Thanet will be linked with 130 global destinations after Air France KLM announced two new daily flights from Manston to Europe's fourth-busiest airport.The Franco-Dutch airline will offer the new service between Manston and Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam in The Netherlands, from April 2 – creating 28 new jobs at the Thanet airport.Two morning flights from Manston will each be able to carry 80 passengers with a return to Amsterdam costing as little as £99. A Fokker 70 jet will run the services at 6.35am and 10.40am from Manston, with a total flight time of under an hour.After making the announcement at Canterbury Cathedral Lodge on Tuesday, Manston Airport chief executive Charles Buchanan said: This is great news for Kent, great news for Manston and great news for KLM.We are physically the closest airport for most of Kent. Passengers will be able to arrive at Manston, park adjacent to the terminal building, check in and be on the flight to Amsterdam within minutes.Air France KLM was convinced the service would take off after a consultation received more than 9,000 responses last month.About 96 per cent of Kent residents who gave their views said they would use the service.The airline's UK general manager, Henri Hourcade, said on Tuesday: "It's an airport which has proved to be reliable a small terminal, English-speaking, good shopping.We think there are people in Kent who are fed up with traffic, the M25, expensive parking, and saturated airports, and we will offer a hassle-free alternative to London.Mr Hourcade said Thanet would also become a destination for incoming passengers, adding: Manston will be part of our global map. It will be with our sales forces all around the planet.
Thanet and East Kent Chamber of Commerce hailed the news, highlighting the economic impact of easyJet's successful launch of flights at Southend Airport, which created 4,900 jobs in the area.Chamber chief executive David Foley said:Given the considerable savings in time and money to local long-haul passengers transiting via Amsterdam, there is every reason to suppose that the arrival of KLM in Manston will stimulate employment in east Kent, reduce costs for exporters and boost tourism.Thanet council leader Clive Hart tempered his enthusiasm with apparent concern for those residents who have opposed night flights.He said: "I welcome it most definitely especially the jobs. In an ideal world I would have much preferred it if the later flight was at 7am, however, we are where we are."
Mr Hart said the proposal would be allowed under a current Section 106 agreement banning certain night flights, as the KLM service would use a "quieter aircraft" carrying passengers to a European destination.Thanet Conservative group leader Councillor Bob Bayford said: "We desperately need jobs here and the Conservative group has always maintained that the airport could play a crucial role in the regeneration of Thanet.The Labour administration's short-sighted 'no night flights' policy would effectively ban this service, simply because one of the flights is 25 minutes before 7am, yet this is exactly the type of flexibility that we have long argued for.Passengers will be able to connect to countries such as Brazil, South Africa and the USA, via Air France KLM's main airports Schiphol and Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.The new service comes after a year of some disappointments for Manston. Budget airline Flybe pulled services to Edinburgh and Belfast, and Thanet council voted not to allow limited scheduled flights at night.The airport was put up for sale by its owners, the New Zealand-based Infratil.
