Manchester Airport is an international airport serving Manchester. The airport is the largest airport in the United Kingdom after the two airports in London: Heathrow and Gatwick Airport. Manchester Airport is also together with Heathrow the only airport in the United Kingdom with two runways. It has many international destinations to the US and continental Europe and has won several awards, including Best UK Airport.
Manchester Airport is not a large airport so there are not many flights departing here. There are only a few destinations that you can reach from Manchester Airport, most of these are operated by easyJet. Many people take a flight to Amsterdam and transfer to another flight there.
The airport has three passenger terminals: Terminal 1, 2 and 3. Of these Terminal 3 is the newest, opened in 1989 by Princess Diana and is used exclusively by British Airways and its partners. Terminal 1 is the largest, opened in 1962 by Price Phillip. It is the base for EasyJet, Jet2 and Thomas Cook. Also Emirates, Lufthansa, SAS and Turkish Airlines operate from Terminal 1. Most other airlines use Terminal 2. A Skylink (covered walkway) connects the terminals.
The airport is located 15 km southwest of Manchester city center.
The Station, where all public transport (train, tram and buses) depart from is located between Terminal 1 and 2 and reachable by the Skylink.
Direct trains operated by Northern or TransPennine Express connect the airport to Manchester Piccadilly Station. Departures are about every 5 minutes and one-way fare is 4.20 pound. Other cities in northern England can also be reached from the airport Station.
The airport is also connected to the tramline system of Manchester which can be handy if your destination is not in central Manchester. The Metrolink tram line runs from the airport to the city center, taking 35 minutes with 15 stops. One-way tickets cost 4.20 pounds.
Many buses and long-distance coaches depart from the airport to destinations in the city and other cities in Scotland and northern England. Bus line 43 is an 24 hour express bus running between Manchester city center and the airport.
See for tickets and schedule: trains: manchesterairport.co.uk buses: nationalexpress.com .
Taxis are available outside each terminal. A taxi into the city would cost at least 15 pounds and take about an half hour outside rush hours.
All prices quoted here were found in July 2017
