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Manchester Airport

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 195.166.19.58 (talk) at 18:11, 17 July 2007 (→World Freight Terminal). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
For City Airport Manchester, UK, see City Airport Manchester.
For the United States airport, see Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

Template:Airport frame Template:Airport title File:Manairportlogo.jpg Template:Airport infobox Template:Runway title Template:Runway Template:Runway Template:Airport end frame Manchester Airport (IATA: MAN, ICAO: EGCC) is a major airport in Manchester, UK. It opened to airline traffic in June 1938. It was initially known as Ringway Airport and during World War Two, as RAF Ringway. From 1975 until 1986, the title Manchester International Airport was used. It is located on the boundary between Cheshire and Manchester in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

It has two parallel runways, three adjacent terminals, and a railway station. The airport is owned by the Manchester Airport Group which is controlled by a group of ten local authorities in the Greater Manchester area.

Manchester Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P712) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers and for flying instruction.

Manchester Airport was ranked as the 16th busiest world airport in 2004 (in terms of passengers carried on international flights) and is the fourth busiest airport in the UK (after London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London Stansted). In total passengers handled, Manchester ranked 48th in the world in 2005, down from 45th in 2004. [1]. Also, in 2006 Manchester had a recorded 229,729[2] aircraft movements, of which 213,100 were air transport movements (third highest in the UK).

Worldwide hub

The airport provides regular direct flights to over 200 destinations worldwide by 85 airlines. Major North American carriers from Manchester include American, Continental, Delta and US Airways of the USA, and Air Canada, Air Transat and Zoom from Canada. UK operators serving the USA market are Virgin Atlantic Airways, BMI and British Airways. Singapore Airlines, Emirates, PIA, Air Blue, Qatar, Etihad, Saudi Arabian, Mahan Air and Biman Bangladesh serve the Asian market. Manchester is the international hub for BMI and has many destinations available. Charter airlines First Choice Airways, MyTravel, Thomas Cook and Thomsonfly use Manchester as their primary operational base. The airport serves as a secondary hub for FlyBE, Jet2, BMIbaby, XL Airways, Monarch Airlines, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Pakistan International Airlines. Several other British airline carriers have a strong presence.

Manchester Airport will have flights to more destinations than any other UK airport from summer 2007. It will offer flights to 225 destinations - with more direct routes than Heathrow and Gatwick. Heathrow offers 180 destinations, all scheduled, while Gatwick has about 200, (although the two London airports handle considerably more flights and passengers than Manchester). Many of Manchester's overseas routes are served by charter flights to holiday destinations, some being seasonal. In 2008, Hong Kong's main airline Cathay Pacific will recommence passenger service to London-Heathrow and Hong Kong from the airport.

Manchester will also offer more destinations than some of the biggest airports in the US, including New York, Chicago and Dallas. It is still slightly behind the three biggest `hubs' in the global aviation network - Atlanta, Frankfurt and Amsterdam - which each offer more than 250 destinations. However, Manchester serves more foreign destinations than Atlanta and Frankfurt (but not Amsterdam), although being much smaller in terms of total passengers handled.

Passenger numbers

Manchester is the fourth busiest airport in the UK and the biggest outside of London, in terms of passengers per year. In the twelve months to December 2006, Manchester handled 22.12 million terminal passengers, a figure exceeded only by Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted in the UK (per CAA 2006 annual traffic statistics report, Table 2.2). Manchester's passengers remained static in 2006, increasing by 0.2%, compared with average growth rates of 3.0% in the UK and 6.4% in Europe as a whole. The first six months of 2007 have seen an overall reduction in passengers, with the moving 12 months total to June of 21.98 million, dropping by 1.1% compared with the previous year (UK airports average for the same period - 1.5% increase).

The airport's latest long range plan, published mid 2006 and widely circulated to interested parties, forecasts at page 39 that passenger numbers will increase to circa 38 million passengers per annum by 2015, a fast average growth rate of 6.2% and reach 50 million by 2030. The airport authorities are examining measures to cope with this postulated increase. The previous, now outdated, forecasts were reproduced on the following source : [3]

Runway Changes

On 7th June, 2007, Manchester Airport's runway assignments were changed in relation to the Magnetic Compass bearings. The previous headings for the runways were 057° and 237° with assignments 06L/24R and 06R/24L respectively (23/4/07). The new headings for the runways are 054° and 234° with new assignments of 05L/23R and 05R/23L respectively. The signs located on taxiways and entrances to the runway were changed on the evening of the 6th June, 2007.[4]

This ended 66 years of 24/06 operations, as the original tarmac runway, initially just 3000 ft long, was hastily laid down in the latter half of 1941.

Security

 
Passengers passing through Manchester Airport 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.[5]
  • 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. [6]
  • In 2005, after spotted acting suspiciously, police used a taser to shoot a man on the apron, after he appeared to resist arrest.[7]
  • On 6 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.[8]

Terminals and destinations

Manchester Airport has three interconnected terminals, allowing passengers to move between all the 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, with travelators to aid passengers with the long walk. The skywalk also connects the railway station (where a few shops are located) and the Radisson Hotel.

 
Manchester Airport Skywalk


Terminal 1

Terminal One handles international traffic and is served by many scheduled airlines and charter operators. It is also used as the base for MyTravel and Thomas Cook Airlines, but Monarch Airlines and Jet2.com also have a strong presence here. It has 24 stands, 18 of which have airbridges. Opened in 1962, the terminal has undergone many extensions and renovations since opening. The current passenger throughput is just under 10 million passengers per year. Terminal 1 is currently undergoing a multi-million pound redevelopment. The first phase of the project is to expand and relocate the security search area; following this a major extension and overhaul of the departure lounge will be completed.

  • Aer Arann (Galway, Kerry, Nantes, Sligo, Waterford)
  • Aer Lingus (Cork(winter only), Dublin)
  • Air Berlin (Hamburg, London-Stansted, Paderborn/Lippstadt)
  • Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]
  • Air Transat (Calgary, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
  • airBaltic (Riga)
  • Aurigny Air Services (Guernsey)
  • Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
  • Aviajet (Faro, Kefallinia, Naples, Palma, Reus, Zakynthos)
  • BH Air (Burgas, Plovdiv, Sofia, Varna)
  • Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
  • City Airline (Gothenburg-Landvetter)
  • Cyprus Airways (Larnaca, Paphos)
  • Cyprus Turkish Airlines (Dalaman)
  • Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi)
  • Eurocypria (Heraklion, Larnaca, Paphos)
  • EuroManx (Isle Of Man)
  • Finnair (Helsinki)
  • Flyjet (Arrecife, Corfu, Dalaman, Heraklion, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Paphos, Rhodes, Sharm-El-Sheik, Tenerife, Thessalonika)
  • Futura International Airways (Alicante, Arrecife, Dalaman, Ibiza, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Palma, Reus, Tenerife)
  • Icelandair (Reykjavik-Keflavik)
  • Helvetic Airways (Zürich)
  • Jet2.com (Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona [ends September, 2007], Berlin-Schönefeld, Budapest, Chambery, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Malaga, Milan-Bergamo, Murcia, Nice, Palma, Paris Charles-De-Gaulle, Pisa, Prague, Rome-Fiumicino, Tenerife-South, Toulouse, Valencia, Venice Marco Polo)
  • Libyan Airways (Tripoli)
  • LOT Polish Airlines (Warsaw)
  • Lufthansa (Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich)
  • Luxair (Dublin, Luxembourg)
  • Monarch Airlines (scheduled) (Alicante, Almeria, Arrecife, Barcelona, Faro, Ibiza, Jerez, Mahon, Malaga, Murcia [begins February, 2008], Palma, Tenerife)
  • Monarch Airlines (charter) (Arrecife, Calgary, Cancun, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kittila, Kos, Las Palmas, Luxor, Mahon, Male, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Preveza, Punta Cana, Rhodes, Salzburg, Shram-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sofia, Tenerife, Thessalonika, Venice, Zakynthos)
  • MyTravel (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Bergamo, Bodrum, Bucharest-Otopeni, Burgas, Calgary, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Djerba, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gerona, Goa, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kalamata, Kefallinia, Kos, La romana, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Las Vegas, Luxor, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Montego Bay, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rhodes, Rimini, Salvador- Dois De Julho, Salzburg, Sharm El Sheik, Tenerife, Toronto-Pearson, Turin, Vancouver, Varadero, Zakynthos)
  • Nouvelair (Djerba)
  • Ryanair (Dublin, Shannon)
  • Scandinavian Airlines (Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda, Oslo)
  • SkyEurope (Bratislava, Krakow, Salzburg)
  • Swiss International Air Lines
  • Thomas Cook Airlines Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Banjul, Barbados, Bodrum, Burgas, Calgary, Cancun, Catania, Cayo Coco, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Fuchal, Gerona, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Izmir, Jerez, Kefallinia, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Montreal, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rohdes, Rovaniemi, Salzburg, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sofia, Split, Tenerife, Thessalonika, Toronto-Pearson, Toulouse, Turin, Vancouver, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • TUIfly (Cologne/Bonn, Hanover, Stuttgart)
  • Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)

Terminal 2 International

 
Terminal 2

Terminal 2, opened in 1993, is used mostly by long haul and charter traffic. Some European scheduled airlines such as Air France, KLM and Air Malta also operate flights out of the Terminal. It has 15 gates, of which 14 have airbridges. Terminal 2 is planned to be capable of being extensively modified so it can eventually accommodate significantly more passengers than the current throughput of 7.5 million. This is a future project to be carried out within the next few years.

  • Adria Airways (Ljubljana)
  • Airblue (Islamabad)
  • Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
  • Air Malta (Malta)
  • Astraeus (Agadir, Banjul-Yundum, Brescia, Calvi, Chambery, Dalaman, Innsbruck, Izmir, Kefallinia, Kos, Lourdes-Tarbes, Lyon, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pula, Sal, Salzburg, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Taba, Tenerife-South, Varna, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • Belavia (Minsk)
  • Blue Panorama (Milan, Rome)
  • BritishJET (Malta)
  • Bulgaria Air (Sofia, Varna)
  • Continental Airlines (Newark)
  • Czech Airlines (Prague)
  • Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, New York-JFK)
  • Emirates (Dubai)
  • First Choice Airways (FCA) (Agadir, Alicante, Almeria, Antalya, Arrecife, Banjul-Yundum, Barbados, Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancun, Cozumel, Cayo Coco, Chania, Colombo, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Goa, Grenoble, Hassi Messaoud, Heraklion, Huatulco, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Kefalonia, Kittila, Kos, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Male, Malta, Mitilini-Lesbos, Mombasa, Monastir, Montego Bay, Naples, Nassau, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Porlamar, Preveza, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Reus, Rhodes, Rovaniemi, Salvador (Dois De Julho), Salzburg, Santorini, Samana, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sri Lanka, Taba, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Turin, Varadero, Varna, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • Flyglobespan (Calgary, Cape Town, Johannesburg [begins November 2, 2007], Toronto-Hamilton, Vancouver)
  • KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
  • LTE International Airways (Arrecife, Palma, Tenerife-South)
  • Luxor Air (Sharm-El-Sheik)
  • Mahan Air (Tehran-Imam Khomeini)
  • Onur Air (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Ercan)
  • Pakistan International Airlines (Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore)
  • Pegasus Airlines (Bodrum, Dalaman)
  • Qatar Airways (Doha)
  • Saudi Arabian Airlines (Geneva, Jeddah, Riyadh)
  • Singapore Airlines (Singapore, Zürich)
  • Syrian Arab Airlines (Damascus)
  • Thomsonfly (Agadir, Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Barbados, Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancun, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Fort Lauderdale, Faro, Figari, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Geneva, Gerona, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Kavala, Kefallinia, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Lisbon, Luxor, Lyon, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Monastir, Montego Bay, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma, Paphos, Pisa, Puerto Plata, Pula, Punta Cana, Reus, Rhodes, Rovaniemi,Saint Lucia, Salzburg, Samos, Santorini, Sharm-El-Sheik, Skiathos, Sofia, Taba, Tel Aviv [begins November 1, 2007[9]], Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Turin, Varadero, Varna, Venice, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • US Airways (Philadelphia)
  • Virgin Atlantic Airways (Barbados, Orlando, St Lucia)
  • Zoom Airlines (Calgary, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
  • XL 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, Tenerife, Volos, Zakynthos)

Terminal 3

Terminal 3 was formerly known as Terminal 1 Domestic and was opened by the late Diana, Princess of Wales before being revamped and renamed in the late 1990s when BA decided Manchester should be one of the hubs for their BA Connect service, now discontinued. The terminal is primarily used by Flybe, 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 its current throughput of 5.0 million passengers per year.

  • Air Southwest (Bristol, Newquay, Plymouth)
  • American Airlines (Boston [seasonal], Chicago-O'Hare)
  • bmi (Aberdeen, Antigua, Barbados, Chicago-O'Hare, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International, Las Vegas, London-Heathrow, Lyon, St Kitts, Virgin Islands)
    • bmibaby (Alicante, Belfast-International, Bordeaux, Cork, Geneva, Knock, Jersey, Malaga, Newquay, Palma de Mallorca, Perpignan, Prague)
  • British Airways (London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, New York-JFK)
  • Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
  • Eastern Airways (Inverness)
  • Flybe (Belfast-City, Bergerac, Brest, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Exeter, Frankfurt, Glasgow-International, Guernsey, Hanover, Isle of Man, Jersey, La Rochelle, Limoges, Milan-Malpensa, Norwich, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rennes, Southampton)
  • Iberia (Madrid)
  • VLM Airlines (Antwerp, London-City, Rotterdam)

World Freight Terminal

The centre for cargo operations at the airport is the World Freight Terminal. It has dedicated aircraft stands for handling cargo flight. As well as the freighter aircraft the staff at the terminal also handle freight consignments that arrive or depart in the holds of passenger aircraft at the other terminals. During 2006, 150,300 tonnes of cargo and mail were handled at Manchester, an increase of 0.4% over the previous year (per CAA annual statistics table 2.2). By 2015 the total figure for cargo handled is expected to be around 250,000 tonnes per year. Manchester's two biggest cargo markets are the Far East and North America. The Far East is predominantly a source of import cargo for the airport and North America is a key destination for exports. The main cargo destination from Manchester is Hong Kong, with Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air flying a total of 12 freighter round trips every week. Currently the airport handles 16 Boeing 747 freighter flights per week. Major airlines operating all-cargo flights from Manchester include:

Ground transportation

The airport is approximately a 20 minute drive from Manchester City Centre and is reached by the M56 motorway, with a dedicated spur road from the motorway at junction 5. The M56 is the main route used by traffic to reach the airport. There are also minor local roads serving the airport from the north (Wythenshawe) and the east (Heald Green). The A538 road serves the World Freight Terminal, to the south of the airport, and also connects to the M56 motorway at junction 6. It runs east-west serving the local towns of Altrincham and Wilmslow.

Taxi ranks are situated by arrivals at all three terminals. Passengers driving to the airport can use the drop-off areas outside the terminal buildings, but when picking up passengers the airport requires that you park in the short stay car parks provided for a fee. Long stay car parks are situated both on and off site.

National Express operates a coach service serving the airport. The Greater Manchester Transport bus service also includes the airport. The airport has its own train station, Manchester Airport railway station, in the heart of the airport complex, signed and referred to as 'The Station' around the site. The Skylink moving walkway links 'The Station' with 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 TransPennine Express.

There are also plans in place to build a Metrolink light rail extension to the airport from Manchester Piccadilly and to add a third platform to the railway station, due to increasing passenger demand.

Criticism

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 in Styal, Cheshire and air transportation in general. Three different camps were set up Flywood, Authur's Wood[10] and Cedar's Wood. Swampy, a well known activist, was among many protestors.[11]

Manchester Airport's second runway was built on around 100 acres of greenbelt land. Four Grade II listed buildings were taken down piece by piece and were re-constructed nearby, and over £20m was spent on environmental restoration and protection. Nonetheless, there is criticism that existing natural habitats were destroyed.

The SW end of the new runway is significantly closer to the town of Knutsford and to the village of Mobberley. Despite the routing of aircraft away from these locations as much as possible, there has been an increase in noise experienced by local residents from the lower flying aircraft.

Incidents and accidents

Aviation Viewing Park

Manchester Airport has created several public viewing areas since the airport opened in 1938. Whilst the 1960/70s pier-top facilities have been closed because of security concerns, an official "Aviation Viewing Park" has been created, just off the A538 on the western edge of the airfield. This provides the best viewing facilities for aircraft spotting at any major UK airport.

Here, a British Airways Concorde G-BOAC, a BAE Systems Avro RJX G-IRJX, BEA Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B G-AWZK and the forward fuselage of Monarch Airlines Douglas DC-10 G-DMCA are shown on static display which can be boarded by prior arrangement only. Concorde must be booked in advance, BEA Trident 3B G-AWZK is open every weekend from April to October and is viewable inside with access with a ticket from the ticket office. Vampire Trainer XD624, built at Ringway by Fairey Aviation in 1955, has now been removed and placed into storage and probable display elsewhere in Manchester.

Good views of the runways can be obtained from the 'AVP', especially between 12:00 and 15:00 when runway 23R/05L is used for both landings and departures, this being closest to the viewing area itself. The park also features a cafe, and an aviation shop selling related items such as airband scanners, aircraft models books and stationery, and Concorde merchandise.

File:CONCORDE.JPG
Concorde on display at the Aviation Viewing Park

The Terminal 1 car park roof features another official viewing area. A spotters' ___location for the last 32 years, this site was closed during November 2006 whilst car park resurfacing and modernisation took place, but has now been re-opened. The café and aviation shop located at this area have also been closed, with the aviation shop moving to the arrivals area as part of a major refurbishment of Terminal 1. The 10-minutes free parking facility has also ceased.

Trivia

Because of the length of its runways, the airport is able to handle large jets, including the Boeing 747-400, Airbus A340 and the Antonov An-124 and 225.

Manchester Airport was frequently used as a diversion airport for Concorde when both Heathrow and Gatwick were experiencing bad weather.

There is no gate 13 at Manchester Airport, because of superstitions surrounding the number 13[citation needed].

See also

Bibliography

  • First and Foremost. Scholefield, R.A. Manchester Airport Authority, 1978.
  • Manchester Airport. Scholefield, R.A. Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1998. ISBN 0-7509-1954-X.

References

  1. ^ http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=262428
  2. ^ http://www.ukaccs.info/manchester/profile.htm
  3. ^ Manchester Airport - Ongoing Developments
  4. ^ http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/web.nsf/Content/Runwayredesignation
  5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1810345.stm
  6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3629336.stm
  7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4274516.stm
  8. ^ The Guardian: "Airport arrest man in court on terror charges".
  9. ^ "Thomsonfly launches first low-fare flights to Tel Aviv". Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  10. ^ http://members.aol.com/pp3office/arthpr.htm
  11. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/travel/runway2_history.shtml
  12. ^ Flight International 12-18 December 2006

[1] Home of the Trident Preservation Society

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