Manchester Airport Transformation Programme

[marni1971]

To me it reads as two separate items - pier three, and also the pier two stub / lounge.

Semi connected, a while back there was mention of a total airbridge order of 27 for now. 11 for pier one, plus 16 others.

With all the chops and changes to piers, the latest art does indeed show 27 airbridge. Would it be safe to assume they’ve finally settled on this layout for the foreseeable?

View attachment 9463

Note the two double bridge gates on pier three, and also a pepper pot with no bridge on pier two. Total = 27 bridges.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Just before I do the weekly report I thought I would add further comment to Comet's remark and that of Marni1971.

Looking at the OAN and the Parking chart for Manchester I would agree that Pier 3 seems to take a far small space from the terminal frontage - stands 207-208 - than Pier 2 which uses stands 213-215 (I've based this on the survey area and nothing else). I also had missed the fact that this is a busing lounge that is being referred to, rather than passenger business lounges.

 

[coyotes_uk]

Am going on one of those trials today, I think, they will be done in the actual pier, at least that's what im lead to believe!

 

[Scottie Dog]

Look forward to hearing your views on both the gate and general feeling about the pier.

 

[coyotes_uk]

Spoiler: Reveal Manchester Terminal 2 Transformation Pictures

View attachment 9527 View attachment 9528 View attachment 9529 View attachment 9530 View attachment 9531 View attachment 9532 View attachment 9533

Back in the office after the trial, phew, definitely got my 10k steps in!

My initial thoughts:

• It is one huge huge site, from the T2 extension, MSCP, to the link and Pier, it really is one mahoosive site! £1mil being spent per day apparently!
• Pier is impressive, were not talking Changi levels (but that's an unfair comparison anyway) but still a big upgrade over even existing T2.
• Hopefully they will redevelop existing bits of T2, otherwise it will be a clear line between, shiny new T2 and crampt T2.
• If you think of existing T2 and the corridors by the gates, think of the Pier as T2x a half maybe. Think of the existing amount of space, add maybe 50% then double again (ie, picture two existing T2 corridors side by side to mirror the pier, hopefully that makes sense!).
• Good high ceiling on the main part of the pier, nice big windows.
• Node's (or the new pepperpots), similar design to existing but again, imagine maybe 1.5x more spacious. As you look at exterior pics, the holes in the ramp facing parts of the Node's, lower hole will be the jetbridge, the upper is just a window. So, when boarding, after scanning at the gate, you walk towards a window before taking the stairs down to departure level which, is the arrivals level for incoming pax, much like the existing setup.
• No shops on the pier at all, think they said there will be water fountains but, if you want shopping/food, they will remain in the T2 extension part, not on the pier.
• If anyone saw the desk mockup that has been at the station, in essence, that is what the boarding gate will be. FIDS above, flight display screens running along the walkway in the middle of the pier.
• Looked to be two toilet blocks along the pier.
• Nice and spacious, the only bit that could be crampt, will be the far south end of the pier, 4 gates clustered around the end....could get busy!
• From the end of the pier to the end of the current link bridge construction, I made to be about a 3-5min walk, surprisingly not as far as it looks!

Thats what I can remember for now!

 

[Scottie Dog]

Excellent report coyotes_uk and very much appreciated. I'll have a really good read when I'm on the laptop.

 

[marni1971]

It’s all news today! Thanks coyotes

I was lucky to attend the TAS meeting last night with a presentation from the MAN TP team. I tried to make notes, take some photos of the slides, and put it all into some coherent form. This should all be correct, but I was trying to keep up sometimes:

Timeframe:

The latest aerial CGI art is correct.

Pier one completed by end of January. Testing until April 1 - opening day. The new west MSCP should also open then.

The new airside bussing lounge with 14 gates should begin to be built late 2018/early 2019

April 2020 the airside bussing lounge opens (at the start of the future pier two) as does the terminal extension. The west apron extension should also open (all west apron remote stands - currently long stay and staff car park - open by summer 2020. Currently 11 remote stands here.

Late 2020 and 2021 should see pier three being built and the existing terminal two close. The existing T2 MSCP extension should also start. I assume along with the M56 bridge link but this wasn’t mentioned.

April 2022 - pier three opens and the old terminal two reopens to form one complete single terminal building.

Mid/Late 2022 Terminal one closes

April 2024 Pier two opens


Notes:

Pier one has 15 stands and 11 gates. West side is shorter haul, east long haul with adaptable gates depending on aircraft size. Can have two wide bodies over three gates or three smaller craft.

Pier three two contact A380 gates and one remote A380 gate.

Pier two and three are extendable in the future

Pier four is mothballed - linking it to pier c would have meant only one side of it and pier c would be accessible for aircraft. Waste of money. So pier four capacity was moved to going ahead with pier two instead.

Plan for now is to close terminal one but retain pier c, the satellite, pier b and southern front. Hopefully they’ll be heavily overhauled. The "skinny link" seen in the most recent CGI will link terminal two to terminal three (via T1 departure lounge area and southern front) - current thinking says most if not all of pier B will become terminal three, pier c will become part of terminal two.

All airbridges fully glazed and air conditioned. Some two sections, some three sections. Also have a semi auto function whereby they’ll drive themselves towards the plane on the gate, and the controller will then finish the contact.



Massive apron reconfiguration. Triple taxiways north south from T2 to runways. Corner at Thomas Cook hanger cut slightly to accommodate A380 and passing aircraft at same time on two of three taxiways and to retain pier c.

Taxiway and holding names all to be renamed airport wide on night of October 10-11. Another smaller rename to finish the new layout circa 2020. Only names not changing are the two runways.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Definitely a good day for news. Thank you marni1971 for making such detailed notes and for sharing with us.

 

[marni1971]

And just for clarity, this is the most up to date and from what was said last night correct image of the finished project:

View attachment 9554

The only major change is the west most corner (far right of image) has more remote stands since the new taxiway Lima has had its right angle corner shaved slightly.

 

[marni1971]

And also, the MAN TP guys said although it’s outside of their remit and had no details, there are plans currently being thrashed out to reconfigure airside terminal one to fit into what I described above (retaining piers and an airside corridor from T3 to T2) and also an overhaul / update / expansion of T3. And also (and predictably) expect a terminal renaming / renunbering once all is said and done.

 

[marni1971]

• No shops on the pier at all, think they said there will be water fountains but, if you want shopping/food, they will remain in the T2 extension part, not on the pier

Brilliant news!

 

[Coathanger16]

April 2022 - pier three opens and the old terminal two reopens to form one complete single terminal building.

The "skinny link" seen in the most recent CGI will link terminal two to terminal three (via T1 departure lounge area and southern front)

So in future will all of MAN's terminals be connected to 'create' one terminal? Will that just be airside connections or landside as well?

 

[marni1971]

So in future will all of MAN's terminals be connected to 'create' one terminal? Will that just be airside connections or landside as well?

At the moment there will be two separate terminals. Linked airside (and you assume landslide still via a proper skylink to T3)

 

[jfy1999]

And just for clarity, this is the most up to date and from what was said last night correct image of the finished project:

View attachment 9554

The only major change is the west most corner (far right of image) has more remote stands since the new taxiway Lima has had its right angle corner shaved slightly.

Out of interest, does anyone know how many stands there will be in total when everything is complete? How many stands were there before work started?

 

[marni1971]

Out of interest, does anyone know how many stands there will be in total when everything is complete? How many stands were there before work started?

Given the flexible nature of a lot of the new stands (one wide body or two narrow body) that’d be a little hard to figure out I think. But the amount of gates plus remotes should be easier to figure out.

 

[marni1971]

These are only going off from the presentation slides so aren’t official, but I’m counting

Pier one (contact and remote) 15
Pier two 14
Pier three 14

Remote west 11

Remote south 3 by cargo centre and 3 by fuel farm

2 on Thomas Cook corner

1 in the vicinity of current 201

Equals sixty three.

However, pier c satellite may loose one (or more) gates to accommodate new duel taxiway hotel.

Again, these figures are nowhere official! And the pier numbers are flexible depending on type of craft parked - in total there’s 20 separate gate numbers on pier one, 23 on pier two and 22 on pier three (as seen in the pics I posted above)

 

[Jamman]

Great information, thanks for writing the report - I'm happy with the final layout I think the 3 pier option looks quite smart.
I hope when they 'modify' the old T2 they look at modifying the frontage of the terminal, even if they buildings are different the frontage can be aligned to look similar?
Keeping the existing piers of T1 also kinda makes sense but only with extensive modifications, they were designed for another age of arrivals and departures being on the same level, the current botch of glass corridors to allow separated depart/arrivals passengers is a bit pap.

 

[marni1971]

Great information, thanks for writing the report - I'm happy with the final layout I think the 3 pier option looks quite smart.
I hope when they 'modify' the old T2 they look at modifying the frontage of the terminal, even if they buildings are different the frontage can be aligned to look similar?
Keeping the existing piers of T1 also kinda makes sense but only with extensive modifications, they were designed for another age of arrivals and departures being on the same level, the current botch of glass corridors to allow separated depart/arrivals passengers is a bit pap.

The plan is to keep the exteriors of old and new T2 completely different. That’s in the design statement. Not something I agree with but there you go. It will look like terminal one from opening day in my humble opinion.

Agree about pier B and C - they’re already not fit for purpose. One would hope the medium term sees the planned demo and rebuild of pier B should they want to keep it. It’s 1960s vintage at the core plus the 1994 Luthhansa Superhub addition and it shows. I’ve not been in pier C for a good 25 years now but can imagine the unsegregated original design is very restricting now.

 

[Jamman]

The plan is to keep the exteriors of old and new T2 completely different. That’s in the design statement. Not something I agree with but there you go. It will look like terminal one from opening day in my humble opinion.

Blumin'eck, even if they just extended the new canopy down the building front it wouldn't be so bad, I mean it wouldn't win any design awards but it would be half sympathetic to the new design.
People may say that I am missing the point, that I'm being too transfixed on the aesthetic of the building rather than its function, but its time to move away from this hop-potch building bolt on's.

Agree about pier B and C - they’re already not fit for purpose. One would hope the medium term sees the planned demo and rebuild of pier B should they want to keep it. It’s 1960s vintage at the core plus the 1994 Luthhansa Superhub addition and it shows. I’ve not been in pier C for a good 25 years now but can imagine the unsegregated original design is very restricting now.

Which bit is the Luthansa Superhub addition? I'm interested.

Pier C is pretty much what it was back in the 80s (https://goo.gl/maps/nDxg9M4JZYF2) except with the addition of the wrap around glass corridor for arrivals. It even has the old bulky green screen monitors above each gate, although not in use any more. Its the only bit of T1 that hasn't really been revamped over the years?[/QUOTE]

 

[marni1971]

Blumin'eck, even if they just extended the new canopy down the building front it wouldn't be so bad, I mean it wouldn't win any design awards but it would be half sympathetic to the new design.
People may say that I am missing the point, that I'm being too transfixed on the aesthetic of the building rather than its function, but its time to move away from this hop-potch building bolt on's.



Which bit is the Luthansa Superhub addition? I'm interested.

Pier C is pretty much what it was back in the 80s (https://goo.gl/maps/nDxg9M4JZYF2) except with the addition of the wrap around glass corridor for arrivals. It even has the old bulky green screen monitors above each gate, although not in use any more. Its the only bit of T1 that hasn't really been revamped over the years?

[/QUOTE]
Good grief. The satellite looks virtually the same as the pre opening photos I’ve got from 1986. New floor and seats obviously!

The superhub saw pier Bs width doubled with a new pier down the eastern side of it. It was designed to be a flexible pier design but today’s demands have outgrown it obviously.