MAG posts positive annual results as investment programmes continue to drive regional growth

MAG served 66.3m passengers in the year to 31 March 2026
Group has delivered the £1.5bn transformation programme at Manchester Airport and is preparing to start investment at London Stansted
MAG response to government consultation on business rates states change needs to deliver outcomes that are fair, predictable and proportionate to encourage future private sector investment

The UK’s largest airports group today released annual results showing it handled record passenger numbers while investing heavily in its infrastructure to enhance service and power growth in the regions it serves.

MAG (Manchester Airports Group) - which runs Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports – welcomed more than 66m people through its terminals in the year to 31 March 2026, up 1.9% year-on-year.

The strong passenger performance was driven by MAG’s core airlines - including Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2.com and TUI -adding new destinations and frequencies to Europe, while the Group also attracted a number of key long-haul routes to its airports for the first time during the period.

MAG now connects passengers across the country to 284 global destinations, with one in five UK air passengers using a MAG airport. The Group’s annual economic impact increased to £14bn this year and the direct routes its airports provide link the UK to 75% of global GDP.

The £1.5bn transformation of Manchester Airport neared completion during the year, with the final phases delivered post year-end. The decade-long scheme has doubled the capacity of Terminal 2 - creating a world-class facility for passengers – and unlocked spare capacity on Manchester’s existing two runways.

That underpinned a strong performance for the UK’s global gateway in the North. It handled a record 32.3m passengers during the year, up 3.6%. London Stansted handled 30m passengers for the first time in its history. East Midlands handled 4m.

While continuing to grow, all MAG airports delivered strong service levels. Across the year, 99% of passengers passed through security in 15 minutes or less, with more than 90% saying they would recommend the airport they used.

This sets MAG up to deliver a positive summer season, as the aviation industry navigates the impact of the Middle East conflict. The variety of its route networks and focus on choice and value mean passenger volumes have continued to grow each month in the new financial year, with the number of seats on sale heading into the summer up on 2025.

MAG’s travel services business, CAVU, also grew its global footprint. It now operates 32 airport lounges internationally and sells travel products and services in 58 countries.

In a new venture, MAG was appointed by the Bahamian Government to operate and maintain Grand Bahama International Airport. The first contract of this nature, the appointment reflects the Group’s track record of driving growth through investment in the regions it serves.

The positive performance of all MAG’s business units saw it post revenues of £1.5bn, up 12.8% on FY25, and an adjusted EBITDA of £614.4m, up 7.7% year-on-year. Operating profit stood at £303.9m, up 15.5% on FY25. During the year, MAG invested £561.7m. It is the largest investor in transport infrastructure outside London.

MAG increased the amount of cargo it handled by 12.5%, driven primarily by strong growth at East Midlands, the UK’s largest pure freight airport. It accounted for a third of all cargo growth in the UK, with seven new airlines starting operations at the airport.

During the year, London Stansted secured permission to grow passenger volumes up to 51m over the next two decades. MAG has plans to invest £1.1bn in the airport to grow to 43m passengers, which it intends to progress in earnest in the new financial year. They include a terminal extension and other supporting infrastructure, which will enable it to play an even greater role supporting the growth of London and the OxCam growth corridor.

However, the group cautioned its long-term ability to invest in infrastructure will be undermined if the Government does not reach a predictable, proportionate, fair and objective agreement with the airports sector on business rates. Rates liabilities are already set to more than double and represent MAG’s largest non-employee cost line.

MAG CEO Ken O’Toole said:

“We are pleased to release these solid results, underpinned by record passenger volumes at our airports. That reflects our steadfast focus on maximising the choice of direct destinations people can access through our airports, which serve catchments areas covering 70% of the UK population.

“We work hard with our airlines to provide this connectivity at great value and invest in our people, facilities and systems to provide a good airport experiences for our 66m passengers.

“By growing our route networks, we help people experience new places and enable trade and investment in high-value sectors that will power growth and productivity in regions across the UK. That has seen MAG deliver its biggest ever economic contribution to the UK, at £14bn.

“We have continued to invest for growth, in particular by delivering the final phases of Manchester Airport’s £1.5bn Transformation Programme. It unlocks spare capacity on its exiting two runways and paves the way for it to play an even greater role in the creation of a globally-competitive Northern Growth Corridor.

“We were pleased to secure permission to grow passenger numbers at London Stansted up to 51m and are poised to deliver a £1.1bn investment programme to take us towards that.

“Our long-term ability to continue growth-enabling investments of this nature is influenced by the fiscal environment in which we operate. The current Government has been hugely supportive of aviation in policy terms, but risks undermining that with a tax regime that creates a barrier to investment-led growth. MAG’s business rates have already more than doubled and there remains no clarity on what airports’ future liabilities will look like.

We have recently responded to a government consultation on business rates, with MAG stating that any change needs to deliver outcomes that are fair, predictable, proportionate and encourage future private sector investment.

“Outside of our core airports business, CAVU continues to show good growth as we expand our global footprint and the variety of products traded through its digital marketplace.

“The diversity of our business gives us a resilience that leaves us well placed to navigate the macroeconomic factors our industry faces and look forward to delivering a robust summer season.

“I am proud of the progress we made this year towards our sustainability targets, reducing emissions in our own operations and the UK exceeding the Government’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate for 2025. We also continued deliver our industry-leading Skills Programme, highlighted by the Careers Festivals delivered across the Group.

“None of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our more than 8,000 colleagues. I would like to thank all of them for their commitment they have shown which has been central to this year’s performance and will be key to our continued success.”

Manchester Airport

Manchester served 32.3m passengers for the first time its history, up 3.6% on FY25.
The £1.5bn Manchester Airport Transformation Programme neared completion – delivering a number of new developments including the opening of Pier 2 in October – increasing aircraft stand capacity. A new section of the departure lounge also opened, with new retail offerings including the Great Northern Market food hall
A multi-million-pound investment in Terminal 3 was also announced to enhance passenger experience – with the first phase of new retail units opening in March
Manchester’s long-haul connectivity strengthened as Norse started a new direct route to Bangkok – creating the first ever direct connection to the Thai capital from outside of London. It recently announced an increase to its schedule growing to a four-times-weekly service in winter 2026. Air Canada announced it was growing its operation by introducing a four-weekly service to Toronto from winter 2026, making this a year-round operation for the first time, and Pakistan International Airlines also resumed its direct service to Islamabad.
Qatar also moved to a four-times daily service in summer 2025 meaning we now offer a bigger schedule compared with other European capital cities
Additionally, Juneyao, Hainan and Cathay Pacific grew in summer 2025 which created daily services to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong for the first time.
The airport’s short haul network also increased – with Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2.com and TUI expanding their route networks across Europe.

London Stansted Airport

London Stansted Airport served 30m annual passengers for the first time in its history, up 0.4% year-on-year.
It continues to serve more European destinations than any other UK airport, and this year continued to expand its route network. Most notably, Turkish Airlines announced it would commence a twice-daily service to Istanbul – connecting millions of passengers to the Turkish capital and onward global destinations.
New carriers at the airport included Dutch airline Transavia with a route to Rotterdam, and Air Algerie who announced a direct service to Algiers.
Among existing carriers, Ryanair announce a new route to Lubeck in Germany and easyJet commenced a new service to Paris Charles De Gaulle.
In recognition of the critical role it plays in delivering connectivity and economic prosperity for London and the East of England, in December, London Stansted received planning permission to increase its passenger cap from 43m to 51m over the next 20 years.
This increase would make best use of its existing spare runway capacity, without adding any additional flights than are currently permitted.
This outcome supports the airport’s £1.1bn investment programme which includes a £700m extension to the terminal building. In FY26, as part of the scheme the airport opened its new domestic arrivals building – improving experience for passengers.

East Midlands Airport

East Midlands Airport’s performance was in line with last year, once again serving 4.0m passengers.
Across the year, the airport’s airlines continued to add new routes to its network of popular European destinations. Celebrating its 15^th year of operation from the airport, Jet2.com announced new routes to Budapest and Berlin, alongside capacity increases on its services to Corfu, Malaga, Faro, Alicante, Paphos and Tenerife. TUI also announced two new routes to Boa Vista in Cape Verde, and Burgas in Bulgaria.
It continues to be the home of the UK’s largest pure freight operation - handling more than 413,000 tonnes of cargo across the financial year, up 12.5%.
This year East Midlands welcomed seven new carriers to its cargo network – further expanding its global trade reach.
That included Chinese logistics firm YunExpress which launched its first UK route with a twice weekly service to China. Alongside this, Atlas Air, Saudi Cargo and Ethiopian Cargo all commenced services from the airport to Asia and the United Arab Emirates.
The airport announced its plans to meet the future demand for freight – which York Aviation found is set to increase by 54% over the next two decades.
This investment would add 50 hectares of cargo capacity – increasing volumes to more than 580,000 tonnes per annum. This could support up to £3.4bn in economic contributions to the regional economy.

CAVU

MAG’s global travel services CAVU – which offers a range of digital and physical products to enhance the airport passenger journey – continued to see its international presence grow across FY26.
The division posted revenues of £288.7m, up 26.3% year-on-year.
It now has a presence in 399 airports across 58 countries.
CAVU’s airport lounge network grew across the year – now operating 32 lounges across 25 airports. It opened its first lounge in Australia at Brisbane Airport, alongside new sites in the US including Northwest Arkansas, Portland, San Juan, and Tulsa.

Creating a sustainable future for all

MAG’s performance across the year was underpinned by progress it made against the delivery of its new Sustainability Strategy, Creating a sustainable future for all.

Demonstrating leadership across both pillars of the Strategy – Protecting the Environment and Community at our Core – the Group worked to ensure that its airports can continue to deliver long-term economic and societal benefits while supporting a more sustainable future for UK aviation.

In pursuit of its target to achieve net zero carbon operations (scope 1 and 2) by 2038, MAG continued to roll out the use of onsite vehicles powered by electricity and Biodiesel, and progressed on the construction of the 12.3 megawatt solar farm at London Stansted – the first of its kind at a London airport.

In July, MAG welcomed the Government’s announcement of Advanced Fuel Fund to support for the creation of a domestic industry for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The fund provided £4.5m to Essar and NorthPointe Energy who are developing SAF projects at Stanlow, close to Manchester Airport. This was set against figures from the Department for Transport which showed that SAF made up 2.4% of UK aviation fuel in 2025, exceeding the Government mandate of 2%.

As part of its pioneering approach to skills and employment, MAG held the UK’s first Aviation Careers Festivals across its airports, attracting more than 1,500 students from schools and colleges across the North, Midlands and South.

Supported by the Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority’s Reach for the Sky Fund, the events showcased aviation career opportunities while helping build a future talent pipeline for the sector and reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Click here to read the full MAG annual report.