Airport brings a windfall of £30m

GREATER Manchester’s 10 town halls will receive a windfall of more than £30m from Manchester Airport’s profits.

Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which is part-owned by the 10 authorities, announced its financial figures for the six months to September 30.

Revenues rose by more than 8 per cent compared to the same six-month period in 2015 – from £445m to £482m, while underlying pre-tax profits were up 6.6pc, from £202m to £216m.

It’s triggered a total £46.9m cash injection to MAG’s shareholders. Of that, Manchester council will get £16.6m while each of the other nine councils will take £1.5m.

That’s up 22pc on last year, when Manchester scooped £13.7m and the other councils’ got £1.2m.

The remainder will go to Industry Funds Management, the Australian investor that bought into the group ahead of its swoop for Stansted Airport. It comes as Manchester Airport celebrates record passenger numbers of more than 25m a year.

Charlie Cornish, MAG’s chief executive, said the results show how key Manchester is in national aviation – especially in the years before a third runway is built at Heathrow.

He said: “The Group has continued to exceed its challenging financial targets and delivered good growth in both passenger numbers and revenue, driven by new route offerings and the completion of the significant terminal redevelopment at London Stansted.

“Our airports will continue to be amongst the most significant drivers of economic growth in their regions, as spare capacity enables them to grow more quickly than other airports.

“With the decision on Heathrow now made, government must quickly commit to developing a new aviation policy that will maximise these opportunities for both the country as a whole and the regions that our airports serve.”

He said the short-term priority for government must be to make the most of the runways we already have in the 10 to 15 year period before any new runway is ready.

He also called on ministers to reduce air taxes.

Mr Cornish added: “This will put MAG in a strong position as the UK leaves the EU, a process which will highlight the importance of international connectivity to the UK’s future.

“We will be working closely with government and the rest of our industry to put in place a framework that will ensure the UK has the very best connections to the rest of the world – something that is a fundamental building block for a modern, trading economy.”