1.1 million Manchester airport passengers over Easter
Officials will want to avoid the chaos seen during last year's bank holiday
More than 1.1 million people are expected to travel through Manchester Airport over the Easter holidays.
That's up 13% on last year, when 1,038,075 people flew in or out.
Officials are keen to avoid a repeat of the chaos of last year's bank holiday.
Many passengers had to endure heavy delays and long queues, with some people missing their flights altogether as the airport struggled with staff shortages and a post-Covid surge in passenger numbers.
This year, more than 7,300 flights are taking off to 158 destinations.
Jennifer Byrne-Smith, Terminal One Director at Manchester Airport, said:
"2023 is a really exciting time for us, however we did move relatively quickly out of the challenges that we saw at the front end of last year so we had a great October half-term, we had our best Christmas to date last year, we had a great February so we're really confident going into Easter that our passengers will get a great experience travelling through Manchester.
"Be prepared for the journey to the airport. We have some recent disruption to the rail network, to the road network, so check before you travel.
"If you can arrive at the airport at the time that your airline advises, arriving earlier often creates more problems, so I'd definitely advise against that.
"Familiarise yourself with the security process so get your electrical (items) out of your hand luggage bag, get your liquids out of your bag. That all just means that you're going to have a much quicker journey through our security area.
"We are not expecting any issues over the Easter period. We have enough staff, so compared to this time last year, we've got an additional 2,000 members of staff.
"We're not expecting issues around the airport but if you follow the advice that your airline provides you with, then you'll have no problems travelling through Manchester and we'll get you on your way to enjoy your holidays."
The most popular destinations from Manchester this year are:
- Dubai
- Dublin
- Alicante
- Tenerife
- Amsterdam
- Palma
- Belfast International
- Paris
- Antalya
- Faro
Two UK airports have scrapped the 100ml liquid limit after introducing new high tech scanners.
This hasn't been introduced at Manchester Airport yet.
The government has set a June 2024 deadline for most UK airports to install the new equipment.
"We are working on trialling our new security equipment and those trials we expect to start to be communicated to our passengers as and when our new kit arrives.
As it stands at the moment, our security processes remain the same ie. get your liquids out, get your laptops out and we will be swapping out all of our security equipment in line with the new guidance for 2024, but at the moment, everything is as it was."