MAG airports continue to grow despite air traffic control strikes

	Manchester	London Stansted	East Midlands	Bournemouth	MAG
Rolling 12 month total	23,881,688	23,329,990	4,521,061	731,779	52,464,518
May 2016 total	2,244,180	2,144,773	484,180	70,805	4,943,938
May 2016: % change year on year	7.20%	4.60%	4.50%	-6.40%	5.60%

Cargo

	Manchester	London Stansted	East Midlands
May 2016 tonnes	9,265	20,463	26,720
% change year on year	6.10%	9.20%	4.50%

MAG airports reported continued growth in May 2016, with passengers numbers up by 5.6% over May 2015. Its two biggest airports, Manchester and London Stansted, grew by 7.2% and 4.6% respectively year-on-year.

This was despite two strikes by French ATC workers in the month which resulted in the cancellation of 26 flights, and increased delays totalling some 6,500 minutes.

Charlie Cornish, CEO of MAG, said:

"Industrial action in France is having has an unacceptable impact on travellers using our airports. Just the additional delays in May cost airlines and passengers at MAG airports about half a million pounds. But this was the 50th such event over the last seven years, so across UK airports as a whole this adds up to considerable hassle and extra cost for airlines, airports and passengers.

"European airports operate in a complex network which means this avoidable disruption in France has significant knock-on effects to operations everywhere else.

"Ahead of what is set to be the busiest summer on record for UK airports, it is vital that European and national agencies work together to find ways to reduce the impact of strike on passengers and airlines."

As the year entered the early stages of the holiday season, sun destinations being marketed as alternatives to Egypt, Turkey and North Africa grew passenger numbers dramatically. At Manchester Airport, traffic as a whole grew 7.2% YoY but the following markets far outstripped that growth:

• Madeira: +49%

• Cape Verde: +40%

• Malta: +33%

• France: +27%

• Bulgaria: +25%

• Canary Islands: +23%

• Spain (excl Canaries): +22%

• Dominican Republic: +22%

• Croatia: +20%

• Portugal: (excl Madeira): +18%

London Stansted Airport saw its 26th consecutive month of YoY passenger growth, with load factors at 87%, meaning planes were fuller than they ever have been in May before.

In the 12 months ending May 2016, the total number of passengers using Stansted grew to over 23.3 million, an increase of 9.3% over the previous year and the highest annual total since July 2008.

East Midlands Airport, posted a 4.5% increase in passengers YoY - driven by healthy numbers travelling to Spain (4%) and the Canary Islands (11.4%).

Bournemouth Airport saw a small drop in passenger figures YoY but core sun markets (Spain, Portugal, Canary Islands and Cyprus) all saw passenger number rise.

Cargo tonnage increased across MAG's airports, with particularly strong growth at London Stansted, which grew 9.2% year on year