Manchester Airports Group maintains passenger momentum ahead of Christmas

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) saw November passenger numbers rise 2.4% year on year to a record 4.5 million. 

The performance brought the rolling annual total for the group – which operates Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports – to 65.9 million passengers.  

Meanwhile, Heathrow also hit a record of more than 6.6 million passengers last month as six more routes passed the one million passenger mark for 2025 - Mumbai, Lisbon, Abu Dhabi, Zurich, Singapore and Boston. 

The London hub is also expecting its busiest ever December and Christmas Day.

MAG’s November figures came as the UK’s largest airports group prepares for a busy Christmas period. 

More than three million passengers are expected to travel through a MAG airport between December 19 and January 4. 

Manchester airport numbers rose by 4.3% to 2.2 million last month, partly driven by a new IndiGo service to Delhi and Norse Atlantic flights to Bangkok. 

Manchester is now the only UK airport outside London with a direct connection to both destinations. 

The northern gateway’s rolling 12-month passenger total was up 4.5% compared to 2024, at 32 million passengers.  

The airport’s Terminal 2 Pier 2 became operational, increasing capacity which now sees 70% of passengers using the new facilities. A new dual taxiway also went into operation, improving the operational efficiency of its two runways.   

Stansted’s passenger volumes edged by by 0.2% to 2.1 million, giving a rolling 12-month total of 29.9 million - up 1.3% on 2024.  

East Midlands airport handled more than 170,000 passengers in November, up 7.4% year on year. 

MAG reported that 99% of East Midlands and Stansted passengers passed through security in 15 minutes or less, while the figure at Manchester airport was 98%.

The figures follow MAG last week reporting a pre-tax profit of £144.6 million for the six months to September 30 as revenues rose by 10.5% to £850.6 million over the same period last year.