Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airport group records annual loss of £320m

The company which owns Manchester Airport lost £320 million during 2021 to add to its travel woes.

The group, which also owns London Stansted and East Midlands airports said its combined losses for the past two years totalled around £755 million.

Compared with 2018/19, revenues were down 80% in 2020/21 for Manchester Airports Group (MAG), and 48% during the following year.

The group say 20.5 million passengers pass through its doors in the 12 months to the end of March, but despite the figure being more than triple the previous year - which was affected by coronavirus lockdowns - it was just a third of the 2019/20 total.

MAG said its recovery from the virus crisis is "outstripping" other UK airports, with passenger numbers at 82% of pre-pandemic levels in May.

The group’s Chief Executive, Charlie Cornish, said: “With travel restrictions in place for nearly all of the last 12 months, it was another uncertain and unpredictable year for MAG and the wider aviation industry.”

MAG airports are among those that have been affected by the widespread disruption across the sector, as the demand for travel gets back to normal there are still widespread staffing issues.

Mr Cornish admitted the pace of the recovery in demand for air travel has “brought its own challenges” and recruitment of new staff “has taken longer and been more difficult than we anticipated”.

MAG insisted it has been “working hard for several months to bring its operations back to full strength”.

Since January, more than 1,500 new employees have taken up roles across Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports.

That is in addition to hundreds of new staff at airlines, ground handlers and retailers operating at the airports.

MAG said waiting times at security “have improved”, with 92% of passengers being processed in less than half an hour at Manchester Airport in June.