Manchester Airport cashing in on turbulence at London rivals
Manchester Airport is aiming to rival London’s airports after a record number of passengers passed through its doors last year.
The UK’s third largest airport dealt with 22.32m people in the last financial year, which represents growth of 7.5 per cent year-on-year and beats the previous record of 22.26m passengers in a 12-month period, set in July 2006.
Manchester Airport, which is one of only two airports in the UK to boast two full-length runways, is now aiming to surpass 23m passengers by the end of the year.
In terms of passenger numbers, Manchester is beaten only by Heathrow and Gatwick in the UK, and is ahead of Stansted and Luton.
“With Manchester Airport having spare runway capacity, we can offer those customers and airlines an alternative to travelling via a congested London airport,” said Ken O’Toole, the airport’s managing director.
“We have made great headway to unlock the spare capacity at Manchester Airport and are in talks with a range of carriers to further capitalise on the potential we offer in the short- to medium-term while the south east capacity debate evolves.”
O’Toole said the airport had also worked closely with airline partners to “cement and maintain” continued growth, with a new route to Hong Kong added recently, and additional US routes in the pipeline.