Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is well-placed to enter a period of investment and growth, after it reported a positive set of full-year results.

In the period 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023, the UK’s largest airport group recorded a revenue of £1bn for the first time in its history, as demand returned following the removal of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

MAG, which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, served 54m passengers across the reporting period which is equivalent to 91% of levels in 2019-2020.

The Group recorded an Adjusted EBITDA of £412m, up from £126m last financial year, when air travel was still constrained by government travel restrictions. These earnings were delivered on revenues of £1bn, which were up on the £462m recorded in the previous financial year.

An operating profit of £28.6m was recorded, after accounting for one-offs, recovering from an operating loss of £130m in the year to April 2022.

As a result of the positive relationships MAG has fostered with its airline partners, route networks across the Group continued to be restored throughout the year. Recovery was particularly strong in the low cost, short-haul sector, with Ryanair, Jet2.com, easyJet and TUI adding a significant number of direct connections across the Group.

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 a new services to Kuwait and Bahrain. 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 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 that will significantly improve the experience for passengers and provide terminal capacity for the airport’s growth within its agreed planning consent limits.