Land use plan - Manchester Airport

Chapter 2 - Context
Manchester Airport is the largest airport outside London
and handles more traffic than some European capital city
airports. The Airport serves as the major international
gateway for much of Northern Britain. In 2006, over 22
million passengers travelled on over 226,000 aircraft
movements to over 200 worldwide destinations.
Manchester is also an important cargo airport handling
150,000 tonnes of freight in 2006.
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Future Growth
As prosperity across our catchment area continues to
increase, it brings an increasing demand to travel.
Increased affordability, and the widening choice of
destinations, are opening up new opportunities to travel
both to and from the North West.
As part of our Master Plan, we have assessed the likely
scale of airline activity at Manchester. In doing this, we
have carefully considered the changing trends in the
airline industry, in particular the dramatic growth of ‘no
frills’ or ‘low cost’ carriers and increasing environmental
pressures. We have also taken account of the
opportunity to expand our network of scheduled
services, especially to long-haul destinations. We expect
that there will be:
• An overall annual increase in demand of between
4 – 6%
• Continued growth in the ‘no frills’ market
Year
The growth in air traffic over the years has resulted in
investment in new and improved passenger facilities and
transport links. The Airport has three passenger
terminals, two runways and we have the ability to handle
a significantly higher passenger throughput without the
need for another runway or a major new terminal.
The Airport is also successfully developing as a public
transport hub following the opening of The Station. This
facility provides easy access between air, rail, coach and
bus services. As passenger throughput increases, so we
expect to see a substantial increase in passengers and
staff using public transport services.
• Further expansion of the Airport’s long-haul network
• The consolidation of airlines in to major alliances
Our Master Plan and this Land Use Plan is not forecast.
Whilst annual passenger forecasts are widely used to
give an indication of the overall scale of airport activity
and future growth, our focus is on maximising the
capacity of our existing and future facilities and
increasing the efficiency of all our assets.
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