Manchester Airport
2007
General information
Location	Ringway,Manchester, England
Grid reference	SJ819853
Managed by	TransPennine Express
Transit authority	Transport for Greater Manchester
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	MIA
Fare zone	4 (Metrolink)
Classification	DfT category B
Key dates
May 1993	Opened
2004	Refurbished
2008	Third platform opened
2014	Metrolink services begin
2015	Fourth platform added
Passengers
2019/20	5.747 million
2020/21	0.546 million
Interchange	4,645
2021/22	2.174 million
Interchange	14,518
2022/23	3.917 million
Interchange	16,945
2023/24	4.855 million
Interchange	19,836
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Manchester Airport station is a railway, tram, bus and coach station atManchester Airport, inGreater Manchester, England. It was opened at the same time as the second air terminal in 1993. The station lies at the end of a short branch from theStyal line via a triangular junction betweenHeald Green andStyal stations.Manchester Metrolink tram services were extended to the airport in 2014 and operate toManchester Victoria.

In December 2008, a third platform opened after a year of construction and a total cost of £15 million. In the following year,Network Rail noted that it had "greatly increased operational flexibility at the station, and reduced the number of times that late-running trains had to be terminated at Manchester Piccadilly."^[1]

In 2009, Network Rail stated that the creation of the third platform has meant that the capacity at Manchester Airport will become constrained by the layover of the trains and congestion at the throat. To solve this issue they have recommended building a line underneath the airport towards Northwich in the 2019 to 2024 period.^[2]

In July 2012, support for a fourth railway platform was announced by theGovernment.^[3] The current platforms are eight carriage lengths long, so each can accommodate two trains of four carriages. A fourth platform will allow greater use of longer trains of six carriages or more. This had been recommended as part of theNorthern Hub scheme of rail improvements around Manchester by the 2010 Manchester Hub Rail Study and the 2011 Northern Route Utilisation Strategy, with an estimated cost of £23 million.^[4]

In February 2014, construction commenced on a new £20M fourth platform at the station. The start of construction was attended by theChancellor of the Exchequer,George Osborne. Construction of the new platform was completed in May 2015 - three years earlier than the 2018 estimate given in 2012.^[5][6] This was to allow engineering work to overlap with that being done on the Manchester Metrolink extension to the airport (see below) so that the fourth platform could be used for the extra traffic generated by theOrdsall Chord (opened 10 December 2017), while the fourth platform itself opened to passengers in Autumn 2015.^[7][8]

In January 2013, the Government announced that Manchester Airport would be included in the second phase of theHigh Speed 2 railway line. This would enable Manchester Airport to be reached fromLondon Euston in 59 minutes. The new line and associated new station would pass to the west of the Airport, away from the existing railway station and transport interchange, giving the airport two disconnected railways stations approximately 1 mile apart.^[9] On 4 October 2023, it was confirmed that the Manchester leg of High Speed 2 would be scrapped and, as a result, the new high-speed station at Manchester Airport would not be built.^[10]

The station lies9+3⁄4 miles (15.7 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly, at the end of a short branch from theStyal Line; it was constructed byBritish Rail in 1993. A branch of Manchester Metrolink runs into it. It is accessed via a triangular junction located betweenHeald Green and Styal. The station platforms are connected by escalator, lift, ramps and an elevated covered walkway (known as theSky Link) to the airport terminal buildings in which is a staffed railway ticket office. Throughout the airport complex, the railway station is known asThe Station and is signposted as such.

Northern Trains Route 6
v t e
Cumbrian Coast, Furness & Windermere lines
Carlisle Dalston Wigton Aspatria Maryport Flimby Workington Harrington Parton Whitehaven Corkickle St Bees Nethertown Braystones Sellafield Seascale Drigg Ravenglass Bootle Silecroft Millom Green Road Foxfield Kirkby-in-Furness Askam Barrow-in-Furness Roose Dalton Ulverston Cark & Cartmel Kents Bank Grange-over-Sands Arnside Silverdale Carnforth Windermere Staveley Burneside Kendal Oxenholme Lake District Lancaster Preston Chorley Bolton Deansgate Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Airport
Braystones &Nethertown are request stops.

The station is managed byTransPennine Express, which operates services along withNorthern Trains andTransport for Wales. There are eight trains per hour (tph) to Manchester Piccadilly and beyond; seven of which start and end their journeys here, and the other continues south to Crewe via Wilmslow.

The general off-peak service pattern is as follows:

TransPennine Express^[11]

• 1tph toRedcar Central, viaMiddlesbrough
• 1tph toCarlisle, continuing alternately toEdinburgh Waverley orGlasgow Central.

Northern Trains^[12]

• 2tph toBlackpool North
• 1tph toLancaster, of which 11tpd continue toBarrow-in-Furness and 4tpd continue toWindermere
• 1tph toLiverpool Lime Street, viaNewton-le-Willows
• 1tph toManchester Piccadilly
• 1tph toCrewe.

Transport for Wales^[13]

• 1tph toChester; most trains continue toLlandudno, with 2tpd continuing toHolyhead.

It was planned that infrastructure developments that are part of theNorthern Hub system of schemes, such as theOrdsall Chord, should enable direct trains to Manchester Victoria and on towardsBradford Interchange from May 2019. However, the introduction of the May 2018 timetable, one of the most radical in decades, caused punctuality through Manchester to drop sharply and it became common for TransPennine Express to terminate delayed services at Manchester Piccadilly or Victoria rather than continue onto the final destination at Manchester Airport.^[14][15]

Any future additional services to the airport are in doubt without further infrastructure works; unresolved issues surround the lack of new 'through' platforms at Manchester Piccadilly which have been shelved by the government and theStyal Line to Manchester Airport operating at full capacity with little resilience to absorb delays.^[16]

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Terminus		Transport for Wales Rail Chester to Manchester Line		East Didsbury
		TransPennine Express Anglo-Scottish Route		Manchester Piccadilly
		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Manchester Piccadilly
				Gatley
		Northern Trains Manchester Airport toBlackpool North		Heald Green
				Manchester Piccadilly
		Northern Trains Windermere/Barrow-in-Furness toManchester Airport		Gatley
				Heald Green
		Northern Trains Manchester Airport toLiverpool Lime Street
Styal		Northern Trains Styal line local stopping service

Manchester Airport
Metrolink platforms.
General information
Location	Manchester England
Coordinates	53°21′55″N2°16′20″W / 53.36540°N 2.27229°W /53.36540; -2.27229
System	Metrolink station
Line	Airport Line
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	In operation
Fare zone	4
History
Opened	3 November 2014; 11 years ago (2014-11-03)
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
Location

TheManchester Metrolink light rail network was extended fromSt Werburgh's Road to Manchester Airport as part of the Phase 3 expansion project.^[17] The Metrolink station has been built adjacent to the airport station.^[18] It is the terminus of theAirport Line.

Following a period of uncertainty due tofunding problems, the plans were finally given the go-ahead in May 2009. The confirmed route would not complete the full airport loop as proposed, but trams would run along the northern route viaWythenshawe. Completion of the western side of the loop is subject to further funding in a later project.^[19][20] An opening date of Summer 2016 had originally been indicated for opening of the Airport line^[21] but the line opened early on 3 November 2014.^[22][23]

Trams run between Manchester Airport andVictoria every 12 minutes.

Preceding station	Manchester Metrolink			Following station
Terminus		Manchester Airport–Victoria		Shadowmoss towardsVictoria

With the introduction to a zonal ticketing system on Metrolink services in January 2019, Manchester Airport is located within zone 4.^[24]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toManchester Airport station.

• Train times andstation information for Manchester Airport station fromNational Rail
• TransPennine Express website

• Metrolink airport line extension proposals, TfGM
• Metrolink stop information
• Manchester Airport area map
• Manchester Airport Metrolink station plans

53°21′54″N2°16′23″W / 53.36500°N 2.27306°W /53.36500; -2.27306

• 1993 establishments in England
• Railway stations in Manchester
• DfT Category B stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1993
• Airport railway stations in the United Kingdom
• Railway stations served by Northern
• Railway stations served by TransPennine Express
• Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail
• Tram stops in Manchester
• Railway stations opened by British Rail
• Manchester Airport
• Tram stops on the Manchester Airport – Victoria route

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from October 2018
• Use British English from November 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Articles with OS grid coordinates
• Pages with no open date in Infobox station
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension