This summer has seen a record-breaking number of passengers flying from the North of England’s global gateway at Manchester Airport as travellers from Staffordshire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Lancashire boost the demand for direct Long Haul flights.
Nearly 2.7 million passengers – 86,713 people every day and 5.05% up on last year, travelled through Manchester Airport in August 2015, making it both the busiest month and the busiest summer ever, in the airport’s 77 year history and setting a new all-time high rolling annual total of 22,750,477.
August saw scheduled international passengers increase by a huge 7.66% on the same period last year, whilst charter travel increased by 1.13% in 2015.
The number of private jets flying in and out of the airport also increased significantly, up 36% on the August last year, boosted by the transfer window signings of the North West’s Premiership football clubs, along with visiting pop stars for music festivals taking place in the North and the Midlands.
Air freight was also up by 6.27% as the annual rolling total amount of cargo carried was over 100,000 tonnes for the first time since 2008, at 100,670 tonnes.
Ken O’Toole, Manchester Airport’s Managing Director, said:
“This has been a truly astounding summer and the number of people flying from the north of England has surpassed all forecasts, providing a boost for our airline, tour operators and retail partners, as well as creating jobs and boosting the local economy as a direct result.
“We continue to work hard to ensure services and capacity match the demand that continues to grow across our broad and diverse catchment area.
“I’d also like to thank not only the colleagues who work at the airport to make sure all these planes and people can get where they need to be, but also to the people who chose to fly from Manchester Airport.
“As this, our strongest summer in history, which spans over three-quarters of a century demonstrates, Manchester Airport is vital cog in rebalancing the economy and ensuring the Northern Powerhouse gathers speed and momentum.”
FACTS & FIGURES IN AUGUST 2015
17,667 flights arrived and departed – an average of 570 planes every single day
The airport shops reported that they sold:
10,777 pairs of sunglasses
101,189 bottles of fragrance (perfume and aftershave)
17,528 bottles of vodka
Suitcases: Terminal 1 handled 488,095; Terminal 2 393,680 and T3 179,194
Extra airport staff recruited ahead of the expected busy summer season also processed a total of 1,060,969 suitcases in the 31 days of August – which were estimated to contain around 845,500 bikinis and 1.44 million pairs of flip flops alone!
LOCATION, LOCATION… DESTINATION:
The most popular parts of the UK from which people flying from Manchester Airport live are:
1. Greater Manchester
2. Lancashire
3. Merseyside
4. Cheshire
5. Yorkshire
6. Staffordshire
However, airport data also indicates that people who live in different places, have different favourite locations.
For Mancunians, the top holiday hotspots are:
1st Alicante
2nd Tenerife
3rd Dublin
4th Mallorca
5th Algarve
For people from Liverpool and the Merseyside area, the top holiday hotspots are:
1st Tenerife
2nd Amsterdam
3rd Mallorca
4th Dalaman (Turkey)
5th Orlando
For Lancashire it is:
1st Tenerife
2nd Mallorca
3rd Málaga
4th Alicante
5th Sharm el-Sheikh
Meanwhile in Cheshire:
1st Dalaman (Turkey)
2nd Algarve
3rd Amsterdam
4th Málaga
5th Tenerife
Yorkshire folk prefer:
1st Málaga
2nd Tenerife
3rd Mallorca
4th Orlando
5th Dubai
And if you live in Staffordshire it is:
1st Lanzarote
2nd Malta
3rd Tenerife
4th Alicante
5th Cyprus