Football fever lands at Manchester Airport on the back of another record-breaking month
- More than 100,000 passengers are expected to fly between Manchester and Germany over the next three weeks to see the home nations in the European Championships
- The airport will illuminate its famous honeycomb lights in the colours of England and Scotland during the tournament
- The getaway to Germany comes on the back of another record-breaking month for the airport with nearly 2.8m passengers coming through the Northern hub
More than 100,000 passengers will jet between Manchester Airport and Germany over the next three weeks as the country hosts football’s European Championships.
Both England and Scotland are in action, with fans of both sides set to take advantage of the airport’s links to Germany. Manchester is the only airport in the UK outside London with direct flights to every city that could host an England game.
The airport is marking the tournament by illuminating its famous honeycomb light installation in Terminal 2 in the colours of England and Scotland ahead of their games and with other in-terminal events and competitions as the tournament progresses.
Football fans will contribute to another busy month for the airport during June – with last month having been its busiest May on record and continuing a record-breaking run going back to October 2023.
Almost 2.8m passengers passed through the airport in May – and 98.6% of them queued for under 15 minutes before getting to security. In fact, more than three quarters of those passengers waited for less than five minutes to get to security.
Mallorca topped the chart for the most passengers during May – it is the first time this year the holiday destination has been the most popular, indicating the start of the summer season with lots of people flying out during the school half term.
Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said:
“Football fever has well and truly arrived here at Manchester Airport. We’ve already started to see fans heading out to Germany to take in the spectacle, whether they’re looking for England to put an end to all those years of hurt or Scotland to lift a first ever international trophy.
“More than 100,000 passengers will fly between Manchester and Germany over the next three weeks – and I’m backing both England and Scotland to do well so that will only increase as we get to the knockout stages.
“We’re proud to serve the people of the North and we’re confident we’ll offer passengers a great service as they head out to the tournament. In May we had yet another record-breaking month with 2.8m passengers using the airport. Almost every one of them waited for less than 15 minutes to get to security and 77% of them waited for less than five minutes.
“We’ve got plenty of staff in place over the duration of the tournament and beyond meaning we’ll continue that level of service and whether people are travelling for to Germany or to any of the other 200 destinations we serve, they’ll be able to start their holidays here at the airport.”
Manchester Airport has given some tips to travellers looking to head to Germany or any other destination:
- Arrive at the airport at the time stated by your airline – that is usually two hours ahead for short haul flights and three for long haul. Arriving too early can contribute to queues and means unnecessary waiting and arriving too late means you risk missing your flight
- Plan your journey to the airport. If you’re coming by car make sure you’ve booked parking either through the airport or through an accredited third party and check the traffic before you set off. If you’re coming on public transport check for delays before you leave.
- Check-in online before you come to the airport if you can
- Make sure you have all the documents you need at the ready – usually passports, tickets and boarding passes
- Don’t bring liquids of more than 100mls in your hand baggage and anything under that should be packed into clear plastic bags readily available at security
- Be ready to take electronic items like tablets and laptops out of your bags and to take off outer layers of clothing like coats and jackets as well as belts and to empty your pockets of things like keys, wallets and phones
- Manchester Airport supports the One Too Many campaign, which reminds passengers of the consequences if they drink too much ahead of flights – which include being turned away at the gates and even being arrested
The top five most popular destinations for May were:
- Mallorca – 90,422 passengers
- Amsterdam – 88,297 passengers
- Dublin – 84,576 destinations
- Dubai – 82,750 passengers
- Alicante – 82,338 passengers
In January the airport marked a year since work started on the final phase of its £1.3bn transformation programme. The airport’s brand-new Terminal 2 is already open but work continues and will see it double in size, meaning the modern facility will serve over 70% of the airport’s passengers when it is fully open in 2025.
March saw significant changes to the airfield that will allow the airport to increase its capacity for aircraft and ultimately offer even more destinations to passengers.
Last month saw the launch of the airport’s new Little Flyers Club for young travellers as well as the latest milestone in the transformation programme with the installation of a bridge to link Terminal 2 to its new pier.
For more information about travelling to Germany for the European Championships, you can visit GOV.UK and see the latest advice: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany/euro-2024