REVEALED: 'Best December In History' For Airport

DECEMBER topped of a bumper year for Manchester Airport Group (MAG), with passenger numbers for the month the highest ever recorded.

The airport was also voted Airport of the Year by the AOA in 2014

1.44m people passed through the airport in December 2014 (an increase of 7.45% on last year) - beating the previous record of 1.38m set in December 2007.

The moving annual total now stands at 21.97m (6.15% higher than 2013) after nine consecutive months of growth, which means the airport's record twelve month rolling passenger number of 22.3m (reached in July 2006) is easily in reach.

Manchester Airport Group - which is majority owned by the ten councils of Greater Manchester (Manchester City Council own a 35.5% stake) - recently reported £421m of revenue in the first half of the financial year (up £31m on last year) and £117.6m of operating profit.

Manchester City Council recently announced the £11m dividend raised from their stake in the airport was to be used to ease £59m of budget cuts for 2015/16 - read here.

Manchester Airport

Ken O’Toole, Chief Commercial Officer for MAG, said:

“Looking back, 2014 has been an outstanding year for Manchester in terms of growth and gives us the momentum to attract even more new services and increased capacity on existing routes in 2015.

“The on-going success is testament to our Fly Manchester campaign, targeting people in our catchment who use airports other than ours. The large increase in passengers, with a mix of new long haul and short haul services, demonstrates the power of Manchester Airport and the critical role it plays in UK aviation.

“We now fly to over 200 destinations around the globe and continue to attract new airlines and routes.”

The airport was voted Airport of the Year by the AOA in 2014.

www.manchesterairport.co.uk