Manchester Airports Group (MAG) airports served 2.7 million passengers in October, which represented 51 per cent of pre-pandemic traffic compared to the same month in October 2019.

These figures mark six months of sustained increases in the number of passengers travelling through MAG airports.

In May, the group only welcomed 260,000 passengers.

By contrast, October is the first month since February last year in which both Manchester and London Stansted airports have each served more than one million passengers.

The increase seen in October was boosted by the half term period and pent-up demand for international travel after more than a year of Covid-19-related disruption.

The number of passengers served in October was 22 per cent higher than in September following a further easing of restrictions on international travel on October 4th, which saw PCR tests on replaced by cheaper lateral flow requirements, alongside the removal of all remaining countries from the ‘red list’.

This positive trend is expected to continue in the lead up to the festive season. 

Leisure travel between the UK and the US resumed on November 8th in a significant moment for the revival of the aviation industry.