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There is also a Manchester Airport in the United States.

Manchester International Airport is an airport in Manchester, UK, formerly known as Ringway. It is located on the boundary between Cheshire and Manchester in Greater Manchester.

It has two parallel runways, three adjacent terminals, and a railway station. The airport is owned by the Manchester Airport Group who own several other UK airports including Nottingham East Midlands, Bournemouth and Humberside.

Worldwide hub

The airport provides direct flights to over 200 destinations worldwide by over 95 airlines. The airport is the transatlantic hub for bmi, as well as a hub for British Airways, the charter airline MyTravel and many other British carriers. At one time it was the centre of operations of Cargolux's charter airline venture, Lion Air.

Passenger numbers

It is the busiest airport in England outside of London, in terms of passengers per year and the UK's third busiest. However, this status is under threat with London's Stansted Airport coming close in passenger volume in recent years. In 2005, Manchester handled just over 22 million passengers. The airport is set to accommodate 42 million passengers per year by 2015. *

Security

Manchester Airport is policed by the Greater Manchester Police. Several security related incidents have occurred at the airport in recent years. In particular:

  • In 2002, a security firm successfully smuggled fake explosives, detonators and genuine firearms onto a flight. *
  • In 2004, the BBC's Whistleblower program revealed a series of security failures at the airport, including faulty metal detectors and a lack of regular random baggage checks. *
  • In 2005, after spotted acting suspiciously, police used a taser to shoot a man on the apron, after he appeared to resist arrest. *
  • On the 6th June 2006, Aabid Hussain Khan, 21, of West Yorkshire and a 16 year old boy were arrested at the airport and later charged under Section 57 of the Terrorism Act, for conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause public nuisance by using poisons or explosives.

Terminals

Manchester International Airport has three interconnected terminals, allowing passengers to visit all three terminals without going outside. Terminals 1 and 3 are located in the same building and are connected by a corridor. Terminals 1 and 2 are linked by the skywalk, a passage which goes across the airfield, with travolators to aid passengers with the long walk. Along the skywalk there are shops and a Radisson Hotel.

Terminal 1

Terminal One is mostly used by non-BA international traffic. It is also the terminal used as the base for MyTravel and Jet2.com who each have a separate check-in on the lower level. It has 24 stands, 18 of which have airbridges (Gates refer to those accessible from the piers). It opened in 1952 although has undergone many renovations since opening. Currently, Terminal 1 is being renovated to accommodate more planes. In addition, a £25 million refurbishment of the retail spaces is underway.

Scheduled airlines and destinations

Charter airliners and destinations
  • A Jet (Larnaca, Paphos)
  • Air Atlanta (Orlando-Sanford, Sharm-El-Sheik, Tenerife)
  • Austrian Airlines (Bolzano, Innsbruck)
  • AviaJet (Faro, Kefaffinia, Naples, Palma, Reus, Zakynthos)
  • Balkan Holiday Air (Burgas, Plovdiv, Sofia, Varna)
  • Channel Express (Alicante, Malaga)
  • Eurocypria (Heraklion, Larnaca, Paphos)
  • European Aviation Air Charter (Brescia, Lourdes-Tarbes)
  • Flightline LTD (London-Luton)
  • Fly Jet LTD (Arrecife, Corfu, Dalaman, Heraklion, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Ovda, Paphos, Rhodes, Sharm-El-Sheik, Tenerife, Thessalonika)
  • Futura (Alicante, Arrecife, Dalaman, Glasgow, Ibiza, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Palma, Reus, Tenerife)
  • Greece Airways (Alicante, Barcelona, Gerona, Malaga, Palma)
  • Monarch Airlines (Arrecife, Calgray, Cancun, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kittila, Kos, Las Palmas, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, Luxor, Mahon, Male, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Preveza, Punta Cana, Rhodes, Salzburg, Shram-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sofia, Tenerife, Thessalonika, Venice, Zakynthos)
  • My Travel (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Bergamo, Bodrum, Bucharest, Burgas, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Djerba, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gerona, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kalamata, Kefallinia, Kos, La romana, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Las Vegas, London-Gatwick, Luxor, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Malta, Monastir, Montego Bay, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rhodes, Rimini, Salvador- Dois De Julho, Salzburg, Sharm-El-Sheik, Tenerife, Toronto, Turin, Vancouver, Varadero, Zakynthos)
  • NouvelAir (Djerba)
  • PrivatAir (Istanbul)
  • Spanair (Mahon)
  • Thomas Cook Airlines (Acapulco, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Banjul-Yundum, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Calgray, Cancun, Catania, Cayo Coco, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Fuchal, Gerona, Glasgow, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Izmir, Jerez, Kefallinia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, London-Gatwick, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rohdes, Rovaniemi, Salzburg, Shram-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sofia, Split, Teneirfe, Thessalonika, Toronto, Toulouse, Turin, Vancouver, Verona, Zakynthos)

Terminal 2

Terminal 2, opened in 1993, is used mostly by long haul and charter traffic. A few European airlines such as KLM and Air Malta also operate flights out of the Terminal. It has 15 gates, of which 14 have airbridges. Terminal 2 is being extensively modified so it can accommodate 18 million passengers per annum instead of the current 7 million. This is an ongoing project that will be completed within the next 2 years.

Scheduled airlines and destinations

Charter airliners and destinations
  • Air Europa (Arrecife, Paris-CDG, Teneirfe)
  • Astraeus (Agadir, Banjul-Yundum, Brescia, Calvi, Chambery, Dalaman, Innsbruck, Izmir, Kefallinia, Kos, Lourdes-Tarbes, Lyon, Olbia, Palma, Paphos, Pula, Salzburg, Skiathos, Taba, Teneirfe, Varna, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • BritishJet (Malta)
  • Excel Airways (Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Chambery, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ivalo, Kalamata, Kavala, Kefallinia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, London-Gatwick, Mahon, Malaga, Mikonos, Mitilini-Lesbos, Monastir, Murcia, Orlando-Sanford, Ovda, Palma, Paphos, Plovdiv, Preveza, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Tel Aviv, Teneirfe, Volos, Zakynthos)
  • First Choice Airways (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Banjul-Yundum, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Cancun, Cayo Coco, Chania, Colombo, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kefallinia, Kittila, Kos, Las Palmas, Lisbon, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Malta, Mitilini-Lesbos, Mombasa, Monastir, Montego Bay, Naples, Nassau, Oporto, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Porlamar, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Reus, Rhodes, Rovaniemi, Salvador (Dois De Julho), Salzburg, Santorini, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Taba, Tenerife, Thessalonika, Toulouse, Turin, Varadero, Varna, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • Freebird Airlines (Dalaman)
  • LTE International Airways (Arrecife, Palma, Tenerife)
  • Luxor Air LTD (Sharm-El-Sheik)
  • Onur Air (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Ercan)
  • Pegasus Airlines (Bodrum, Dalaman)
  • Thomsonfly (Agadir, Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Cancun, Cardiff, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, F. Lauderdale, Faro, Figari, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Gerona, Glasgow, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kavala, Kefallinia, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Luxor, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Malta, Monastir, Montego Bay, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Pisa, Puerto Plata, Pula, Punta Cana, Reus, Rhodes, Rovaniemi, Salzburg, Samos, Santorini, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sofia, Taba, Tenerife, Tenerife North, Thessalonika, Toulouse, Turin, Varadero, Varna, Venice, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • Viking Airlines (Heraklion, Ivalo, Kuusamo)

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 was formerly known as Terminal 1 Domestic and was opened by the late Princess Diana before being revamped and renamed in the late 1990s when BA decided Manchester should be one of the hubs for their BA Connect service. The terminal is primarily used for British Airways, oneworld, bmi/bmibaby and domestic traffic. It has 18 gates, 14 of which have airbridges. Terminal 3 is currently working to expand capacity from 3 million to 5 million passengers per year.

Scheduled airlines and destinations

  • Air Southwest (Bristol, Cardiff, Newquay, Plymouth)
  • American Airlines (Boston only, Chicago-O'Hare, Miami only)
  • bmi (Aberdeen, Antigua, Barbados, Chicago-O'Hare, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Las Vegas, London-Heathrow, Toulouse)
    • bmibaby (Alicante, Belfast Intl, Bordeaux, Cork, Geneva, Knock, Jersey, Malaga, Newquay, Palma, Perpignan, Prague)
  • British Airways (London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, New York-JFK)
    • BA Connect (Aberdeen, Belfast-City, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Hanover, Isle of Man, Jersey, Lyon, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Oslo, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Southampton, Vienna)
    • British Airways operated by GB Airways (Arrecife, Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Las Palmas, Malaga, Malta, Paphos, Tenerife South)
    • British Airways operated by Sun Air of Scandinavia (Billund)
  • Eastern Airways (Inverness)
  • Finnair (Helsinki, Stockholm-Arlanda)
  • SN Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
  • VLM (London-City)

Charter airliners and destinations

  • bmi (Cagliari, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Lyon, Malaga, Rhodes, Venice)

Cargo airlines

As well as a key passenger airport, the airport is also used for cargo traffic, at the cargo centre on the other side of the apron from Terminal 2.

Ground transportation

The airport is about 20 minute drive from central Manchester on the M56 motorway with a dedicated link road from the motorway at Junction 5. Taxi ranks are situated by arrivals at all three terminals. For long-distance travel by road, it is more cost effective to hire a chauffeur-driven car on the Internet. Passengers driving to the airport can use the drop off and pick up areas or choose from a range of both short and long stay car parks situated both on and off site.

National Express operates a coach service serving the airport. The Manchester Urban Cornubation bus service also includes the airport. The airport has its own train station, Manchester Airport railway station, in the heart of the airport complex. The Skylink moving walkway links the station and the three terminal buildings. There are regular trains running between the airport station to Manchester Piccadilly Station, and stations all over northern England. Trains are operated either by Northern Rail or First Transpennine Express.

There are also plans in place to build a Metrolink light rail extension to the airport from Manchester Piccadilly.

Protest

Between 1997 and 1999 three protest camps were set up to oppose the building of the second runway, the felling of nearby trees on land owned by the National Trust and air transportation in general. Three different camps were set up Flywood, Authur's Woodand Cedar's Wood. Swampy, a well known activist, was among many protestors.***

More than 1000 acres of greenbelt land with 43 ponds, ancient woodland, 15 km of hedgerows, 21 buildings including four 17th Century Grade II listed buildings were destroyed in the building of Manchester Airport's second runway. However the Grade II listed buildings were carefully knocked down piece by piece and were re-constructed nearby.

Trivia

One of the British Airways Concorde supersonic airliners taken out of service arrived at Manchester Airport on 31 October 2003 for use as a static display.

Because of the length of its runways, the airport is able to handle large jets, including the Airbus A340 and the Boeing 747. For this reason, Manchester International Airport was frequently used as a diversion airport for the Concorde if both Heathrow and Gatwick were experiencing bad weather.

See also

External links

Airports in England | Transport in Greater Manchester | Protests

Flughafen Manchester | マンチェスター国際空港 | Manchester International Airport

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Manchester International Airport".

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