Major youth employment milestone as 300th apprentice to have worked on Manchester Airport transformation secures permanent role

BR1A8692

Aviation Minister Keir Mather today met some of the 300 apprentices to have started their career on Manchester Airport’s historic transformation programme.

The £1.3bn investment has delivered an award-winning, state-of-the-art terminal that has set the UK’s global gateway in the North up to further increase its impact on the regional and national economy.

As well as delivering wide-ranging benefits to passengers, those working at the airport and businesses using it to trade globally, the transformation will leave a significant social and economic legacy.

That includes through the jobs it has created, especially for young people in the North who have taken their first step on the career ladder and gone on to work on other major projects across the region.

That was the focus of the Minister’s visit, as he checked out Manchester’s new Terminal 2 and met apprentices at different stages of their training, all of whom working on the project at some point.

Chloe O’Neill became the 300^th person to complete an apprenticeship through the programme and land a permanent job, marking a major milestone in terms of making sure the benefits of MAG’s investment are felt for years to come.

Minister Mather met Sam McCarthy and Rebecca Proctor who have recently completed apprenticeships as part of the programme .

He also met Ciaran Roche who started out his career as an apprentice on the first phase of the transformation programme almost a decade ago and has gone on to become a research and development expenditure credit coordinator for Laing O’Rourke.

Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said:

 “Our brand-new, £1.3bn Terminal 2 is a world-leading piece of infrastructure that means we can proudly connect the people of the North to a route network of more than 200 destinations from a setting that rivals any airport terminal in Europe and beyond.

“But throughout its construction we’ve prioritised making sure that the impact of our investment goes far beyond elevating people’s experiences right here at the airport and provides real, tangible benefits for people in the region.

“A key part of that is providing real, sustainable work and training opportunities to young people through apprenticeships. When you speak directly to some of the apprentices who have worked on our transformation, it really brings home how MAG's investment in infrastructure here in the North has lasting impact on individuals and the economy as a whole.”

Over the course of the transformation programme apprentices have been employed directly through the airport and through contractors engaged in the programme. Over 8,000 apprenticeship weeks have been delivered.

The airport has also provided 714 work experience days, 12 undergraduate placements and opened its AeroZone education facility, providing opportunities for over 13,000 students.

Former MAG apprentice Chloe O’Neill said:

"My apprenticeship was an amazing experience and I wouldn't be here, working as a qualified quantity surveyor without it

“Having the chance to do work on a historic billion-pound investment programme isn't an opportunity I'd have had through other routes and it just shows the value and benefit of apprenticeships like this.

“It was a real honour to think that my work has helped build something as brilliant as Terminal 2 ." 

During his visit to the airport, Minister Mather also took in a full tour of the brand-new terminal, met teams from Virgin Atlantic and went out onto the airfield.

The whole footprint of the new terminal is now open to the public, with just some specific retailers and features left to open. Those include Manchester Airport’s first Wetherspoon’s and high-end retailers like Jo Malone and Chanel that will open in its new Boutique Mall alongside already-open outlets like the Fever-Tree bar.

Beyond the departure lounge, new branches of WHSmith, Costa and Gregg’s opened in the arrivals area of Terminal 2.

The investment in Terminal 2 is helping to unlock the full capacity of Manchester’s dual runways and driving the airport’s continued growth, letting it launch new routes like Islamabad with Pakistan International Airlines and Delhi with IndiGo, both of which launched in recent months.

It has also allowed the airport to migrate all airlines other than Ryanair to the new Terminal with Ryanair alone now operating from Terminal 3 – which is also in the middle of an expansion and improvement programme.

Terminal 3’s new bar Sporting Chance opened this week adding hundreds of new seats to the terminal and opening up a significant new space. Further improvements will take place over the coming months.

Ends

Apprentice case studies:

Sam McCarthy, Airfield Planning Assistant, MAG

Sam joined MAG as an Airport Operations Apprentice. He was on the apprenticeship scheme for 21 months and has now secured a permanent role as Airfield Planning Assistant (he is completing his course alongside his current role for the next three months).

During his apprenticeship, he gained hands-on experience across a wide range of critical operational areas, building a strong knowledge in both landside and airside operations. He worked in the following areas: Landside Ops, Resilience Team, Security and Airfield Operations

During his time with Airfield Operations, part of my responsibilities were to provide safety oversight and escorts to contractors working as part of the MAN-TP project.

Partner collage: Trafford & Stockport College Group (TSCG)

Sam is from Stockport.

Rebecca Proctor, Cost Manager, Turner & Townsend

Becca is a Trainee Cost Manager for Turner & Townsend, one of our MAN-TP suppliers.

Becca was an apprentice for 18 months and began working on MAN-TP in August 2025, mainly at a programme level reporting across all MAN-TP projects/packages supporting senior members of the team and the client with Final Account Statements and Contract Closure Forms.

Becca is from Garstang, Lancashire.

Chloe O’Neill, Quantity Surveyor Apprentice MAG

Chloe is a 3rd year degree apprentice quantity surveyor in MAG currently working on stand capacity and major airfields programme.

Her apprenticeship involves one day a week at Salford University for her quantity surveying degree and she is due to complete this in the year 2028.

When Chloe started her degree she worked on MAN-TP for about a year and a half with a team of surveyors. She helped draft and finalise contracts, process payments and went on many site visits.

Alexander Stott, Apprentice Project Engineer, NG Bailey Engineering

Alex Stott is a 2nd year apprentice project engineer for NG Bailey. Alex joined the NG Bailey apprenticeship scheme in August 2024, and has been working on the Manchester Terminal 2 project since February 2025.

Alex works as part of the quality team and is mainly focused on the job of asset tagging, as well as various other jobs to support NG Bailey in the final stages of MAN-TP.

Alex lives in Altrincham.

Elektra Politis - Laing O’Rourke MAN-TP phase one

Elektra started working with us on MAN-TP in the first phase of the project almost 10 years ago as a business administration apprentice. After time working at the airport she went to Merseyside to be part of the team delivering the new stadium for Everton and she is now a senior health and safety manager at one of our major science projects in Oxford.

She is now in a well-respected role on one of Laing O’Rourke’s largest projects – The Ellison Institute for Technology. Her experience has taken her from being part of a team delivering a major infrastructure project, to a high-profile sporting project and now within science & research.

Ciaran Roche – Laing O’Rourke MAN-TP phase one

Ciaran Roche has been with Laing O’Rourke since September 2018, when he joined as an Assistant Document Controller on the MAN‑TP project. He later progressed to the role of Document Controller and has worked as an R&D Expenditure Credit Coordinator since August 2024.