February was the busiest month for Manchester Airports Group (MAG) since the pandemic began, figures released today have shown.

The group, which owns and operates Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, served 2.4 million passengers in February – 62% of the traffic seen in the same month in 2019.

These latest figures mean that the recovery of MAG airports has now exceeded the levels seen in November 2021, when passenger numbers peaked at 58% of 2019 levels.

That was before Omicron travel restrictions saw passenger numbers fall back again by around a half.

The removal of the UK’s inbound testing requirements in time for the half-term holidays allowed more than one million passengers to fly from each of Manchester and Stansted airports in February, as the pent-up demand for international travel was released.

MAG is repeating industry calls for the Government to remove the remaining travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form (PLF).

MAG CEO Charlie Cornish said: “The rate at which we have seen travel recover after the setback of Omicron restrictions is hugely encouraging for the aviation sector.

“The number of passengers that travelled through our airports in February shows the sheer demand for international travel that exists once people are freed from testing and other restrictions.

“Now that the Government has made clear that it will only consider implementing new public health measures at the border in extreme circumstances, we are well on the way to a sustained recovery as we head into the summer season.”