The Transport Select Committee heard evidence from Manston's new owners and those who want it to be kept open today.

MPs also heard from the leader of Thanet council Iris Johnston and Kent County Council leader Cllr Paul Carter.

MP Sir Roger Gale, Thanet North MP and representatives of the Save Manston Airport Group are also present.

Representatives of the American consortium RiverOak, which has been pressing to become a partner with Thanet council in a joint Compulsory Purchase Order, were also at the meeting.

The meeting, due to start at 4.05pm, was delayed by the number who turned up to watch proceedings.

Pauline Bradley, director at Manston Skyport Limited, told the select committee that though it bought Manston from previous owners Infratil for £1, in doing so it took on £4.5 million of debt.

Ms Bradley described "a real, credible opportunity to do business with Ryan Air," shortly after Manston Skyport Purchased the airport.

But Ryan Air reviewed its operation strategy and withdrew from discussions, as did certain cargo operators, including British Airways, she said.

This led to the decision to close.

Bradley says RiverOak offered £2 million initially, which increased incrementally to £7 million.

She told the chairman, Labour MP Louse Ellman, Skyport "lost trust" in RiverOak after it failed to keep negotiations confidential.

Mrs Ellman asked: "Has Ann Gloag retained a substantial stake in and fianacial control of the former Manston site?

Ms Bradley answered: "She has a stake in the business, but no financial control."

She says if the development were to go ahead Ann Gloag would have a "significant financial interest".

RiverOak's George Yerrall told the committee it saw the future of Manston as a cargo airport, which could run on 22 flights a week.

The company had "reached out" to several cargo operators.

He says it could also have run a 'tear-down' facility, to dismantle old planes.

Mr Yerrall said: "We based our [£7 million] offer on what we thought we could do with the cargo business.

"We could get goods into London from Manston faster than we could have done from Heathrow."

Mr Yerrall said Manston is still viable as a profitable airport.

Labour MP Tom Harris asked Ms Bradley: "A lot of people are about to get very very wealthy on the back of a £1 purchase. Can you see why people might look at this and think it looks slightly fishy?"

In response Bradley defended the purchase and subsequent sale: "This was an airport losing £12,000 a day."

"Manston Syport did intend to run Manston as an airport" she said.

Ms Bradley continued: "We knew there would be problems and challenges but we went ahead."

Riveroak said it did not manage to convince Thanet council it was a viable contender to run the airport.

George Yerrall said: "We did our research, we went to some pretty great lengths but it didn't fit into the box we were trying to be put into.

"We told the council we would be incorporating in the UK and went as far as to ask how much money they wanted us to deposit on shore, but we were told they were no longer taking information and had almost reached a decision."

Iris Johnston, leader of Thanet council, said the advice they received was very clear. "We weren't totally satisfied with what RiverOak was offering."

The total Thanet council spent on advice over Manston is £26,000. A lawyer told councillors that backing RiverOak would be a "leap of faith."

It was a leap of faith they were not prepared to take.

Kent County Council leader Paul Carter says the county council did all it could to support Infratil, which owned Manston prior to Skyport, improving road and rail accessibility.

But Cllr Carter said if the site was developed to include light manufacturing it could provide 550 jobs.

MP Tom Harris questioned KCC's volte-face from supporting Manston as a functioning airport, to developing the site as a business park.

Cllr Carter said support was conditional on a full and viable business plan from Riveroak, showing Manston could work as an airport.

Iris Johnston said the people of Thanet did want Manston to remain an airport. MP Roger Gale reiterated the position, arguing there are lots of brownfield development sites in Thanet already.

For this Mr Gale received a round of applause.

He says he was impressed by RiverOak's determination, and the company has stuck with it because it knows it can make money out of Manston as an airport.

He said: "It's a hard-nosed business decision, there is no romance in it."

Mr Gale said Ann Gloag had called him when Skyport took over to say she would give the airport two years to see if it could be run profitably.

Four months later it was sold.

Mr Gale told the committee: "I believe I was lied to, I was completely mislead, and Mrs Gloag had no intention of running Manston as an airport, but instead saw it as an asset-stripping opportunity.

"I'm deeply cynical about the way this was handled."

Roger Gale said once national assets are gone, they are gone for ever.

He said: "In the national interest, on a cross-party basis, we need to protect assets like Manston."

Ms Rosalyn McIntyre, from the campaign group No Night Flights, said: "Manston is a tiny airport that has never been commercially successful."

Dr Beau Webber, chair, Save Manston Airport Group, says Manston is crucial as a diversionary airport, and a base for Bristow's rescue helicopters.

Squadron Leader Angela Sutton, from Why Not Manston?, reiterated the importance of Manston as a diversionary airport for both military and civilian aircraft.

She said it's also a safer place to divert potentially hijacked aircraft, currently sent to Stansted which brings it to a halt.

Today's inquiry forms part of a wider examination by the select committee into the role of regional airports in improving transport connectivity in the region.

Although the select committee has no powers to directly intervene, supporters hope that the hearing will give them another chance to present a case for retaining Manston as an airport.

Following the decision by the previous owner Ann Gloag to close the airport last May, the site was sold on to regeneration specialists Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave.

The pair are part of the Discovery Park consortium responsible for developing the Pfizer site in Sandwich.

They say they have no ambition to run the site as an airport but have set out plans for a mixed use scheme which they claim will create more than 4,000 jobs.

Thanet council's ruling Labour administration recently decided not to pursue a Compulsory Purchase Order in partnership with RiverOak, saying it was not viable.

That decision has been disputed by RiverOak, who have offered to meet all the costs of any CPO.