Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is expecting its growing passenger numbers to continue to increase over the coming months as it reports a 4.3 per cent boost across its airports.
Stansted saw the biggest growth of the three airports, seeing nearly 1.99 million passengers – 5.8 per cent up on March 2017. MAG says the increase was boosted by popular business destinations such as Belfast, Copenhagen and Frankfurt. The group recently applied to raise the cap on the number of passengers Stansted can serve.
Manchester airport saw 3.7 per cent year-on-year growth to 1.99 passengers. MAG says the hub is expecting growth to continue as it enters the summer flying schedule and airlines such as Jet2, Thomas Cook and TUI fill runway slots left vacant by the collapse of Monarch last October.
Meanwhile, East Midlands airport dropped slightly (1.7 per cent) to 272,000 passengers, but MAG says it expects traffic to pick up as the summer begins and more holidaymakers head to popular destinations. The airport has hired Karen Smart as its new MD to lead its team of more than 500 employees.
Tim Hawkins, corporate affairs director at MAG, said: “London Stansted’s growth demonstrates the key role it plays in connecting London and the east of England to an unrivalled range of European destinations. It was encouraging to see that the fastest growing routes at Stansted in March were those that had a strong mix of business passengers.
“The months ahead, at Stansted and across MAG, will see further growth, with new long-haul and short-haul route launches and that is why MAG is investing in its terminal facilities to ensure we have world-class spaces to welcome our passengers.
“It will be at least 10 to 15 years before any new runway is available in the South East and our airports will support economic growth, job creation and increased trade by providing the spare runway capacity this country needs.”
magairports.com