MAG sees growth at Stansted and Manchester
Manchester Airports Group (MAG ) saw passenger numbers grow 4.3% in March compared with the same month last year.
The greatest growth came at Stansted, where passenger numbers rose 5.8% to 1.99 million, despite cuts to Ryanair’s schedule.
The routes showing the strongest growth were Belfast, Copenhagen and Frankfurt. Popular city break destinations Prague, Naples, Nice and Istanbul were also strong performers, said MAG.
Stansted is set to be the fastest-growing London airport this year, it claimed.
Manchester Airport grew 3.7%, also serving 1.99m passengers. For this summer, Jet2.com, Thomas Cook Airlines and TUI have filled runway slots left vacant by the loss of Monarch at the start of the winter season.
East Midlands Airport’s passenger figures in March fell 1.7% to 272,000, but MAG said growth would pick up this summer.
It is expecting a further boost to come from the launch of Emirates, Primera Air and Wow Air services at Stansted.
MAG corporate affairs director Tim Hawkins said: "It was encouraging to see that the fastest growing routes at Stansted in March were those that had a strong mix of business passengers.
"It will be at least 10-15 years before any new runway is available in the South East and our airports – Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands – will support economic growth, job creation and increased trade by providing the spare runway capacity this country needs."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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