LONDON – According to data from RadarBox.com, Manchester Airport has experienced a staggering 48% growth in movements based on a seven-day rolling average.
With the airport progressing ahead with its transformation project, as well as welcoming new airlines and routes into the region, this comes as no surprise.
Without further ado, let’s get into the numbers:
The Numbers…
For October 15-22, the airport handled 514 movements based on a seven-day rolling average, which is a substantial increase of 48.55% compared to the same period last year, where only 346 movements were handled.
The airport is not far away from achieving pre-pandemic numbers, so around 63 flights need to be sought after in order to meet that target.
For this week, Manchester Airport is expected to achieve 540 movements, which would represent an increase of 52.11% compared to the same period last year.
Below is a table of the last four weeks’ worth of data:
| Date | 2021 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | Percentage Change (2022 vs. 2021) |
| September 17-24 | 331 movements | 549 movements | +65.86% |
| September 24-October 1 | 323 movements | 525 movements | +62.54% |
| October 1-8 | 320 movements | 522 movements | +63.13% |
| October 8-15 | 319 movements | 512 movements | +60.50% |
As you can see from the data, the airport is averaging anywhere between 48-65% better than the same period last year, which is reflective of most of their destinations opening up again post-COVID.
Manchester Airport Has Resolved Its Chaotic Period…
From the airside perspective, it seems that the airport is already where it needs to be, so not many improvements are needed.
In the case of Manchester Airport, it does seem that they are very slowly beginning to learn their lesson on this. There, of course, can be fingers pointed everywhere but the airport does look better prepared for the next Summer period in 12 months’ time.
There is consensus that the industry wouldn’t have known when to recruit next, or if they did, it wouldn’t have been enough notice for them to plan their recruitment better.
What we can expect to see in Summer 2023 is a less disruptive period, especially with a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic expected in Europe.
Lessons have been learned, and at least we now have a case study to fall back on to ensure better communication between the industry and governments, as well as knowing how to plan better on a post-pandemic basis.
It was evident, looking back on things, that there was always going to be disruption when it comes to “returning to normal” and that it shouldn’t have been maybe hyped up.
The industry was working on forecasts of what they thought they could handle. Now at least, they have tried and will know better in the future.
But for now, the airport can take solace in the fact that they are nearly at pre-pandemic levels and can focus now on getting up to that level and providing a seamless experience for customers.
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