Manchester Airport saw a 6.2 per cent year-on-year increase in passengers last month, breaking its all-time record in the process – thanks partly to the poor weather in November 2014 and the rise in long-haul traffic.

A grand total of 1,479,740 people travelled through the UK’s global gateway for the North in November 2015.

This growth has raised the annual total of passengers to more than 23 million – an increase of five per cent for the same 12 month period year on year.

Scheduled international flights were up 14.55 per cent on November last year, keeping ahead of the curve year-on-year.

Also, thanks to a host of new routes launched this year, destinations in the USA and Asia are easier than ever to reach from Manchester, as are short haul destinations in Europe, boosting passenger numbers as Brits seek out city breaks and sunshine escapes due to the poor weather.

Ken O’Toole, Manchester Airport managing director, said: “November was an extremely successful and significant month for Manchester Airport as we broke the 23 million barrier and continued to announce new long and short haul services.

“Plus we increased capacity on routes across Europe with our low-cost carriers.

“The new short haul routes include easyJet to Paris, Olbia and Milan, plus Ryanair announced six new routes including Malta, Bratislava and Carcassonne.

“On the long haul front November saw Thomas Cook Airlines announce a new route to Tobago, while Thomson announced new services to Goa, Mauritius and Phuket.

“We are preparing for our busiest ever December, with the Christmas holiday period already looking very promising.

“We continue to recruit additional staff to ensure we can cope with the increased demand and capacity.

“Furthermore, looking forward to 2016 we will see new routes begin to Los Angeles, Boston and Beijing, all of which are services not available at any other UK airport outside of London.”