Manchester Airport is off to a good start to 2023, with passenger volumes more than 90% of those seen before the pandemic, according to new figures.

MAG, which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports, handled 3.6 million passengers in January, of which more than 1.6 million passed through the north centre.

The figure is more than double the approximately 750,000 who traveled through Manchester in January 2022, when the Group handled just 37% of pre-pandemic traffic, due to Omicron’s testing requirements being maintained for passengers traveling to and from the UK.

At MAG, the passenger figures for January were 91% of the views in the same month of 2019.

Elsewhere, operational performance has continued to improve greatly from last summer, with 92.4% of passengers waiting 10 minutes or less to clear security last month.

Traffic statistics round out a positive month at Manchester Airport, which also announced the final phase of its £1.3bn transformation program in January. The £440m investment will upgrade existing Terminal Two infrastructure, to bring it into line with the state-of-the-art extension, which opened to passengers in July 2021.

The investment is set to unlock billions in economic activity and create more than 500 jobs in the construction phase alone. Another 16,400 additional jobs will also be generated by 2040 as a result of the economic activity driven by the expansion of the airport and its route network. York Aviation’s research also shows that the airport’s current contribution to the northern economy of £3.5bn could increase by almost 80%, to £6.3bn by 2040.

The announcement was welcomed by a wide range of supporters, including the Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper, and the Minister for Aviation, Baroness Vere de Norbiton.

As part of its initiatives to make its airports as accessible as possible for all passengers, MAG was also proud to announce the formation of its partnership with SignLive, which provides deaf customers with British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation when use and communicate with their airports. .

Chris Woodroofe, Manchester Airport Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to have made such a strong start to 2023, with January statistics showing passenger numbers continuing to recover well and operational performance steadily improving.

“The announcement of the second phase of our transformation program is a significant milestone for our airport and a statement of our intent to fulfill our full potential as the UK’s global gateway in the North.

“We are now fully focused on continuing to improve the passenger experience ahead of what promises to be another busy summer.”