All sections of Manchester Airport’s £1.3 billion super terminal open to the public

A new section of the departure lounge at Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2 has welcomed its first passengers, who now have access to a “Boutique Mall” that is home to an airport-first Fever Tree cocktail and champagne bar.

The area leads to a new World Duty Free store, which brings a host of new fragrance and beauty brands to Manchester Airport for the first time.

Both features mean the departure lounge can now be accessed from both ends of the new giant security hall delivered through the once-in-a-generation investment.

T2’s arrivals area has also welcomed a series of new shops for those landing back home or waiting to collect loved ones. Gregg’s, Costa Coffee and WH Smith’s have all opened in this area.

It means the whole footprint of the new departure lounge is now open to the public, with just some specific retailers and features left to open. Those include the Great Northern Market – an airport-first market hall style eating area served by pop up street food kitchens – and Manchester Airport’s first Wetherspoon’s. These will open in the early part of 2026.

The Boutique Mall will be the airport’s high-end shopping area when shops including an airport-first Chanel store, Le Labo and Jo Malone open next year.

The early part of the year will also see the installation of an artwork based on and using parts of the iconic chandeliers that hung in Terminal 1 when it opened to the public in the 1960s. The reimagined chandelier artwork will be in Security East.

Beyond the departure lounge, new branches of WHSmith, Costa and Gregg’s opened in the arrivals area of Terminal 2 – with Gregg’s handing out free sausage rolls to the first customers.

Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said:

“This is a huge step towards completing our decade long, £1.3bn transformation programme and it’s great to see passengers exploring our latest additions to Terminal 2.

“Departing passengers coming through Security East will now turn left and go into a whole new section of the Terminal. They’ll see familiar favourites like World Duty Free – but they can also get a first look at our new Boutique Mall. Some of the retailers have yet to open, but the Fever-Tree bar looks amazing.

“And then there is something different for arriving passengers to enjoy when they get back to the UK too – including that most Northern of brands, Gregg’s.

“There are now just a few more things to finish before we can finally say we’ve completed our transformation – and I can hardly wait!

“We’ll see the opening of designer shops, like Chanel and Le Labo, new restaurants and bars, including Wetherspoons and our Great Northern Market, as well as the installation of our artwork based on the original chandeliers from Terminal 1.

“It means we’re ending 2025 on a real high – and ready to go into another exciting year in 2026.”

The investment in Terminal 2 is helping to unlock the full capacity of Manchester’s dual runways and driving the airport’s continued growth, letting it launch new routes like Islamabad with Pakistan International Airlines and Delhi with IndiGo, both of which launched in recent months.

It has also allowed the Manchester Airport to migrate all airlines other than Ryanair to the new Terminal with Ryanair alone now operating from Terminal 3 – but using a new improved route into the terminal via Terminal 1 check-in.

Manchester Airport recently announced further details of its multi-million-pound plans to improve Terminal 3 by expanding it to make use of space that will be available when Terminal 1 closes. Some new parts of Terminal 3 will open early next year, including new sports bar Sporting Chance.