London,
12
March
2018
|
09:49
Europe/London

MAG grows in February as it applies to raise passenger cap at London Stansted

Summary
  • UK’s biggest airport group grows 2.4% year on year in February despite the impact of Monarch’s collapse and Ryanair reducing winter schedules.
  •  In February MAG applied to raise the cap on annual passenger numbers at London Stansted from 35m to 43m.
  •  MAG expects growth to strengthen further through the summer

Passengers

 

Manchester

London Stansted

East Midlands

MAG

Rolling 12 month total

27,811,759

26,031,264

4,859,604

58,702,627*

February 2018 total

1,681,406

1,731,524

218,047

3,630,977

February 2018

% change

year on year

+1.3%

+4.8%

-6.4%

+2.4%

Cargo

 

Manchester

London Stansted

East Midlands

February 2018 tonnes

7,643

19,031

26,782

February 2018

% change

year on year

-5.2%

-0.2%

+9.2%

*excludes figures for Bournemouth Airport, which was sold to RCA in December 2017.

London Stansted Airport was the fastest growing airport in MAG (Manchester Airports Group), in February as it grew 4.8% year on year to serve 1.7m passengers. The growth came in the month that it submitted a planning application to increase the number of passengers that it is permitted to serve. MAG as a whole grew 2.4% and served 3.6m passengers across its three UK airports in February.

Growth at London Stansted came through a mix of winter sun and ski destinations and ahead of an expected busy summer, as new long haul routes to New York, Toronto, Boston, Washington DC and Dubai launch. MAG has now owned Stansted for five years, increasing passenger numbers by almost 10 million in that time.

Stansted’s application seeks permission to make best use of the airport’s existing single runway over the next decade, a move which will deliver significant economic benefits to the UK and the vibrant East of England region, create 5,000 new on-site jobs, improve passenger choice and convenience and boost international long-haul routes to fast-growing markets like China, India and the US.

Tim Hawkins, MAG Corporate Affairs Director
"We are responding to continued growth by applying to raise the cap on passengers that we are allowed to serve at London Stansted to allow the airport to play a greater role in offering runway capacity in London over the next 10-15 years."
Tim Hawkins, MAG Corporate Affairs Director

Manchester Airport grew 1.3% in the same month, despite the loss of Monarch flights which were operating this time last year. Additional planes from other airlines will fill these slots for the summer, which together with predicted high load factors, means that MAG expects Manchester to see further growth through Summer 2018.

In February the airport marked six months since building work started on its 10 year transformation project. Steel works for one of the airport’s new piers are now complete, with work progressing well on the first stage of the extension of Terminal 2 and the completion of a new multi-storey car park.

East Midlands Airport saw passenger numbers drop by 6.4% year on year to 218,047, partly due to a significant number of snow related flight cancellations. The airport is, however, gearing up for a busy summer schedule, with a new route to Bodrum in Turkey starting in May and Seville being offered as a summer destination for the first time.

East Midlands did however see a 9.2% growth in cargo tonnage in February, and Stansted handled over 1,000 tonnes of Valentine’s Day flowers from outside of Europe in its busiest month of the year for fresh flower imports.

Tim Hawkins, Corporate Affairs Director, MAG said:

“The next decade and beyond is going to be about making best use of the runway capacity that this country already has, and MAG operates the two largest airports in the country with significant spare runway capacity. That is why we are responding to continued growth by applying to raise the cap on passengers that we are allowed to serve at London Stansted to allow the airport to play a greater role in offering runway capacity in London over the next 10-15 years.

“At Manchester Airport meanwhile we are pressing ahead with our 10 year, £1billion investment in our terminal facilities, which will allow us to make better use of the two runways that the airport already has – the only airport in the UK outside of Heathrow to have more than one usable runway.”