The Group’s annual economic impact increased to £14bn this year, with the direct routes its airports provide linking the UK to 75% of global GDP.
Annual results posted by Manchester Airport Group (MAG) reveal it handled a record number of passengers, specifically 66.3 million in the year to 31 March 2026.
MAG, which runs Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, attributes this 1.9% year-on-year growth to the addition of new route destinations and increased frequencies to Europe.
The group also attracted a number of key long-haul routes to its airports for the first time during the year. MAG now connects passengers across the country to 284 global destinations.
Investment programmes during the period are driving regional growth, most notably the £1.5 billion transformation programme at Manchester Airport. The decade-long scheme has doubled the capacity of Terminal 2 and unlocked spare capacity on Manchester’s existing two runways. Manchester handled a record 32.3m passengers during the year, up 3.6%.
Looking to the future, London Stansted has 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.
However, the group cautions its long-term ability to invest in infrastructure will be undermined if the UK Government does not reach a predictable, proportionate, fair and objective agreement with the airports sector on business rates.
Ken O’Toole, CEO of MAG states how the group’s “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.”
No comments yet