Deluge after deluge in rainy England meant families went in search of sun in August – helping Manchester Airport record its busiest summer.
Palma, Alicante and Tenerife were among the top 10 destinations flown to in August as nearly three million passengers travelled through the UK’s third largest airport last month – a 9% increase on 2015.
Dubai, Orlando and Abu Dhabi all proved popular long haul destinations with more than 100,000 travellers a day coming through Manchester’s terminals.
“Spain has certainly proved popular for families, which reflected the increase in capacity we saw from airlines to the likes of the Balearics and the Costas,” said Ken O’Toole, CEO for Manchester Airport.
“We’ve also seen growth that has been driven by new long haul services that launched this summer to the likes of Boston, Los Angeles and Beijing.”
From January Emirates will use an A380 aircraft on its morning service, meaning all three flights a day will now be served by world’s biggest passenger airliner.
Norwegian also announced it will be expanding operations this winter from Manchester, with routes to Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
In total more than six million passengers flew through a MAG airport in August, with London Stansted boasting 2,494,732 passengers, East Midlands Airport 596,155 and Bournemouth 83,598.
