Manchester Airport reports ‘record-breaking’ Christmas

Manchester Airport has revealed that last month was its busiest December and Christmas period to date.

A total of 1,509,721 people used the facility over the 31 days, which is 5.17% more than in December 2014 and represents a daily average of 48,700, making it the best Christmas in Manchester Airport’s 77 years of operation.

Bosses at the facility, which is the third busiest airport in the UK, have attributed the year-on-year passenger growth to an increased number of flights and the addition of new routes.

The figures also point to an influx of international students, studying at one of the universities within the airport’s two-hour catchment radius, jetting off to be with family over the holidays.

At the close of December, Manchester Airport’s yearly passenger total hit 23,116,554, a 5.21% increase on 2014’s figure.

The site’s managing director, Ken O’Toole, said: “December was a record-breaking end to a record-breaking year and I am very proud of what we have achieved and thank all who have contributed to this success.

“It is also testament to the impact of our ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign to win back people from our catchment area who fly via London airports when the same service is accessible to them from Manchester.”

He added: “Looking ahead, we have some very exciting new routes already confirmed to start in 2016, including to Beijing with Hainan Airlines, plus Boston and Los Angeles with Thomas Cook Airlines.”

Speaking further, he said the airport will continue to increase its route offering and make the North of England more globally connected.

Ken continued: “The experience passengers have when they use our airport is also hugely important to us and that is why it was especially pleasing to record our best ever NPS customer services score during what was our busiest December on record.”

Elsewhere, 2015 saw Manchester Airport create 350 security jobs and invest in upgrading its facilities, including £6m to improve security.

Air freight also leapt year on year by 10.38% last month with 8,600 tonnes carried, bringing the 12-month total ahead of 2014 by 10.32% at almost 104k tonnes.

Manchester Airports Group, the site’s operator, has reported group-wide passenger growth of 7.9%. The company served over 50m business travellers and holidaymakers in 2015 across Manchester, London Stansted, Bournemouth and East Midlands Airports.

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