Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is aiming for more transatlantic routes over the next year.
The move comes as it seeks to build on recent traffic growth provided by budget and Middle East carriers.
Neil Thompson, chief financial officer of MAG – which owns East Midlands and Bournemouth airports alongside Manchester, the UK’s third-biggest by passenger numbers – said a 2% rise in passenger traffic in the half year to October was driven by budget and Gulf airlines.
But he added: “There is absolutely opportunity in the transatlantic market for us, and we’ll be working hard with the US carriers to broaden out in America next year.”
MAG is also talking to Asian carriers about new routes.
“We think they are slightly longer-burn opportunities,” Thompson told the Financial Times.
Sales at MAG rose at a steeper rate than passenger numbers in the six months, helped up by car-parking revenues and new retail offerings.
The airport group, which is owned by 10 local councils, reported underlying operating profits of £63 million on interim sales of £230 million.
Take-off and landing charges were held “broadly steady”, although the company offered deals to airlines willing to make use of non-peak time slots or commit to year-round rather than summer-only routes.
MAG predicted it would continue to outperform the UK airport market in spite of a bearish view of the economy in 2013.
While Thompson pointed out that the southeast of England was likely to lead any recovery, he declined to comment on the auction for Stansted, for which MAG is considered the leading bidder.