Manchester Airports Group to benefit from 500 extra half-term holiday flights

Ryanair

Stansted Airport, part of the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), will benefit from 500 extra Ryanair flights during the October half-term school holidays.

The Dublin-based budget carrier announced the extra flights in response to Heathrow Airport confirming it would extend its cap on passenger numbers until the end of October.

Ryanair said its extra flights at the Essex airport will be able to cater for around 100,000 passengers.

Heathrow introduced a daily limit of 100,000 daily departing passengers in July after it was unable to handle normal passenger traffic due to staff shortages.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said “hopeless Heathrow continues to mismanage air travel”, the Press Association reported.

He added: “While hopeless Heathrow continues to cut flights and raise fares for families, Ryanair and London Stansted continue to add flights, and offer thousands of low-fare seats for the autumn mid-term break.

“With over 500 additional flights, more than 100,000 additional seats and prices starting from just 29.99 euros, Ryanair looks forward to welcoming thousands of additional families during the autumn mid-term break on its low-fare flights to/from London Stansted Airport.

“While hopeless Heathrow continues to mismanage air travel, Ryanair and London Stansted will continue to grow and deliver for London families, the way we have through all of summer 2022.”

The carrier said it and Stansted have “more than sufficient staff to handle these additional flights”.

A spokesperson for Stansted Airport said: “e are very pleased to be working with Ryanair on adding extra capacity at London Stansted to provide passengers looking to head away for half-term with even more choices and options from the airport.”

Heathrow chief commercial officer, Ross Baker, said: “Our primary concern is ensuring we give our passengers a reliable service when they travel.

“That’s why we introduced temporary capacity limits in July which have already improved journeys during the summer getaway.

“We want to remove the cap as soon as possible, but we can only do so when we are confident that everyone operating at the airport has the resources to deliver the service our passengers deserve.”

Manchester Airports Group comprises Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airports.

Pre-pandemic, Stansted Airport was handling 27 million passengers a year. It was the UK’s fourth biggest airport and served more than 190 destinations.

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