Freudmann, suitable investors would be invited, once the DCO was approved.
      As for hydrogen powered barges. …
      Imagine. You’re importing fresh flowers from Holland to Covent Garden.
      You might be able to fly them to Manston, put them on a truck, drive down to the port, load them onto a barge (there is currently no suitable facility), meanwhile the barge refuels (but there is no suitable facility), the barge chugs off, round the North Foreland and into the Thames Estuary, past Sheerness, Southend, Grays, Tilbury and so on, until it reaches a suitable jetty. There, the cargo of (wilting) cut flowers is loaded onto a truck, to be driven to the market.
      On the other hand, the plane from Holland could fly straight to City Airport, the cargo transfered to a truck, and driven to the market.
      H’mm. What a choice.

    • Fedup B-What majority was that? Of course the decision to accept or reject is not made by a local referendum or poll, but by the Sectretary of State, who in this case made the wrong decision.

      • Secretary

      • In your opinion it was the wrong decision, and in my opinion it was the correct one. Let’s just leave it to those in charge, eh?

        • Yes, because politicians never get it wrong do they?

          • And M.M. Rees is always right? I know who I’d rather believe.

13. Strange that RSP appear to operate from serviced offices in London. You’d think a project of this size would have established a permanent, fully staffed HQ in Thanet by now.And you’d also expect RSPto be working on substantive preparations for the airport not publicity stunts.

14. The airshow going by the new regs is just a high level ( min 1500ft ) fly past.

    • According to a piece in another Kent newspaper, the show would require the closing of the A299, over an August weekend.
      Fat chance.

      • To repeat as it is important
        However, for the event to go ahead fully in line with official guidelines, it would require the closure of the A299 and B2050 roads surrounding the area – a move likely to gridlock the area during the summer holidays.
        Show organisers say “the team working on the airshow have been in contact with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and have worked out a suitable plan”, but the CAA have yet to confirm details.
        A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson has cast further doubt on this statement, telling KentOnline: “We have been contacted by event organisers of the Manston International Air Show around the practicality of the event going ahead, but no official event or temporary road closure applications have been submitted.
        “This event would need temporary road closures on the A299 and B2050 to be able to hold the event safely in line with the new guidelines issued by the Civil Aviation Authority following the tragic Shoreham Airshow crash in 2015, to ensure the safety of residents and everyone involved.
        Gary Blake says it is all sorted. I’ll bet it isn’t

15. Ramsgate Town Council and a few Snowflakes failed to stop Manston Airport, so move on please.
    I can’t wait for those heavy planes to fly over the town and
    before you ask, I.m under the flight path.

    • It would give me a reason to visit Ramsgate more often, watching those planes fly over.

    • John 558 – I’m sure hundreds of people are wondering what RSP really wants to build there.The then secretary of state rejected all the evidence that Manston is a poor site for an “cargo hub”(could this description be irony on RSP’s part?) airport. So will RSP and their as-yet invisible backers go for housing (always needed, and brings in lots of money) or an airport, on a site which has not had much in the way of aviational success in the past?

    • What stopped Manston in the past was too few people from Thanet chose to fligh from the place, so it went bankrupt, several times.

      • Relax then.

      • Not-too-bright Andrew… It’s amazing to think Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stanstead ALL make a profit – presumably from flying passengers only from Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stanstead. Well according to your deranged thinking.

        • Alex Peters – Why do you think that Andrew is “not-too-bright” and that his comment above is wrong?

        • All of those airports are centrally located with a catchment area of the south of england
          Manston on the other hand it perched out on a limb

16. Interesting to see the anti-airport people coming back to life, after they eventually lost the DCO case. Same old unpleasant comments by the same old people and still spouting personal hate-mail and rubbish.

    • Very old people.

    • Yet again you confuse “anti-airport” with people that don’t trust TF/RSP as far as you can thrown him/them !

    • “still spouting personal hate-mail and rubbish.”
      Generally speaking, the boot is on the other foot.

      What’s unpleasant about facing up to the reality of RSP’s proposed development? Considering a few hard facts?
      How is it rubbish to point out that in 5 years since RSP bought the site, they’ve done absolutely nothing to move the project forward?

      • the REALITY of a PROPOSED development? Really? REALLY?

        Any chance you can tell me the winner of the 2.30 at Epsom?

        • It would be interesting to know why Alex Peters is a) so keen on having a busy airport near a town of about 40,OO0 people, and b) so rude to him.

          • “to Andrew” not “to him”

    • Ramsgate resident(Official) – the “hate-mail and rubbish” is largely from people who do want an airport at Manston.

    • “personal hate-mail and rubbish.” please do give examples.

    • I cannot see any hate mail or unpleasant comments by anyone so far Ramsgate Resident (official)!! Are you here to start it off ?

      • “Kent Resident” – comments by “Fed-up B”, “Alex Peters” “Peter Checksfield” on this comments thread.

        • Which comment of mine on this thread do you find unpleasant?

          • It’s just as well you restrict your query to this thread, because the IoTN is littered with the most dreadful comments, written by you, and directed at several people posting in this thread.

          • Thank you, Rees’ spokeperson.

            Over to you, Rees… what have I said that’s offensive on this thread? Or is this yet another unsubstantiated allegation from your rather fertile imagination?

17. For the useful idiots: it’s called land banking. Manston is in the long pampas grass with real estate developers, finance lawyers, and whichever political party is willing to have its coffers greased for the next election cycle. There is no money for an airport like this unless the government pays for it, because only the government funds infrastructure that does not make sense.

18. “Large-scale events planned to take place at Manston airport in 2025”
    Silly me.
    When I saw this headline, I thought the piece was going on to say that RSP was actually going to open an airport, not set up a handful of kiddies’ fairground rides.

19. Some still spouting the usual old news. Open your windows and listen
    to all those planes thundering over Ramsgate.

20. As a representative of the Hydrogen Barge Association, we are delighted to hear that proposals remain firmly in place to use our environmentally friendly approach to move vital produce up the river to London:

    it makes no sense whatsoever to fly the produce to London, then unload it to lorries, which have to go via the many motorways, and distribute it via the several hubs in the capital, when they can fly to Manson, unload it to lorries, transport them via the quieter secondary roads to our barges at Ramsgate port, mobilise them on the Thames, unload them, load them again on lorries once in the capital, and then take them to the hubs.

    Although we have not been contacted yet, we remain expectant and very much hope we can have a stand at the airshow to demonstrate how the safety of hydrogen-powered vehicles has dramatically improved since the earlier versions of these vessels.

    • I’ve just formed a construction company – Canals’R’Us – and we’d like to be considered for the contract to build a canal from Ramsgate’s port to the Manston site. That way, you could display a real hydrogen barge, and possibly give visitors a ride in it (as it’s very unlikely they’d get a flight of any sort).
      We would incorporate the existing port tunnel, and something like the Falkirk Wheel to raise the craft from sea level yo the level of the ex airfield.
      We don’t anticipate that the project would put much of a dint into the £800,000,000,000 investors have so far promised.
      Contact: James Brindley, Lock Keepers’ Cottage, Manchester Ship Canal.

21. Alex Peters

    Instead of being rude perhaps you could explain why you have such blunder faith in a struck off solicitor.
    Give some insight into how manston is going to over it’s lack of infrastructure, like mains fuel pipe, poor roads, no rail poor location.

    Don’t be rude just explain why you see manston being a success

22. Was not this land banked land sold off after the last Manston airshow ?

23. “All the profits from the show will be donated to local charities” and who will be checking that takes place? But, how can all profits be donated as there are many businesses involved in making this event a success and each will be under the impression that they are there to make a profit from it.

    £15 entry each is a bit steep before paying out for rides, snacks, shops and other expenses within the grounds, surely it should be free entry for local residents as it was when the events were held on the Palm Bay clifftop years ago.

24. Will the airshow be just for Thanet locals, like the jobs at the airport? We dont want DFLs.