Manchester Airport unveils plans to win back millions of passengers from London with new routes

Manchester Airport say they want to introduce direct services to major cities like Bangkok, Los Angeles and Beijing – which could mean millions of passengers a year not having to travel to London to fly.  The airport’s chief commercial officer Ken O’Toole says 22 million people live within a 2-hour drive of Manchester Airport – the same catchment as Heathrow. But each year some 4 million of those travel to London airports, mainly because Manchester does not have direct services to some major cities. Manchester has opened new routes to cities such as Washington, Warsaw and Las Vegas this year. Mr O’Toole said 100,000 people within Manchester’s catchment area were flying to Hong Kong each year from London airports, as well as 60,000 to Beijing, 113,000 to Bangkok, 60,000 to Lahore, 50,000 to Delhi and 70,000 to Mumbai.  Manchester Airport will next year launch a ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign, promoting their routes, especially to the Far East.

 

 

Manchester Airport unveils plans to win back millions of passengers from London with new routes

by Alice McKeegan   (Manchester Evening News)

November 13, 2012

Manchester Airport has revealed ambitious plans to win back millions of passengers a year from London airports.

Bosses say they want to introduce direct services to major cities like Bangkok, Los Angeles and Beijing.

That could mean millions of passengers a year not having to travel to London to fly.

The airport’s chief commercial officer Ken O’Toole says 22m people live within a two-hour drive of Manchester Airport – the same catchment as Heathrow.

But four million of those are travelling to London airports each year, mainly because Manchester does not have direct services to some major cities.

He told the M.E.N. that the airport had enjoyed a successful year – with new routes being launched to cities such as Washington, Warsaw and Las Vegas.

But he said he believed more improvements could be made, starting with ‘winning back’ London traffic.

Mr O’Toole said 100,000 people within Manchester’s catchment area were flying to Hong Kong each year from London airports, as well as 60,000 to Beijing, 113,000 to Bangkok, 60,000 to Lahore, 50,000 to Delhi and 70,000 to Mumbai.

Airport chiefs will next year launch a ‘Fly Manchester’ campaign, promoting the city’s routes.

They will also try to attract more long-haul routes, particularly to the Far East.

It is understood the airport is looking at new destinations including LA, Boston and Vienna.

Mr O’Toole said: “A lot of airports see themselves as simply airports – we see ourselves as a gateway. We’ve been able to introduce new routes. From a city and regional perspective, that’s crucial.

“If you look at what people want, it’s choice and connectivity. We’ve been successful with that, seeing a 2.5 per cent growth this year, but we won’t rest on that. We’d have liked 10 per cent growth.

“We should acknowledge the strength of what we have but we are really going to push the message that we are the gateway to the north west and even as far as Scotland.

“We have in excess of four million passengers who drive or take the train to depart from London – that’s not an acceptable situation for us.  We are not servicing their requirements.

They are being forced to go to London.

“That could be because we don’t have direct connections to some of their destinations or even if we do have, we don’t have the right frequency.”

Mr O’Toole said his major goal for the next two years was to secure direct flights to China.

Manchester is already home to the third largest Chinese population in Europe as well as enjoying trade links that were worth over £4bn in 2010 – and he believes services would help passenger numbers to grow further.

Mr O’Toole, who joined the company last October from Ryanair, added: “We need to make sure we secure direct services.

“Next year we will see continued growth. For the first time since 2009 we won’t be far off 20m passengers a year.

“But we have the facilities to cope with 25m or 26m passengers.  With very small tweaking, we could cope with 30m. Longer term, the site could cope with 50m. Gatwick does 35m passengers with just one runway. I believe we have the capability to act as a secondary point for the UK – and we’ll do everything we can to make that happen.”

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