Manchester International Airport (MAN)

Introduction

Manchester International Airport is the UK’s 4th busiest airport. Currently 22.1 million passengers are handled by Manchester International airport every year. Located about 8 miles south-south west of Manchester City centre, Manchester International Airport is the largest of the UK’s airports outside of the London area.

Facilities and Services

Manchester International Airport can offer its passengers flights to over 200 scheduled destinations including domestic; European; Middle Eastern; North African and transatlantic services.
Manchester International Airport has three terminals that provide passengers with departure lounges containing an excellent range of retail and catering facilities outlets. Manchester International Airport also has currency exchange facilities, car hire representatives and information desks to meet arriving passengers needs.
Manchester International Airport has executive lounges in each of the terminals. Passengers can enjoy business facilities such as fax; e-mail; and Internet access as well as complimentary drinks and snacks in a quiet and relaxing atmosphere.

Getting To The Airport

Manchester International Airport has its own dedicated link from the M56, which takes vehicles directly into Manchester International Airport. The M56 has interchanges with the M60; M6; and A56.
Manchester International Station offers fast, frequent train services linking the airport with over 100 destinations across the North of England and beyond.
For those travelling by coach, services run daily, and all coaches arrive and depart from The Station.
Local buses operate every half hour from early in the morning to late at night on a daily basis, including weekends and Bank Holidays.

Parking at the Airport

There is a short stay car park situated next to each of the terminals. The long stay car park is just five minutes away from the terminals. There is a 24 hour free bus shuttle from the terminals to the car park. In order to make a booking to secure a space at any of these pre-bookable car parks at Manchester International Airport via carparkinguk.co.uk.

History of Manchester International Airport

In 1919 Britain’s first ever scheduled air service began from a private airfield in Manchester, flying to South Shore, Blackpool via Birkdale Sands in Southport. Despite demand Manchester still had no permanent airport until 1926 when it became apparent that the city would suffer commercially without a permanent airport. In 1928 Barton, near Eccles was chosen as the site of Manchester’s new aerodrome but by 1934 it became apparent that Barton Aerodrome was considered inadequate for larger aircraft and it was decided that the required improvements would be excessively expensive. Consequently it was decided to commence work on a new airport using land at Ringway, South of Manchester. Work began on the new airport in 1935 and Ringway Airport, as it was known then, officially opened on 25th June 1938, with operations commencing two days later. Between then and the start of the war Ringway handled 7,600 passengers.

During the Second World War Ringway Airport was used as an aeroplane manufacturing centre. It was also expanded to include three new runways and ten new hangars and in addition, it acted as a training centre for over 60,000 parachutists. Passenger services at Ringway resumed almost as soon as the war was over and by 1947 the number of passengers passing through the airport tripled to more than 34,000 per year. In 1949, in order to cope with the increased demand, extended terminal facilities were opened in the converted wartime building and two years later the main runway was extended.

In 1952 the airport began operating on a 24 hour basis. In 1962 HRH the Duke of Edinburgh opened a new terminal at Manchester Airport, the first in Europe to incorporate the pier system, in which passengers remain under cover until ready to board their flight. This state of the art construction cost 2.7 million pounds.

Manchester Airport continued to expand and always keen to embrace new innovations in 1974 an inter-continental pier opened, capable of handling Boeing 747s and featuring travellators, waiting lounges and air conditioning. Also, for the first time air bridges connected passengers directly to the aircraft.

In the following years, numerous improvements and developments have been carried out on the site, all of which have helped to make Manchester Airport the fourth busiest airport in the UK. In 2003 a bid to house one of the retired Concorde fleet was successful and it is on display in the Aviation Viewing Park.