Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has called on the government to develop an aviation policy to help deal with the challenge of capacity in the period before a third runway is built.
The owner and operator of Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports welcomed last month’s Airports Commission’s report but said the UK needs to develop a stronger network of airports to ensure that best use is made of capacity before expansion at Heathrow which could be another 15 years.
It comes as the group delivered a strong financial performance helped by a boost in passenger traffic for the year ending March 31 2015.
“In order to ensure that this potential is utilised, it is vital that faster rail services are delivered to both Manchester and London Stansted airports and that Stansted’s planning caps are relaxed to enable the airport to make full use of the capacity of its existing runway,” the group said in a statement.
MAG saw overall revenue increase 10 per cent year-on-year and passenger numbers jump 10 per cent.
Out of the 48.5 million passengers Stansted saw the biggest increase with numbers rising 16.1 per cent compared to the previous year. Manchester also had a strong performance a record 22.3 million people passing through the airport.
Chief executive Charlie Cornish, said: “Our airports have a vital role to play in the next 10-15 years as London expands eastwards, the Northern Powerhouse becomes a reality and runway capacity in the south-east becomes even scarcer.
“Following the Airports Commission’s submission of its final report, it is imperative that the focus of government and other stakeholders is on the practical steps needed to maximise the potential of existing airport capacity in the period before any new runway is completed.
“We continue to request that government and Network Rail apply greater efforts to improve the rail links into Stansted and Manchester, which together can accommodate an extra 50-60 million passengers a year.”