Manchester Airport has reached 25 million passengers for the first time in its history thanks to new long haul flights, increased frequency and more capacity on short haul routes.

The growth over the last 31 months represents an increase a year on year increase of 9.3 per cent

And there’s room to more than double passenger numbers to 55m per year generating £75bn worth of economic benefit to the north west.

Collette Roche, deputy CEO of Manchester Airport, said: “We’re delighted and thrilled as it’s the first time we have reached 25m in our 78-year history.

“One of the biggest factors has been our success in the long haul sector.

“Partnering with the likes of Thomas Cook to increase the number of routes means passengers don’t need to go elsewhere, they are coming here to go further afield.

“We have seen 10 per cent growth in long haul over the last three years but we are actually starting to take away some of the traffic that typically connects to Heathrow. That has had a positive impact.

"But it’s not just our success in long haul though, we have spent a lot of time working with our partners including Ryanair and easyJet on the European destinations by having more routes and frequencies, and that has really helped.”

via: Manchester Evening News