Manchester Airport has busiest day since 2019 as passengers jet out to watch Manchester City conquer Europe
100,061 passengers came through Manchester Airport on Friday, 9th June – the busiest day since September 2019
Traffic boosted by more than 2,000 passengers compared to the previous Friday as Manchester City fans headed to Turkey for the Champions League final
Bumper day comes as new data shows more than 2.5million passengers came through Manchester Airport in May – up 15.5% on 2022
Football fan flights saw Manchester Airport handle more than 100,000 passengers in a single day for the first time since 2019.
Friday 9th June saw 100,061 people pass through the Northern gateway, with a large number being Manchester City supporters heading to Istanbul for the Champions League Final.
The boost came on the back of a busy May, with traffic up 15.5% compared to May 2022, as Manchester Airport – the UK’s global gateway in the North – looks towards a successful summer.
Newly published data shows Manchester Airport’s performance continuing to improve year-on-year with 2,505,177 passengers coming through in May, up 15.5% and taking the rolling 12-month total of passengers to almost 26million.
The month included the half term getaway which saw 851,000 passengers fly from or to the airport between Friday, 19 May, and Sunday, 28 May.
That led into the early June period, which saw around 40 extra flights put on for City fans heading to watch the club’s triumph over Inter Milan, securing them the treble.
The 9th June total was more than 2,000 more than the previous Friday. The last time the airport saw more than 100,000 passengers coming through in a single day was 19 September 2019 – before the pandemic.
And despite the increase in traffic through the airport, security queuing times remained low with 96.6% of passengers getting through into the departure lounge in 15 minutes or less.
The most popular destination in May was Palma on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The Balearic destination beat Alicante and Amsterdam into second and third place respectively with April’s most popular destination, Dubai, coming in fourth.
Chris Woodroofe, managing director of Manchester Airport, said:
“Football is such an important part of life for many people so it was a real privilege for all of us at Manchester Airport to be able to help thousands of fans get out to Istanbul smoothly and share in an unforgettable experience.
“As the UK’s global gateway in the North we play a key role in making sure that people in the region can get to major global events like the Champions League final. It shows that we’re ready for a successful summer and that people can feel confident they’ll get a great experience at the airport as they start their holidays.
“Passenger numbers increasing year-on-year shows the importance of international travel to people in the area so whether you’re heading to Palma for a family holiday or jetting off to Dubai on business you’ll get the best start to your journey here at the airport.”
Manchester Airport is part of Manchester Airports Group which also operates London Stansted and East Midlands airports. The group saw 5,449,405 passengers across the operation in May, an increase of 16.8% compared to May 2022.
Manchester Airport’s top ten destinations by passenger number
1) Palma 86k
2) Alicante 81k
3) Amsterdam 80k
4) Dubai 79k
5) Dublin 76k
6) Tenerife 76k
7) Antalya 73k
8) Malaga 60k
9) Dalaman 59k
10) Faro 56k