£1.25million airport windfall for Council

Manchester Airport

Rochdale Borough Council has landed a £1.25 million windfall from profits at Manchester Airport.

The borough is one of the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities to part-own Manchester Airports Group which yesterday announced record results and its highest-ever interim shareholder payout of £38.6m. A total of £25 million will be split between the councils.

Manchester will receive nearly £14 million as a 35.5 per cent stakeholder, while the other nine boroughs will share the profit from their joint 29 per cent holding.

Six-month revenues — boosted by unprecedented passenger numbers and new route development with the company experiencing its most successful summer ever — rose by nearly six per cent to £445.5 million compared with the same period last year. August was the busiest in its 77-year history.

Manchester Airports Group Plc (M.A.G.) — which employs over 4,500 people — is the UK’s leading airport group and owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth Airport, serving around 50 million passengers a year.