Valentine’s breaks boost airport’s growth

MANCHESTER Airport is continuing to grow, with a 10.2% rise in passenger numbers in February.

The airport said the fact that Valentine’s Day landed on a weekend had been a boost as people had booked romantic city-breaks and international getaways.

A total of 1.35m people travelled through the airport during February  up from 1.23m in the same period last year. The msot popular destinations were Dublin,  Amsterdam and Paris.

Domestic traffic was up 19.6%, most notably due to the on-going success of the ‘regional hub’ operated by Flybe, which offers regional point to point connections to long-haul services operated from Manchester, including the extensive global networks of Cathay Pacific, Etihad and Finnair.

The amount of air freight handled through Manchester was up 22.1% during the month, due partly to an influx in flowers and other commodities being shipped to the UK for Valentine’s Day, plus capacity increases across a range of carriers.

Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer for MAG, owner of Manchester Airport, said: “Manchester Airport’s continued significant growth is testament to the critical role it plays in UK aviation, providing the North and our extended catchment area with global connectivity through an unrivalled network of short and long haul destinations.

“As well as the increased passenger numbers, February also saw announcements for new airlines and destinations including Vueling Airlines to Barcelona pus Iraqi Airways to Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.”