MAG lost £320 million in the 12 months to 31 March 2022, when the three airports served just 20.5 million passengers.
 
MAG said: “Despite a marked increase compared to 2020/21, the fact travel restrictions were in place for 11 months of the period meant passenger volumes were still only equivalent to 33% of 2019/20 levels.”
 
The group’s combined losses for the last two years stand at £694 million, with revenues down by 80% in 2020/21 and 48% in 2021/22 compared to 2018/19.
 
The group expects passenger volumes this summer to increase to levels “close to those seen in 2019, leading to a fuller recovery over the course of 2022/23”.
 
MAG chief executive Charlie Cornish said: “With travel restrictions in place for nearly all of the last 12 months, it was another uncertain and unpredictable year for MAG and the wider aviation industry.
 
“After tentative steps towards recovery last autumn, the emergence of the Omicron variant once again resulted in major barriers for people looking to travel internationally.”

Manchester airport in particular has seen disruption with the return of passengers following the recovery not matched by staff recruitment.

Cornish said: “The pace of that recovery has brought its own challenges, and recruitment has taken longer and been more difficult than we anticipated. We’ve now recruited more than 1,500 new staff across MAG since January so that we can give passengers the best possible experience this summer.”

MAG claims more than 92% of passengers in June waited less than 30 minutes to pass through security at Manchester.