Long haul air passengers from Kent are being advised to use Manston airport to connect with flights out of Amsterdam to avoid the “mayhem and chaos” at Heathrow and Gatwick.

Manston is a little used airport on the eastern tip of Kent which last week announced its first scheduled service to Amsterdam Schiphol, one of Europe’s largest hub airports with six runways. Dutch carrier KLM now operates twice daily services from Kent to Holland, on planes with up to 80 seats.

Manston now seeks itself as a ‘spoke’ to the hub of Schiphol, with passengers in the first few days of service reportedly flying from east Kent on to North America, the Middle East and South East Asia. In due course the airport is looking to serve other major European airports as a spoke – as far afield as Istanbul in Turkey.

Chief executive Charles Buchanan from Manston airport said: “We are serving a growing demand from air travellers who want to avoid the mayhem and chaos of Heathrow and Gatwick and achieve their journey in a more convenient way. By using Manston local people avoid lengthy queues on the M25 and can park adjacent to our terminal. And being outside London air space means flights should not be delayed on take off or landing.”

He added that Manston is a hugely under used piece of infrastructure that can provide additional airport capacity in the short term until the Davies Commission into aviation publishes its final report in summer 2015.

Captions: Top: The first KLM flight leaving for Amsterdam. Middle: The first KLM plane being welcomed by water cannon. Bottom: From Manston to the world (L-R): Charles Buchanan, chief executive of Manston Airport and Henri Hourcade, general manager of Air France KLM, UK & Ireland, with the crew on the first flight to leave for Amsterdam

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