Manston Airport appears to have finally been cleared for take-off after leaping its latest legal hurdle - but just when will the site be transformed?

We take a look at the common questions asked about its future - and provide the answers.

What is the plan for Manston Airport?

In a nutshell, the owners of the site - RiverOak Strategic Partners - want to transform the former RAF base, close to Ramsgate, into a thriving cargo airport.

That means it will be flying in goods from around the world before they are transported to their final destination.

But, clearly, having been closed since 2014 and the bulk of its fixtures and fittings sold at auction in a fire-sale by former owner Ann Gloag, there's an awful lot of work required to get it up to standard - so don't expect to see flights any time soon.

When will the work in transforming it begin?

Currently, the site's owners are initiating extensive preliminary work such as surveys and designs. If all goes to plan, there will be visible work taking place at the site around the middle of 2024 - so another 18 months.

RSP admits "an awful lot" of work is required. And that could be something of an understatement.

Key to its challenges is that since the RAF left in 1999, and little investment has been made in the airport's infrastructure - there are few facilities for cargo or passengers. New terminals for both will be required, as well as space for the aircraft coming in to be sat while being loaded and unloaded.

Much of the existing buildings are expected to be flattened and will be replaced with a future-proofed complex in order to give the airport the best chance of long-term survival.

Which means a "huge amount" of construction work is on the horizon.

One hurdle it needs to address is that the levels at the airport are "all wrong", according to RSP.

In short, the runway is the highest point on the site and the drop from it to the lowest point is some 11 metres. Airport and aircraft regulations in this country forbid airports having a gradient of more than 1%. And Manston is far in excess of that.

As a result, it plans to build new taxi-ways for the aircraft - essentially link roads - from the runway to the parking stands on a gradual incline which meets the requirements. RSP admit that alone will be "expensive" and take "a lot of effort".

There are also plans to build a new access road off the roundabout from the Thanet Way (the Minster roundabout), to avoid the need for traffic to navigate the tricky junction of Spitfire Way and Manston Road.

So where is the money coming from?

Now that's a good question. RSP has been shy of ever quite revealing the identity of its backers which may, or may not, be a cause of concern. But, as they say, "they've backed it for six years now, in the teeth of some opposition and delays, and they're still backing it".

All director Tony Freudmann will say is: "They are private people. They are represented by a private office in Zurich - all duly licensed and registered with the Swiss authorities - and they are British passport owners."

They are, however, going to need deep pockets - or, at least, know where to access huge sums of money.

RSP estimates the work required to bring the airport up to scratch will be around £500 million - a figure which may prove optimistic if inflation keeps at its current pace.

When will Manston Airport actually be open again for aircraft?

If all goes to plan - and on such a sizeable project, it's sensible to build in some wriggle room before setting dates in stone - RSP expects the grand reopening in 2026.

That's three years later than originally planned, primarily due to the Department for Transport's tardiness in granting RSP the Development Consent Order required to push ahead with its plans and the ensuing legal challenges it has faced in recent year; challenges which have now been concluded.

What's all this talk of passenger flights resuming?

There are plans to get commercial flights coming and going from Manston - but don't expect it straight away. Essential to the airport's business plan working is that the cargo operation proves profitable. It is around this that its success - or otherwise - will be judged.

However, if all goes to plan, RSP says commercial flights could begin as early as 2028.

There's been much speculation - in part fuelled by RSP - about the destinations it could fly to. With everywhere from Majorca and the Canary Islands, Malta and Cyprus mentioned, in addition to flights to the likes of Scotland, northern England and Ireland.

The reality is that the routes will be determined by any airline that expresses an interest.

KLM, which operated daily flights to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport - where passengers could then access flights around the world - has long been touted as potentially eyeing a return.

Talks with the likes of Ryanair, EasyJet and Hungarian low-cost operator Wizz Air started prior to the pandemic. RSP says they are set to resume now the airport has navigated its way through its legal challenges.

Where there is optimism, is that early-morning slots at Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are now full-up - so Manston could provide additional capacity. Passenger flights during this time are essential to get planes in the air as they lose an hour as soon as they cross the Channel due to the time difference.

Key is signing a deal which sees commercial planes based at Manston. This brings regular footfall through the airport - and with it the need for staff and commercial revenues - and will ensure regular flights.

It would also mean they'd look - hopefully - to hire local crew to man the flights.

How many flights a day is the airport expecting?

If all goes to plan, RSP hopes that between five to 10 years after opening, the airport will develop to the point where about half-a-million tonnes of cargo is going through it, and about a million passengers are using the site each year.

That means approximately 17,000 cargo flights a year. By means of comparison, Gatwick has more than 250,000 cargo and passenger flights.

That means Manston could see about four or five flights an hour during its operating day - the hours of which will stretch from 6am (for passenger planes, 7am for freight) to 11pm at night.

If it succeeds in getting the equivalent of about 1,500 cargo flights a month, it would be double the number that went into Stansted in November - currently the south east's busiest cargo terminal.

How many jobs will it create?

RSP says it is estimating "conservatively" at least 2,000 jobs, and indirectly - namely the businesses which will serve it - "a lot more than that".

Given Thanet has traditionally the highest rate of unemployment in Kent, this is something to be welcomed in an area with little in the way of established, significant, industry.

Jobs will range from everything from security to air traffic control.

RSP is vowing that the airport will train people - including taking those leaving local schools with little or no qualifications - in order to provide them with career opportunities.

If it all goes to plan, it could have a significant benefit to the local Thanet - and wider east Kent - economy.

This all sounds good, but why has there been so much opposition to it over the years?

Manston Airport suffers greatly from its recent history hanging around its neck like the proverbial millstone.

Before it closed in 2014, long-time residents will have heard much talk of big and exciting plans for the airport and seen, in exchange, companies come and go and passenger flight plans jet-off elsewhere no sooner had they started - in some high-profile cases before the first aircraft got to taxi down the runway.

It needs to deliver this time around or there's a danger people's patience in the site as a viable hub of economic and employment prosperity may be flushed away as dramatically as in an airline toilet.

In addition, those in Ramsgate - particularly those who have moved to the area in the nine years since flights operated from the site - may not be too delighted they will soon once again be under its flight path. Especially if it's specialising in big, heavy cargo planes.

There's also a compelling argument that Manston is simply in the wrong place to be an effective airport location. It's not on a motorway, it is surrounded by coastline - thus limiting its appeal to many - and there's the old chestnut that Gatwick, Stansted and Luton - big, established airports with swanky facilities and all the hotels, shopping, restaurants, parking and infrastructure that go with them - are not that far away.

Indeed, it's actually quicker to get to Gatwick from Maidstone than it is to Manston.

But, on the flip side to all of that, there is no denying Thanet really needs Manston to work for its own self-esteem. It needs something for which its youngsters can aspire to work at; while also providing a source of employment for plenty of others. A lot is riding on its shoulders. As a cargo hub, it provides a key point of difference to other airports.

It may not have a motorway slip-road, but it does have the dual-carriageway Thanet Way which merges into the M2 at Faversham about 30 minutes down the road, and the new Thanet Parkway railway station (which will take passengers into London in a little over an hour) brings it a short bus ride from a mainline link.

You also don't need to navigate the M25.

Crucially, this time around, Manston Airport is vowing to have the airport infrastructure in place to give it the very best opportunity to flourish - something those at RSP say it has never had before.