Manchester Airport is on target to smash its all-time record of 22million passengers after the number of flyers rose by 5% since last September.
More than 2.3million people travelled through the UK’s third busiest airport in the month of September, climbing from 2.2million of the same period last year, currently the rolling annual stands at 21.7million.
The number of domestic passengers has risen by 8% over the previous year while international traffic is up by more than 9%.
Chief Commercial Officer for MAG, owner of Manchester Airport, Ken O’Toole, said: “September has proved to be a strong end to a great summer for us and the sustained increase in the number of passengers using this airport shows that we are having an impact in terms of raising awareness of the routes on offer from Manchester across our catchment area.
“It’s a virtuous circle – the more people that use the airport, the more direct routes and new services our airline partners will offer; while the more flight options and capacity this brings, enables and encourages more people to fly direct from Manchester – so it’s a big win-win both for the regional economy and the people living here.”
The £500,000 investment into a new ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign has seen a rise in the number of passengers; in particular, travellers from Yorkshire have been targeted in recent campaigns.
Emma Southwell, Commercial Marketing and Brand Manager at SAG, said: “We wanted a bold campaign that reminds people in Yorkshire they have a gateway to the rest of the world here at Manchester Airport.”
Mr O’Toole hopes that investments made in the ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign will encourage people to travel via Manchester for long-haul flights across Birmingham, Stoke, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Leeds, and Bradford; in addition to the low cost option across Merseyside, St Helens, Warrington, and Wigan.
Delta Airlines are increasing their network between the UK and North America after announcing it would be debuting daily non-stop flights between Manchester Airport and New York John. F. Kennedy International Airport from June 2 2015.
Virgin Atlantic will also be beginning its first daily non-stop flights from Manchester Airport to Atlanta International Airport.
Ryanair have released its Manchester summer 2015 schedule with new routes to Eindhoven and Shannon and they have added more flights and improved schedules on three other routes: Alicante, Lisbon, and Madrid.
From September 15, Flybe will offer passengers onward travel through Manchester to Finnair destinations after they secured a codeshare agreement with the Helsinki-based airline.
Image courtesy of Pranav, with thanks.
