Manchester Airport has reported a record-breaking March, with Dublin, Amsterdam and Dubai among the top destinations. The airport saw its sixth consecutive month of record-breaking numbers in March, with 2.1m passengers passing through the northern travel hub.
This marks the busiest March on record for the airport, boosted by an early Easter and many travellers taking off for the school holidays.
The figure represents a 12% increase compared to the previous March and surpasses the pre-pandemic level of 2m passengers from 2019. The airport continued its record-breaking streak, having welcomed 1.9m passengers in February.
Dublin emerged as the most popular destination among passengers, followed by Amsterdam, as people favoured long weekend city breaks. Dubai ranked third, serving as both a holiday destination in its own right and a major connecting hub for destinations in Asia and beyond.
Traditional holiday hotspots Tenerife and Alicante completed the top five, as passengers began visiting European destinations with the onset of the summer season. In March, every single passenger at the airport waited less than 15 minutes to get through security, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Manchester Airport saw passenger numbers return to pre-pandemic levels last year, and since October it has consistently set monthly records for passenger traffic. The airport anticipates that April will continue this trend, bolstered by the Easter bank holiday weekend when approximately 320,000 passengers used the airport, an increase of eight per cent compared to the same weekend in 2023.
The surge in passenger numbers comes as the airport is undergoing a £1.3bn transformation programme. The final phase of the project commenced in January of the previous year.
Upon completion, Terminal 2 will have doubled in size and is expected to accommodate 70% of the airport’s passengers when it fully opens in 2025.
In March, the most popular destinations from Manchester Airport were:.
Dublin 95,254 passengers.
Amsterdam 93,838 passengers.
Dubai 92,554 passengers.
Tenerife 88,330 passengers.
Alicante 65,824 passengers.
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