November record for Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport saw 1,731,446 passengers travel through its terminals in November – up two per cent on 2016.

CAA data reveals Manchester added more passengers than any other UK airport between April and September 2017 – 1.27m passengers. Gatwick and Heathrow added 1.25m passengers each.

CEO of Manchester Airport, Andrew Cowan, said: “It is pleasing to see Manchester Airport continue to grow and fulfil its role of the UK’s global gateway in the North.

“Now the summer peak is over, we are continuing to invest in the airport and passengers will start to see our £1bn transformation take shape and develop over the coming months.”

Manchester Airport’s annual rolling passenger numbers now stand at 27,764,247. This is said to be an increase of 9.7 per cent year-on-year.

Growth has slowed at the airport due to the collapse of Monarch Airlines, which left some capacity unused for this year’s winter season.

However, the airport has ‘remained confident’ that, when 2018’s summer season begins, all capacity will be filled and this has already started with Jet2.com, TUI and Thomas Cook Airlines all already increasing capacity for next year.

Last week, the airport’s owner, MAG, announced its half year results, producing an interim dividend of £35.7m, an increase of 18 per cent on the previous year. Through the airport’s unique ownership structure, this money is directly invested back into the region, funding vital projects.