Booming airport sees busiest April on record
LATE EASTER BREAK MEANS PASSENGER NUMBERS RISE 17 PER CENT TO 2.25M
MANCHESTER Airport has celebrated its busiest ever April.
Thanks to the late Easter break, the UK’s third largest airport saw passenger numbers rise by 17 percent as more than 2.25m people jetted off.
More than 84,000 passengers passed through the three terminals on Friday, April 7, as the airport saw its busiest day of the year so far.
The most popular destinations for passengers over Easter were Amsterdam, Dubai and Dublin as well as the Spanish holiday favourites of Tenerife, Alicante and Malaga.
The current growth makes Manchester the second fastest-growing large airport in Europe.
April also saw businesses and organisations welcoming the news that connections to China would be further strengthened with the announcement that Cathay Pacific will be offering daily flights to Hong Kong from December.
Hainan Airlines also announced they would be offering daily flights to Beijing for summer.
Collette Roche, interim managing director of Manchester Airport, said: “The Easter period is always one of the busiest times of the year for the airport and it’s pleasing to see us sustain the continuous growth that we have seen over the last few years. “April also saw two significant announcements for the North of England with the news that our two services to China would both be going daily. “We know that our flights to Beijing and Hong Kong have proved vital to business and leisure passengers across the North and the fact that both services will now be daily is testament to the demand for direct flights to China from across our catchment area.” Due to the extra demand, aircraft movements were also up last month by 10 per cent, with more than 16,000 planes taking off and landing on the airport’s two full length runways. Cargo also saw a boost, with 9,338 tonnes carried - an increase of two percent on April 2016. It equates to a 12 percent year on year increase with the annual rolling tonnage now at 116,521. Collette Roche