Profit at the group behind Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports took off in the first six months of its financial year thanks to a record-breaking summer, it has been announced.

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has reported a pre-tax profit of £139.6m for the six months to 30 September, 2024, up from £115.9m, thanks to 37.3m passengers passing through the three transport hubs, a rise of 6.9 per cent.

MAG, which also includes travel services business CAVU, has also posted a half-year revenue of £768.5m, up from £705.6m.

Manchester Airport handled 17.8m passengers in the first half of the year which helped its rolling annual total hit 30m in September for the first time in its history.

The airport said this puts it in the same bracket as the likes of La Guardia, in New York, and Melbourne Airport, Australia.

London Stansted served a record-breaking number of passengers in the first six months of the year, with 16.7m passing through.

MAG added that it has also has on to record its busiest ever day, in October, where 107,000 passengers were handled in 24 hours.

Over the six months, 2.8m people passed through East Midlands Airport.

Airports face higher taxes and costs

MAG CEO Ken O’Toole said: “Across the summer, one in five UK air passengers chose to fly through a MAG airport for business, leisure, to study or visit friends and family.

“This is testament to the strength of our route networks, our commitment to providing great choice and value to all our customers, and to always striving to deliver a positive passenger experience.

“While our industry faces challenges both in the UK and globally, such as increasing taxation and rising costs linked to the push towards full decarbonisation of air travel, MAG’s strong financial and operational performance makes us well-placed to drive forward our investment programmes as we continue to grow.

“Looking ahead to the next six months, we will be working with the Government to recognise and maximise the benefits of international connectivity and infrastructure investment for UK plc.”