Northwest hub and London Heathrow saw passenger numbers soar for Europa League final in Bilbao between United and Spurs
Going places: Passengers at Manchester airport
Going places: Passengers at Manchester airport (Simon Calder)
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Football fans flying to Spain for May’s all-English Europa League final helped boost the fortunes of the UK’s top airports.
Some Manchester United fans paid close to £1,000 each way for seats on extra flights to Bilbao, host city for the final. Other supporters used the team’s home airport to fly on strange routes – such as via Basel in Switzerland to Biarritz in southwest France, followed by three trains (two of them narrow gauge).
Although Ruben Amorim’s players lost the match against London team Tottenham Hotspur, United shirts are top sellers at Manchester Airports Group stores; the group also owns Stansted and East Midlands. Spurs shirts are in a distant eighth place.
Passenger numbers at Manchester in May rose 5 per cent year on year, cementing its place in the top three UK airports – alongside the main London hubs, Heathrow and Gatwick.
Manchester’s rolling 12-month passenger total was up 7.7 per cent to 31.5 million – an average of 85,000 travellers passing through each day.
The gap with London Stansted, previously third-busiest in the UK, has widened. In the year to May, the Essex airport handled 29.9 million passengers.
Heathrow airport has also reported its busiest-ever May, with the record number on 22 May – the day after the Europa League final. Numbers were boosted by victorious Spurs fans returning to London after the match. Despite the UK’s busiest airport being almost full to capacity, an extra eight flights operated for football fans.
The Heathrow rolling 12-month passenger total rose 3.1 per cent to a record 84 million – averaging 230,000 travellers per day.
Announcing the figures, the airport said in a statement: “As these record numbers become the norm, it’s time to start an honest conversation about the challenges this presents for an already space-constrained yet highly efficient hub. Heathrow continues to deliver excellent service, but to sustain this performance and meet future demand, expanding capacity will be essential.”
The government is backing Heathrow’s plans for a third runway.
In the battle over which airport has the shortest queues, Heathrow claims 99 per cent of passengers queued for five minutes or less for security; the Manchester Airports Group says 99 per cent made it through in under 15 minutes.