More than 2.6 million passengers passed through Manchester Airport in April, the busiest on record, including the first passengers to use the new check-in area at Terminal 2.
The opening of new check-in desks at the terminal is the latest milestone of the airport’s £1.3 billion transformation, which began in 2015 and is now it its final stages.
Phase one of the project doubled the size of Terminal 2 by adding an extension to it. That opened to passengers in 2021 and has already won the UNESCO-backed Prix Versailles award for architecture and design.
Phase two of the project is due for completion this year and sees the old half of the building being brought to the up to the standard of the new part. April saw some of the check-in desks in phase two opened to the public and some people tested the new security hall for the first time ahead of its full opening later in May.
Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said:
“It’s been really exciting to see the first passengers use the new check-in area in our award-winning Terminal 2.
“We’ve been working on this project for a decade and have spent £1.3bn on it and this is an important step as we near the end of our epic transformation.
“We’re proud to connect the North to the world and we’re now doing that through a brand-new Terminal that means we now rank alongside Europe’s biggest airports not just in terms of our size and route network – but also in terms of our facilities.
“And our plans don’t end with Terminal 2. We’ve got news coming soon about Terminal 3 as well as new routes being added all the time – including the launch of our new service to Mumbai with IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, which has chosen Manchester as its first European route alongside Amsterdam.
“So I’m pleased that more passengers than ever are choosing to fly from Manchester Airport – and I’m looking forward to welcoming all those who come in to see our developments over the coming months.”
The most popular non-connecting destinations for passengers in April were Alicante, Tenerife, Antalya, Malaga and Faro – as people from the North he ad to traditional Mediterranean holiday hotspots. Amsterdam, Dublin and Dubai are al ways popular with passengers thanks to their own attractions and their onward connectivity.
The most popular long-haul destinations were Orlando and New York.
Over the course of April, 99% of passengers waited for less than 15 minutes to get to security and more than 85% waited for less than five minutes.
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