Vueling Airlines has said it will launch two new routes from Manchester Airport for summer 2016. Part of International Airlines Group, Vueling will offer direct services to Alicante and Rome from June 2016. The Spanish low cost airline will operate three flights a week to Alicante and two flights a week to Rome in addition to their existing service to Barcelona, which started in June 2015.

Manchester Airport has launched a new online tool that allows members of the public to see flight and noise data collected by the Airport’s brand new aircraft noise monitoring and tracking system. WebTrak allows residents to see for themselves flight activity within 30 miles of the airport. Using radar data received from National Air Traffic Services and noise data collected at noise monitoring terminals stationed around the airport, WebTrak displays a map of the region with flight details and the levels of noise generated by aircraft taking off and landing at the airport.

The number of people using Manchester Airport increased again last month, with 2.8 per cent more people using the airport this May than during the same month last year. The news comes despite none of the north if England’s top football teams making it to the last stages of European competitions again, meaning the airport missed the typical May football fan boost it has become somewhat accustomed to in recent years.

Austrian Airlines will join the other carriers of the Lufthansa Airline Group at Manchester with the start of a new daily service to Vienna on September 10th, 2015. In addition to providing a point to point service to one of Europe’s most frequently visited cities, the new flight also completes access for the Lufthansa Group’s customers in the north of England to the 360 degree onward connection offering across the airline group worldwide network.

Manchester Airport has broken its all-time passenger record, with 22.32 million people flying through the airport in the last financial year. The figure is the highest in its 77-year history, beating the previous 12 month record set in July 2006 of 22.26 million. With 22.3 million passengers per year, Manchester is the UK’s third largest airport and represents growth of 7.5 per cent year on year, with March 2015 seeing growth close to ten per cent.

Manchester Airport hit the 22 million passenger mark for the first time since 2007, last week. Since January 2014, 22 million passengers have used the airport, flying to a range of 210 international destinations including Singapore, Las Vegas, Washington DC, New York, Paris and Dubai, with new and recent destinations including Hong Kong and Jeddah.