Manchester Airport set to welcome millions this summer after busiest month since 2019

As the summer holiday season gets underway, Manchester Airport is preparing to welcome millions more passengers after recording its busiest month since 2019.

The airport saw 2.8 million passengers pass through its terminals in June – 15% more than in June 2022, and the highest number recorded since September 2019. Over the past 12 months, more than 26 million travellers have flown from Manchester Airport, meaning it remains the busiest UK airport outside London.

Chris Woodroofe, managing director of Manchester Airport, said:

“We know our passengers really value their summer holidays and we are looking forward to welcoming millions of people through our terminals in the weeks ahead.

“As the UK’s global gateway in the North, we are proud to give people a fantastic choice of destinations – more than any other airport outside London – and options to suit all budgets.

“That means the 22m people in our catchment area can grab anything from a short city break or a fortnight in the sun, to an adventurous trip of a lifetime further afield.

“And we’re confident that as we go into the summer holidays, we’re ready to deliver a great experience for them. All our fantastic bars, restaurants and shops are open, our security queues are reliably under 15 minutes and our 100-person strong resilience team is primed to intervene where we do see issues.”  

Value destinations like Palma, Alicante, Antalya and Malaga were among the most popular in June with large numbers also heading for city breaks in Dublin and Barcelona, which edged Amsterdam out of the top 10 most popular destinations as people seek sunnier destinations this summer.

In the quarter from April-June 95% of passengers at Manchester Airport got through security in 15 minutes or less so as the airport prepares for its busiest period as the school summer holidays begin, we are working hard to maintain that service.

Since last summer the airport has introduced a new 100-person resilience team made up of people trained in a range of functions across the airport so they can support and make sure the impact on passengers is minimised if anything does go wrong. We have also introduced state of the art systems to help us track how long people are queuing in security for and to take action where waits become too long.

Manchester Airport is part of Manchester Airports Group, which also operates London Stanstead and East Midlands Airports. The group served 5.8 million passengers last month – an increase of 13.7% on June 2022 and equivalent to 96% of pre-pandemic levels.