Sunseekers push airport numbers up to nearly 3 million
NEARLY three million passengers jetted off from Manchester Airport during August as the UK’s third largest airport recorded its busiest ever summer.
The main summer holiday period saw 2,934,393 passengers travel through the airport last month, an increase of 9% on August 2015.
That means the Manchester’s 12 month rolling total now stands at 24,605,575 passengers.
Spain and its various islands were the most popular destinations as families went in search of the sun. Palma, Alicante and Tenerife were among the top 10 destinations flown to in August.
Further afield, Dubai, Orlando and Abu Dhabi all proved popular long haul destinations, as the airport saw up to 104,000 passengers a day coming through its terminals.
Ken O’Toole, chief executive for Manchester Airport, said: “August is always the busiest month of the year for the airport, as families get away during the school holidays and it was no different this year.
“Spain has certainly proved popular for families, which reflected the increase in capacity we saw from airlines to the likes of the Balearics and the Costas. We’ve also seen growth that has been driven by new long haul services that launched this summer to the likes of Boston, Los Angeles and Beijing.
“This has all contributed to a record summer for Manchester Airport.”
August also saw the news that from January, Emirates will use an A380 aircraft on its morning service, meaning all three flights a day will now be served by world’s biggest passenger airliner. Norwegian also announced it will be expanding operations this winter from Manchester, with routes to Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
The airport again saw an 11% increase in aircraft movements during August, with more than 19,700 planes coming and going from the two full length runways. The amount of freight also increased by 12% with 9,837 tonnes handled in August.
More than six million passengers flew through a MAG airport in August. London Stansted saw 2,494,732 passengers go through its doors, 596,155 at East Midlands Airport and 83,598 at Bournemouth.
