UK. Manchester Airports Group (MAG) – which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports – has reported a strong set of results in the 12 months to 31 March 2023. Revenues exceeded £1 billion (US$1.27 billion) for the first time in the airport company’s history, as travel demand returned following the removal of COVID-19 restrictions.
The strong performance included a +188% leap in retail concession revenues year-on-year to £234.5 million (US$274 million) and car parking revenues of £325.1 million (US$380.4 million), up +156.6% against the previous year.
MAG noted that retail yields improved across all three airports, with the largest contributions coming from duty free, food & beverage and newsagents.
MAG reported adjusted EBITDA of £412 million (US$524.3 million), up from £126 million (US$160.3 million) in the previous financial year, when air travel remained constrained by government travel restrictions.
These earnings were delivered on the milestone revenues of £1.029 billion, which were up +122.7% on the £462 million (US$587.9 million) reported last time.
Operating profit was £28.6 million (US$36.4 million), after accounting for one-offs, recovering from an operating loss of £130 million (US$165.4 million) in the year to April 2022.
The Group served 54 million passengers across the reporting period, equivalent to 91% of levels in 2019-2020. London Stansted continues to out-perform other UK airports in its passenger recovery, serving 25.5 million passengers, equivalent to 95% of pre-pandemic traffic.
Meanwhile, Manchester Airport served 25.2 million passengers across the year, equivalent to 89% traffic in 2019/20, and East Midlands Airport served 3.3 million passengers, equal to 73% of pre-pandemic traffic.
MAG noted that through positive relationships with its airline partners, route networks across the Group continued to be restored throughout the year. Recovery, the airport company observed, was particularly strong in the low cost, short-haul sector, with Ryanair, Jet2.com, easyJet and TUI adding a significant number of direct connections from the Group’s airports.
Long-haul connectivity also recovered strongly, including transatlantic routes from Manchester Airport to New York and Orlando with Virgin Atlantic and Aer Lingus, alongside Hainan Airlines’ service to Beijing, as well as the addition of new Kuwait and Bahrain services.
Emirates’ routes to Dubai have also returned to full strength from both Manchester and London Stansted, operating triple daily and double daily frequencies respectively.
The Group said it is now focused on delivering significant investment in its airports to enhance the passenger experience. Earlier this week, MAG announced that it was submitting a planning application at London Stansted, for an extension to the existing terminal building.
The proposal aims to significantly improve the experience for passengers and provide terminal capacity for the airport’s growth within its agreed planning consent limits.
In January, the Group also announced it was commencing the final £440 million (US$560 million) phase of the £1.3 billion (US$1.65 billion) Manchester Airport Transformation Programme (MAN-TP), due for completion in 2025.
After its first full year of operations, MAG noted that its global airport services business CAVU has seen its international reach continue to grow. CAVU, which delivers digital and physical solutions to enhance the end-to-end passenger journey, now operates 24 airport lounges across the UK and US – including at all three of MAG’s UK airports and, most recently, Bristol Airport. Its full suite of services now sees CAVU operate in 24 countries across 278 airports.
MAG recently announced the appointment of Ken O’Toole as the new Group Chief Executive. He will take over from current CEO Charlie Cornish from 1 October. Cornish will assume the role as MAG Chair, when current Chair Sir Adrian Montague retires from the position.
With full support of the Board and shareholders, MAG noted that O’Toole and Cornish have been appointed to oversee the company’s continued recovery and its planned investment programmes.
Cornish said: “This year’s results highlight the scale of the recovery that MAG and the aviation industry have seen over the last 12 months.
“With our airports’ route networks returning to full strength, we have been able to offer passengers the wide range of global destinations they enjoy. It has also been encouraging to see the strength of the recovery in demand for travel, with passenger traffic at our airports more than 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
“As I reflect on my final full-year results before I stand down as MAG CEO, I am pleased to have overseen such a positive year for our airports, and the progress we made in delivering high levels of customer service. I would like to thank all of our colleagues for their hard work and dedication, not just over this past 12 months, but throughout my time with the business.
“During my time as CEO I am proud of what the Group has achieved, from a significant period of growth pre-pandemic and the work we have done to recover, to the leading role we continue to play in aviation decarbonisation.
“We are now focused on delivering investment across the Group to enhance the airport experience for our passengers and drive future sustainable growth, and I look forward to overseeing these projects in my new role as MAG Chair.” 
