The UK"s 3rd Busiest Airport: Exploring Manchester"s Long-Haul Network

Manchester is home to the third-busiest airport in the United Kingdom, which offers several connections to the United States, as well as Asia, Canada, and the Middle East. The airport is also set to gain new routes, including IndiGo’s new services to India.

At the same time, Manchester has lost some of its recent routes, with the airport’s total weekly departing seats remaining relatively flat year-on-year (YoY) in June. In May, the city’s main gateway welcomed almost 3 million passengers, 5% more than in May 2024. Simple Flying looks at Manchester’s long-haul route network in June.

Record-Breaking May For Manchester

On June 11, Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns and controls Manchester Airport (MAN), London Stansted Airport (STN), and East Midlands Airport (EMA), disclosed that in May, Manchester’s airport saw more than 2.9 million passengers, an increase of 5% YoY. That was the 20th consecutive record-breaking month for passenger numbers at the airport, MAG highlighted.

Data from Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning tool showed that during the month, airlines scheduled 1,960 weekly departures, a 2% year-over-year increase, resulting in 378,115 weekly departing seats. Compared to May 2024, Manchester’s weekly seats grew by 1.9%.

However, the airport’s growth in June will be relatively flat. Per Cirium’s Diio Mi, 50 airlines operating flights from/to Manchester have scheduled 2,095 weekly departures, or only three more than in June 2024. Weekly seats are set to grow by 371, or 0.1% YoY, with total weekly departing capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), decreasing by 1.4% YoY.

Manchester’s Incoming IndiGo Connections To India

On May 21, Manchester’s airport, as well as IndiGo, disclosed that the Indian low-cost carrier, which has been wet leasing Norse Atlantic Airways’ Boeing 787-9 aircraft, would offer direct flights from Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM). The thrice-weekly service will begin on July 1, with the airline announcing that it would serve complimentary hot meals and beverages to all customers flying the route.

Pieter Elbers, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IndiGo, said that the carrier’s foray into the long-haul market marks a pivotal moment in its global expansion journey. “The new route will provide seamless connection to a vast majority of 90+ Indian destinations on IndiGo’s domestic network, benefiting customers travelling from Manchester to Mumbai,” Elbers continued. Chris Woodroofe, the Managing Director of MAG, added that IndiGo’s new route would make Manchester the only airport in the north of the UK with a direct connection to India, cementing its position as “one of Europe’s best-connected airports.”

Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that since 2020, during the International Air Transport Association (IATA) winter seasons, TUI Airways has offered direct – and to emphasize, seasonal – flights from Manchester to Goa, India, first to Dabolim Airport (GOI), and from November 3, 2023, Manohar International Airport (GOX), the new airport serving the Indian city. Other than that, barring the airports in London, including Gatwick (LGW) and Heathrow (LHR), as well as Birmingham Airport (BHX), the UK has no other airports with non-stop flights to India. Per the travel company’s OAG data, between August 2023 and July 2024, 65,814 travelers flew from Manchester to Mumbai, which includes passengers who had to make connections elsewhere to reach the Indian city.

Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), the UK-based airport slot coordinator, which also oversees slots in Manchester, disclosed that during the upcoming IATA winter 2025/2026 season, which will begin on October 26 and end on March 28, new potential routes could also connect Manchester with Amritsar Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (ATQ) and Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). SpiceJet, which does not own any widebody aircraft, gained 88 slots during the initial coordination at the airport.

Leveraging Connections From Manchester To North America

Weeks after IndiGo announced its flights to Manchester, the low-cost carrier, as well as Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin Atlantic, announced their intentions, in the form of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), to establish a partnership that would enable both sides of the deal to benefit from expanded customer pools. For the three airlines based in Europe or the US, this means wider access to various destinations across India.

For IndiGo, the partnership means that after “commercial contracts and regulatory procedures are completed to allow IndiGo to sell partner flights as its own under its own 6E* marketing codes,” its passengers will be able to book onward travel on select flights, including Virgin Atlantic’s connections specifically from Manchester to the US. The British carrier is one of five airlines that offer flights to North America, namely Canada, Mexico, and the US, in July. The others are Air Canada, Air Transat, Aer Lingus, and TUI Airways, with a total of 56 weekly departures across the Atlantic Ocean.

This includes departures to such airports as Cancun International Airport (CUN), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), Melbourne Orlando International Airport (MLB), New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Orlando International Airport (MCO), and others.

Compared to July 2024, the airport has ten fewer flights to North America, losing frequencies on flights to Atlanta, New York-JFK, Orlando, and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines axed its five weekly departures from Manchester to Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) from March 30, with the airline’s flights now returning to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) instead of continuing to the airport in Texas. No new transatlantic routes are going to start during the summer months, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed.

Flights From Manchester To Six Different Airports In The Middle East

Nevertheless, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that from Manchester, passengers can board six different airlines to six different airports in the Middle East, including flights to Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport (AUH), Bahrain International Airport (BAH), Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH), Dubai International Airport (DXB), Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED), and Kuwait International Airport (KWI).

All flights are served by the respective airports’ hub carriers, specifically Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Saudia, and Kuwait Airways, respectively, with the sextet offering 69 weekly departures to the six airports. That is a contrast to, for example, London, from where not only the two British carriers, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, fly to the Middle East, but also Wizz Air, which has added departures from London-Gatwick to Jeddah, for instance.

The low-cost carrier, which initially opted to use its Airbus A321neo aircraft to fly the route due to delivery delays of its A321XLRs, had to welcome fewer passengers to actually fly the non-stop itinerary. It has now switched to the long-range narrowbody as of May 28. Airbus delivered the airline’s first A321XLR, registered as G-XLRA, on May 20.

Per ACL’s initial capacity declaration at the airport, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, and Saudia have all gained slots in comparison to the historic slot allocations based on the previous winter 2024/2025 season. Emirates and Etihad Airways’ flight movements should grow by 396 and 526, respectively.

Reduced Connectivity From Manchester To Asia

Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that in June, compared to the same month in 2024, Manchester’s connectivity to Asia will be worse, with the airport losing six weekly flights to the continent. This includes Biman Bangladesh Airlines temporarily suspending its one-stop flights from Manchester to Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (DAC) via Sylhet Osmani International Airport (ZYL).

The Bangladeshi carrier announced its decision in February, stating that due to the demand for Hajj flights, which it has prioritized in recent years, it would temporarily suspend departures on the one-stop route to Manchester from May 1 to July 10. At the time, Biman Bangladesh Airlines said that if any passengers already had tickets on the route between May 1 and July 9, they would be given a refund or a free-of-charge date change.

Other reductions in flights to Asia in June have come in the form of frequency changes, with Cathay Pacific and Juneyao Airlines reducing the number of weekly departures to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) by one and three, respectively. Singapore Airlines will still run five weekly flights to Singapore, while Hainan Airlines will keep its daily connection to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), per Cirium’s Diio Mi.

Manchester’s African Connectivity

Manchester’s long-haul connectivity to Africa gets into the semantics. For one, some routes, such as Ryanair’s flights from the city to Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport (TNG), which is in Morocco, are to Africa. However, could an itinerary with a scheduled block time of three hours and 15 minutes really be considered a long-haul flight?

According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which defines a long-haul flight as one exceeding 3,500 kilometers (1,889 nautical miles), the answer would be no. As such, in June, Manchester has eight long-haul routes. Out of the eight, five are to Egypt, with two airports, Hurghada International Airport (HRG) and Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport (SSH), being served by easyJet and TUI Airways, per Cirium’s Diio Mi. EGYPTAIR also flies to Cairo International Airport (CAI) daily during the month.

TUI Airways has also scheduled two long-haul itineraries to Cabo Verde, utilizing its 737 MAX 8 aircraft on departures from Manchester to Amílcar Cabral International Airport (SID) and Aristides Pereira International Airport (BVC). Lastly, Ethiopian Airlines is another airline with one-stop service from Manchester, with the carrier flying from Manchester to Addis Ababa International Airport (ADD) via Geneva Airport (GVA). Compared to June 2024, Manchester’s long-haul flights to Africa are only up by a single weekly departure to Sharm el-Sheikh.