Summer getaway boosts passenger numbers further at Manchester Airport

11-Aug-2016 Record numbers of people jetting away for the start of the summer holidays has seen Manchester Airport report its busiest ever July. The UK's third busiest airport saw 2,821,641 passengers travel through the airport last month, an increase of 10% on July 2015. That means the airport's 12 month rolling total now stands at 24,359,663 passengers. July saw the announcement that Singapore Airlines would start direct flights from Manchester to Houston from October as well as removing the current stop in Munich on services to Singapore. The new service to Houston is one of several long haul routes set to launch before the end of the year, with Thomson starting flights to Phuket and Mauritius and Thomas Cook Airlines also starting a new service to Tobago. This follows the launch of flights to Beijing, LA and Boston earlier this year - making Manchester Airport the only UK airport outside of London to offer these long haul destinations. Passenger numbers in July were also boosted by the launch of services by Cobalt to Larnaca and Vueling Airlines to Tenerife South. Norwegian Airlines' three new routes to Malaga, Alicante and Barcelona have also proved popular with holiday makers since they launched in June. Ken O'Toole, CEO of Manchester Airport, said: