Manchester to target Yorkshire and West Midlands passengers
MANCHESTER Airport has reported a summer surge in passenger number as it revealed plans to expand its Fly Manchester campaign into the West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Manchester, the biggest UK airport after Heathrow and Gatwick, is this month going to launch a mix of outdoor advertising, newspaper adverts, radio promotions and online activity to promote itself as an option for long haul flights across Birmingham, Stoke, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Leeds and Bradford.
To woo further North West passengers, the airport is also to advertise its low cost routes across Merseyside, St Helens, Warrington and Wigan – a direct challenge to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
In August 2.56 million passengers travelled through Manchester Airport during the month, up 8.2% on August 2013. This takes the moving annual total up to 21.55m, putting the airport well on target to achieve its busiest ever year.
Ken O’Toole, chief commercial officer for MAG, owner of Manchester Airport, said: “We’ve had a really positive summer with the continued growth of passenger numbers and August is no exception. We expect this growth to continue as we move into winter, with some exciting new additions to look forward to, including a non-stop service to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific launching on December 8.
“However, we are not resting on our laurels and are set to invest significantly to extend our successful ‘Fly Manchester’ marketing campaign, which will continue to drive awareness of the great options that are on offer here at Manchester, to people who want and need to fly from the North of England.”
During the month, Jet2.com announced a new service to Enfidha in Tunisia for 2015. Flybe also confirmed a new route between Manchester and Amsterdam, starting as part of its 2014-15 winter schedule and Thomas Cook said it is adding capacity on the Manchester to Cuba service with flights set to depart on Thursdays as well as Mondays from summer 2015.
