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Manchester airport plans for winter after busiest summer in five years

Manchester airport handled more than 1.8 million passengers in October, up 6.6% on the same month last year.

The figures follow the busiest summer at the airport in five years with passenger numbers rising above 20 million.

The airport is gearing up for winter with new routes being introduced by Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2.com and Thomas Cook Airlines as well as 153,000 extra seats available compared with last winter.

Jet2.com tops the capacity increases with 33% more seats than winter 2012 with new services to Faro, Lyon, Palma and Venice as well as increased flights to Spanish destinations.

EasyJet, which now has eight aircraft based at Manchester, has increased winter capacity by 15%, helped by the introduction of flights to Lyon and Prague, as well as more frequencies to Basel, Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Tel Aviv.

Ryanair, with three aircraft based at the airport, has 18% more seats on sale, including 30 flights a week to Dublin.

Turkish Airlines has raised capacity by 28% by flying twice daily to Istanbul while Air France has upgraded its aircraft on the Paris route to an A321 equating to 6% more seats.

Winter 2013 has seen the launch of Thomas Cook’s long-haul services to St Lucia, Barbados and Antigua as well as increases in flights to Fuerteventura, Tunisia and the Gambia, giving an overall 4% growth in capacity.

The airport is also seeing increased capacity to the Middle East with Emirates and Etihad Airways.

Manchester Airports Group chief commercial officer Ken O’Toole said: “We have put our focus on attracting a multitude of new routes as well as increasing services on the ever popular destinations, so we’re delighted that the offering at Manchester this winter has increased significantly and we’ll be looking to continue our progress into summer 2014.”

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