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Jet2 growth boosts Manchester Airport Group earnings
Manchester Airport saw passenger numbers rise 4.8% year on year to a record 17.4 million over the six-month summer period due to more flights from Jet2 and easyJet, which took the slots left vacant the previous year by the collapse of Monarch.
Overall, the airport’s parent company Manchester Airport Group (MAG), which also owns Stansted and East Midlands airports, saw passenger numbers increase 2% to 36.4 million. Its pre-tax earnings for the period to the end of September were up 15% year on year to £282 million.
Stansted passenger numbers remained flat at 15.9 million following the collapse of Primera Air, together with some limited reduction in capacity from Ryanair, which was offset by continued growth from Jet2 and a new Emirates’ service.
East Midlands Airport saw a 3% decline in passengers to 3.1 million due to softer load factors across their carriers generally, which was partially offset by growth from Jet2.
The collapse of Thomas Cook had only a limited impact on the MAG’s interim results as the holiday giant failed just seven days before the end of MAG’s first-half trading.
MAG said it was ‘actively working to mitigate the impact of the collapse on the performance in the second half of the year’.
Jet2.com, TUK and Virgin Atlantic have all committed to extend their operations at Manchester Airport since Thomas Cook’s collapse, and additional flights are also committed to at Stansted and East Midlands, it said.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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