Manchester Airport

About Manchester Airport

Manchester Airport is the largest airport in the North of England and the third busiest in the UK, behind London Heathrow and London Gatwick. It lies at Ringway, about 9 miles (14 km) south of Manchester city centre, with its own access from the M56 motorway. According to UK Civil Aviation Authority figures it handled 32,061,307 terminal passengers in 2025, around 32 million, an increase of just over 4% on 2024.

The airport is run by Manchester Airports Group (MAG). MAG is owned by IFM Investors and the ten Greater Manchester councils: IFM Investors and Manchester City Council each hold 35.5%, and the other nine councils share the remaining 29%.

Manchester has two parallel runways, each just over 3,000 metres long, which allows it to handle the largest passenger aircraft in service, including the Emirates Airbus A380. In November 2025 the airport closed Terminal 1 as the final step of a £1.3 billion, ten-year transformation programme, so passengers now use Terminal 2 or Terminal 3. The Runway Visitor Park on Sunbank Lane has a viewing platform and a Concorde in its own hangar.

How to get to Manchester Airport

Rail, tram, bus and coach services all use The Station, a transport interchange between Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 that is open 24 hours a day. Moving walkways, lifts and escalators on the Skylink connect it to both terminals.

By train

Manchester Airport railway station has trains to Manchester Piccadilly about every 10 minutes, seven days a week, with a journey time of around 20 minutes. Services are operated by TransPennine Express and Northern, and direct trains also run to a range of other towns and cities. From the station the walk to Terminal 3 takes about 5 minutes and the walk to Terminal 2 about 10 minutes.

By tram

The Metrolink tram stop is inside The Station. Trams run about every 12 minutes direct to Manchester Victoria in the city centre, where passengers can change for other parts of the network such as Altrincham, Bury, Rochdale, Eccles and the Trafford Centre.

By road

Leave the M56 at junction 5 and follow the signs for Terminal 2 or Terminal 3. The postcode for sat nav is M90 1QX. Official car parks on site include short stay, mid stay, multi-storey and JetParks, and there are also meet and greet and pick-up and drop-off options.

By bus and coach

Bee Network buses serve the airport from The Station, including a 24-hour service to Manchester city centre. National Express coaches run daily from The Station to many destinations across the UK.

Terminal and facilities

Terminal 2 is now used by most airlines and handles about three quarters of the airport's passengers. The rebuilt and extended terminal has modern security scanners, a new pier with double air bridges for wide-body aircraft, the Great Northern Market food hall and a Boutique Mall of shops.

Terminal 3 is used by Ryanair. In March 2026 it gained a new entrance and security hall in space taken from the former Terminal 1, together with a large sports bar called Sporting Chance, and the airport has said more new facilities will follow.

Services available to passengers include:

• Security FastTrack and TimeSlot, which can be booked before travel to reserve a time to go through security.
• Escape Lounges in both terminals. The Terminal 3 lounge is only for Ryanair passengers, and The Executive by Escape Lounges is the premium lounge in Terminal 2.
• Assisted Travel reception desks in the check-in areas of Terminals 2 and 3, with Assisted Travel lounges in both departure lounges. Assistance should be requested through the airline at least 48 hours before departure.

Airlines and destinations

Manchester has the widest choice of routes of any airport in the North of England. Short-haul flights cover most of Europe, including cities and beach resorts around the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and North Africa. Long-haul services reach the Middle East, North America and South Asia.

Jet2.com, easyJet and Ryanair all added new routes for summer 2026. Jet2.com started flights to La Palma, Palermo, Pula, Jerez and Samos, easyJet added Bari, Montpellier and Preveza, and Ryanair launched Castellón and Rimini. TUI also flies to La Palma. For long-haul travel, Emirates flies to Dubai, including double-daily Airbus A380 flights from May 2026, and Virgin Atlantic added extra flights to Orlando for summer 2026. Air Algérie launched a service to Algiers in June 2026 and Pakistan International Airlines began flying to Lahore in July 2026.

History

The airport opened in June 1938 as Ringway Airport, and during the Second World War the site was used by the Royal Air Force as RAF Ringway. Terminal 1 opened in 1962, Terminal 3 in 1989 and Terminal 2 in 1993. A second full-length runway opened in February 2001.

In 2015 the airport started a £1.3 billion transformation programme to more than double the size of Terminal 2 and eventually close Terminal 1. The first phase of the extended Terminal 2 opened in July 2021, and airlines moved across in stages. Emirates and easyJet were among the last to transfer in November 2025, when Terminal 1 closed after more than 60 years. Parts of the old Terminal 1 building have since been added to Terminal 3.