Manchester airport reports record-breaking April

More than 2.4 million passengers flew through Manchester airport during April – up from 2.2 million in 2023 and 25,000 more than the previous record in April 2019.

The northern hub said the figures were driven by the popularity of flights to city break destinations such as Dublin, Amsterdam and Dubai and traditional holiday destinations including Alicante and Tenerife.

The top-five most popular destinations for April were Dublin (87,970 passengers); Amsterdam (85,288), Dubai (82,518), Alicante (78,694) and Tenerife (72,324).

Chris Woodroofe, Manchester airport managing director, said: “Over the last month it’s been great to see so many passengers coming through, taking advantage of our unrivalled route network of more than 200 destinations that gives them more choice than any airport outside London.

“And the vast majority of those passengers have had a great start to their trips – with 93% waiting for 10 minutes or less to get to security.

“If you’re travelling with hand baggage and check-in online, the chances are that you’ll be able to arrive at the airport and walk straight up to security with barely any wait whatsoever.”

• Eurowings’ first flight from Manchester to Stuttgart took to the skies on Thursday evening (May 9).

The new route has been launched ahead of football’s Euro 2024 tournament in the summer. It runs four times a week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays using an Airbus A319.

Stuttgart is the third German destination Eurowings serve from Manchester, joining Dusseldorf and Hamburg.

Manchester airport commercial director Stephen Turner said: “Germany is a hugely popular country with people from the north and with the Euros just around the corner that is only set to grow.”

The Stuttgart Arena is one of several grounds in Germany that will host games during Euro 2024 – including Scotland vs Hungary on June 23 and one of the quarter final matches.