Airport Line
AM5000 tram passing over the purpose built viaduct over theRiver Mersey on the Airport Line.
Overview
Locale	SouthManchester
Termini	Manchester Victoria Manchester Airport
Stations	15
Service
Type	Tram/Light rail
System	Manchester Metrolink
Rolling stock	M5000
History
Opened	3 November 2014
Technical
Line length	9 miles (14.5 km)[1]
Character	Reserved track and street running
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge
Electrification	750 volts DC overhead
Operating speed	50 mph (80km/h)
Route map Legend toSt Werburgh's Road toWithington 0:31 Barlow Moor Road River Mersey 0:28 Sale Water Park  M60  0:25 Northern Moor 0:22 Wythenshawe Park 0:20 Moor Road Mid-Cheshire Line 0:18 Baguley 0:17 Roundthorn 0:16 Martinscroft  M56  0:12 Benchill 0:11 Crossacres 0:09 Wythenshawe Town Centre 0:07 Robinswood Road 0:06 Peel Hall 0:04 Shadowmoss 0:00 Manchester Airport This diagram: view talk edit

TheAirport Line is atram line of theManchester Metrolink inManchester, England, running fromManchester city centre toManchester Airport viaWythenshawe. It opened in November 2014 as part of phase three of the system's expansion.

The line runs mostly onreserved track alignments with short sections of street–running. The southern half of the route mostly uses the wide grass verges alongside roads.^[2]

From Manchester city centre, the route is shared with theAltrincham Line as far asTrafford Bar, and then theSouth Manchester Line as far asSt Werburgh's Road. The Airport Line proper starts at a junction just south of St Werburgh's Road stop, where the line leaves the former railway trackbed, and runs off to the south-west. It joins Mauldeth Road West, running along the central reservation toBarlow Moor Road stop. It then runs on street along Hardy Lane for a short distance, before crossing onto a tram only viaduct crossing theRiver Mersey and the Mersey Valley flood plain.^[2]

The line then continues on a low embankment toSale Water Park stop, serving theSale Water Park; this stop is also near Junction 6 of theM60 motorway and haspark and ride facilities. The line then runs parallel to the M60 for a short distance before crossing it on a tram only bridge, and turning south-west.^[2]

After crossing the motorway the line servesNorthern Moor stop. Between Northern Moor andWythenshawe Park the line runs on a strip of land which was originally reserved for a road scheme. The line then merges back onto the street on Moor Road, and pulls over to the side of the road to serveMoor Road stop, and after running along Southmoor Road for another few hundred metres, crosses onto a reserved track section alongside the road. A tram bridge takes the tracks over theMid-Cheshire railway line and intoBaguley stop. It then runs alongside the road on this reserved track section, serving a stop atRoundthorn, and taking a sharp turn right to get toMartinscroft, climbs over theM56 motorway on a purpose-built bridge.^[2]

The line merges onto Hollyhedge Road, mixing with other road traffic, before turning right onto a segregated section of track alongside Brownley Road, serving stops atBenchill andCrossacres. The route crosses to another segregated alignment on the south side of Poundswick Lane, crossing the northern end of Rowlandsway before turning left intoWythenshawe Town Centre stop.^[2]

The line then runs along segregated roadside track sections, serving stops atRobinswood Road,Peel Hall andShadowmoss, before passing under Ringway Road via an underpass, and into the terminus atManchester Airport station: The two tram platforms at the Airport station were built alongside the mainline rail platforms allowing interchange between the trains and trams,^[2] though only one platform is in use as of 2024.

The total distance between St Werburgh's Road and Manchester Airport is 9 miles (14.5 km).^[1]

The line was opened as part of thethird phase of the system's development, which also included new lines toEast Didsbury,Ashton-under-Lyne, andRochdale.

Construction work for all Phase 3b lines began in March 2011.^[3] On the Airport Line, a 580-tonne steel bridge was erected inWythenshawe over theM56 motorway on 25 November 2012.^[4] The Airport Line opened on 3 November 2014, more than one year early,^[5] and at a cost of £368 million.^[6]

The original plans for the line included a loop fromRoundthorn tram stop to the existing line at Manchester Airport viaWythenshawe Hospital andNewall Green. The line would have had stops atWythenshawe Hospital,Newall Green andDavenport Green.^[7] Although axed in 2005 to control costs, the Wythenshawe Loop remains an aspiration of TfGM. The route could've been linked withHS2Manchester Airport High Speed station.^[8]

TfGM have submitted a bid for funding to extend the Airport Line to Terminal 2.^[9]

Plans for the (now cancelled) Manchester Airport High Speed station released in 2020 included provision for an east–west tram link. This would have seen the Airport Line extended to serve the new station.^[10]

As of January 2018, trams operate from Manchester Airport every 12 minutes, and terminate atManchester Victoria in theCity Zone.^[11] At opening, Airport Line services had terminated atCornbrook and laterDeansgate-Castlefield due to lack of capacity through the city-centre, which was remedied by the opening of the second city crossing.^[12] In March 2016, an early morning service was introduced between the airport andFirswood,^[13] which was in February 2017 also extended to Deansgate-Castlefield.^[12] TfGM have indicated that there could also be a 6-minute service at peak times after 2017.^[14]

During the first full year of operation, 1.88 million journeys were made on the Airport Line.^[15]

• Styal Line; heavy-rail line also serving Manchester Airport.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toManchester Metrolink Airport line.

• LRTA entry on this line
• Map of the line

• Manchester Metrolink lines
• Transport in Manchester
• Manchester Airport
• Wythenshawe
• 2014 establishments in England
• Airport rail links in the United Kingdom

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2018
• Use British English from March 2018
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• Commons category link from Wikidata
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