Over 2.2 million passengers travelled through Manchester Airport in September 2013, which was up 5.2% compared with September 2012. This puts Manchester Airport significantly above the average increase for airports in the UK, which is 3.8%
The moving annual total for passenger numbers at Manchester Airport is now 20,640,166 million passengers. The increase in passenger figures marks the airport’s sixteenth consecutive month of year on year growth, with performance boosted by the continuing ‘Fly Manchester’ campaigns across the West Midlands, Lancashire, Merseyside and Yorkshire areas as the airport continues to attract more passengers from its catchment area.
Exciting spring/summer 2014 announcements have also been made this month, including Air Canada rouge introducing a non-stop service between Toronto and Manchester five times a week from June 2014. This will provide onward connections across Canada to major cities such as Montreal and Ottawa on Air Canada’s network. Manchester already has a Toronto service with Canadian Affair and the airline Air Transat.
US Airways has announced that from spring 2014 a new non-stop service will begin between Manchester and Charlotte, North Carolina which opens up further American connections for Manchester passengers.
Monarch Airlines also announced four new routes available to book now for summer 2014 to Naples in Italy, Agadir in Morocco, Hurghada in Egypt and Enfidha in Tunisia. This continues Monarch’s strong performance from Manchester over the past year and sees it grow stronger from its base in Terminal 2.
Jet2.com have also revealed that they will serve three more city destinations for summer 2014 from Manchester Airport, including Vienna, which will be the only direct service from the north of the UK to the popular city. Vienna has been unserved from Manchester but one that the airport and airline have been keen to see added to the route network so passengers can access the Austrian capital.
Ken O’Toole, Chief Commercial Officer for MAG, owners of Manchester Airport, said:
“We have put our focus on attracting a multitude of new routes as well as
increasing services on the ever popular destinations so we’re delighted with the
recent new route announcements, particularly Vienna as this is a destination
we’ve wanted to serve for a long time.
“Our long haul offering is improving all the time and that is again proof that we
know the market exists here in the north for these flights. The additional service by
Air Canada rouge will not only take passengers to Toronto, but provide access to
Air Canada’s wider network with onward connections to destinations across North
American and Canada, which is significant because we already have large
numbers travelling back and forth.
This shows that we can host more services to major cities.”
Manchester’s winter programme is also strong with many airlines announcing new winter sun destinations. These include Thomas Cook Airlines who have added three new long haul services to St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados from November, making Manchester the only airport outside of London to fly to St Lucia this winter.
The winter season is expected to see continued positive rises in passenger numbers. Research released during the month by the airport’s currency provider, Travelex, identified that many of their customers had delayed summer holidays into September, October and even November following a better-than-average summer on the weather front in the UK and better exchange rate deals on currency during autumn.
Manchester Airport is part of MAG, the UK’s second largest airport operator, serving 42 million passengers every year through its ownership and operation of Manchester, London Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports.