New routes and football clashes deliver strong April for Manchester Airport

Passenger figures at Manchester Airport closed in on the 2m mark during April, delivering the site’s 25th consecutive month of growth.

A total of 1,920,084 people passed through the airport last month, representing a year-on-year rise of 11% and driving the facility’s rolling 12-month figure to 23,730,610.

Airport bosses have largely attributed the growth to the introduction of a raft of new airlines and routes over the last few months.

British airline Jet2.com launched new services to Naples and Krakow, while Luton-headquartered carrier Monarch Airlines expanded with new flights to Tel Aviv and Lisbon.

Other airlines, meanwhile, increased the number of flights available on their summer timetables.

Similarly, the involvement of Liverpool FC and Manchester City in European competitions led to an increase in the number of football fans passing through Manchester Airport, with City fans travelling to Paris for the clash against Paris St Germain and Liverpool fans jetting out to Germany to watch Liverpool take on Dortmund.

Conversely, Manchester Airport welcomed PSG and Dortmund fans for the return legs of their Champions League games.

Aircraft movements on Manchester Airport’s two runways, boosted by the Easter Holidays, were close to 15k and 12% higher than in April 2015, with the most popular destinations revealed to be Dublin, Amsterdam, Tenerife, Alicante and Dubai.

Manchester Airport boss Ken O’Toole said: “It’s been another strong month for growth and it sets the tone for what we hope will be a record summer for Manchester Airport.

“April saw new route launches from Jet2.com and Monarch to the likes of Krakow, Naples and Tel Aviv and May sees the launch of direct flights to Los Angeles and Boston with Thomas Cook Airlines.”

He continued: “There are many reasons people visit Manchester but football is one of the city’s key selling points and when fans are here, we know they go on to spend money in hotels, bars, restaurants, cafes and other attractions.

“It is pleasing to see the airport playing such a positive role in driving the visitor economy of the North West in this way.

“With 22m people in our catchment area we continue to offer passengers a wealth of destinations and options to suit every traveller.”

Elsewhere, freight achieved a year-on-year increase of 9%, with the rolling annual total hitting 104,228 tonnes.

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