MAG reports highest ever annual passenger totals

• UK’s largest airports group served 66.3m passengers in year to March 2026 - up 1.9%
• More than 4.7m passengers passed through Manchester, London Stansted or East Midlands in March
• Operational performance remained strong throughout the month across all three airports  

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) served a record 66.3m passengers in the year to March 2026, a 1.9% increase year-on-year.  

MAG – which operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports – welcomed 4.7m passengers across March, a slight decrease of 0.1%. 

Despite disruption to Middle East services, Manchester handled 2.3m passengers, a 1.1% increase on March 2025. 

That brought its rolling 12-month total to 32.3m, up 3.6% year-on-year. 

The Middle East conflict saw Stansted’s monthly total dip slightly. It also handled 2.3m passengers in March, which was down 1.5% on last year.  

It ended the financial year with a rolling total of 30m – up 0.4% on the previous 12 months. 

East Midlands Airport served more than 206,000 passengers, a 3.6% increase year-on-year. The airport marked another positive cargo performance carrying more than 37,000 tonnes of cargo across the month, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year.  

Operational performance remained strong throughout the period across all three airports. London Stansted saw 100% of passengers passing through security in 15 minutes or less. At Manchester Airport the figure was 98% and at East Midlands 99%.   

Passengers:  

Cargo: