Manchester Airport invited Stockport councillors to a meeting yesterday – the aim is to have them every six months or so to keep us up to date with what the airport’s up to. There are similar meetings with councillors from Manchester and Cheshire.

We were told some facts and figures about the airport which I certainly didn’t know. 19 million passengers pass through the airport every year – more than double the next highest airport outside the South East. 19,000 people are employed by over 300 companies on the airport site.

You can fly direct from Manchester to more destinations than from Heathrow (190 against 160).

Airport City
Airport City is an Enterprise Zone development – incentives are provided for companies to set up there. Over the next 10-15 years around £650 million will be spent on developing offices, manufacturing, logistics, hotels and more. Airport City is planned to cover 116 hectares (287 acres). The main area is between the airport and Wythenshawe, but there are other parts too. A Medipark around South Manchester Hospital, developments in Wythenshawe centre and at Atlas Business Park and a logistics centre off Junction 6 of the M56.

Complaints to the airport
Complaints to the airport have been on a downward trend. Having peaked at around 9,000 over 2002, the airport currently receives a little over 1,000 complaints a year. Most of these are on noise. The airport has fairly strict rules for airlines to follow. When a plane exceeds the noise standards, they pay a fine (the money goes into the Community Trust Fund).

Because modern planes are getting quieter and airlines are getting better at sticking to the rules, there’s less money coming in – good news for those on the flight-path, but of course it does mean less money for the Community Trust Fund.

Runway refurbishment
The refurbishment of runway 1 (which covers a massive amount of work – it’s a lot more than just resurfacing) is due to finish in the next few weeks. See the Manchester Airport website for more information.

The airport have produced some short films showing progress on the refurbishment – it’s worth a look.

Community Trust Fund
Organisations across most of Stockport can apply to the Airport’s Community Trust Fund for grants of up to £3,000. See the website page for more information.

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