Manchester Airport reports 6% rise in footfall on last year

Manchester Airport is set for its busiest summer since 2007, as June 2014 saw over 2.2 million passengers travelling through the UK’s 3rd largest airport.

The figure represents a 5.8% increase year on year compared to June 2013, and demonstrates the airport’s increasing popularity amongst passengers from the North of England.

International passenger traffic was up 12% as families jetted off on early summer holidays – and takes the moving annual total up to 21.2 million.

Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer for MAG, owner of Manchester Airport, said: “We continue to show consistent growth in passenger numbers and we are expecting one of our busiest summers for many years.

“We expect that numbers will increase even further as the summer progresses, with increased numbers of business travellers and a busy summer holiday season ahead as schools finish.

“There is still a great amount of untapped potential here at Manchester and we believe we still have lots more opportunities for growth, which is only good news for passengers and businesses in the North of England and beyond.

“We continue to look to add more options for both business and leisure passengers, with increased frequency and new routes – and with more new exciting routes to come, we are on-track to reach our all-time peak of 22 million passengers, achieved in 2007.”

During June, Ryanair celebrated flying its 11 millionth customer from Manchester; 20 years after the Irish company first began operating from Manchester a single route to Dublin. Ryanair have grown significantly over the last two decades and now offer low fare seats on flights to 36 different destinations across Europe.

Air Canada Rouge, Air Canada’s leisure carrier subsidiary, also commenced a brand new non-stop service from Manchester Airport to its hub, Toronto Pearson International Airport, in June, which operates five times per week.

During the month, Jet2.com also announced twice weekly flights to Antalya and Malta and weekly flights to Kefalonia, beginning in May 2015.