Airports group reports strong start to 2023 passenger throughput

Passenger levels have made a strong recovery from the pandemic, Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has revealed.

The group, which includes Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, reported passenger volumes at the start of 2023 at more than 90% of those seen pre-pandemic.

MAG served 3.6 million passengers in January, with more than 1.6m of those passing through the Northern hub.

The figure is more than double the 750,000 or so who travelled through Manchester in January 2022, when the group served just 37% of pre-pandemic traffic, owing to Omicron testing requirements that remained in place for passengers travelling to and from the UK.

Across MAG, January’s passenger figures were 91% of those seen in the same month in 2019.

Elsewhere, operational performance has continued to be much improved on last summer, with 92.4% of passengers waiting for 10 minutes or less to pass through security checks last month.

The traffic stats round off a positive month at Manchester Airport, which also announced the final phase of its £1.3bn transformation programme in January.

The £440m investment will update the existing Terminal Two infrastructure, to bring it in line with the state-of-the-art extension, which opened to passengers in July 2021.

The investment is set to unlock billions of pounds in economic activity and create more than 500 jobs in the construction phase alone. A further 16,400 extra jobs will also be generated by 2040 as a result of the economic activity stimulated by the expansion of the airport and its route network.

York Aviation research also shows that the airport’s current contribution to the Northern economy of £3.5bn could increase by nearly 80%, to £6.3bn by 2040.

The announcement was welcomed by a broad range of supporters, including the Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper, and the Aviation Minister, Baroness Vere of Norbiton.

Chris Woodroofe, Manchester Airport managing director, welcomed the increase in passenger numbers, and said: “The announcement of the second phase of our transformation programme is a major milestone for our airport, and a statement of our intent to deliver on our full potential as the UK’s global gateway in the North.

“We are now fully focused on continuing to improve the passenger experience ahead of what promises to be another busy summer.”