Stansted joins London City in predicting passenger demand will surge in 2022
Stansted airport’s owner Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has joined London City Airport and predicted demand will surge in 2022 following the relaxation of Covid rules.
After seeing booking soar following last week’s decision to scrap pre-departure and Day 2 PCR tests, the group is expecting demand to get back to almost pre-pandemic levels by the end of the summer.
“Now that Omicron testing requirements have been removed, people are clearly excited about where they can travel this year,” said MAG’s chief executive Charlie Cornish.
“We are confident that the recovery will be strong as we head towards to the summer, and the sharp increase in bookings in recent days is hugely encouraging.
“It is clear that the temporary reintroduction of travel restrictions impacted passenger confidence during December, which came after we had seen a strong revival of passenger volumes up to November.”
Before travel restrictions were introduced in November to stop the spread of Omicron, the group’s hubs – Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands airports –had seen a stronger recovery compared with their rivals, with Stansted recovering at the fastest rate overall.
Last month Stansted saw 900,910 travellers pass through its gates, a 354.3 per cent increase compared with the previous year.
MAG is not the only airport operator to feel optimistic about 2022. London City this morning predicted a surge in passenger demand as a result of 2022, CityAM reported.
“2021 was certainly tough for everyone. However, despite predictions from some to the contrary, we did see the emergence of positive business travel trends, which we believe will continue in 2022 and will be so critical for the economic recovery of London and the UK more widely,” said City’s chief executive Robert Sinclair.