easyJet has celebrated 15 years of serving Manchester. Having been strongly present at nearby Liverpool, easyJet first served Manchester on March 30th, 2008. Manchester had two based A320s from the get-go, enabled by the acquisition of British Airways franchise carrier GB Airways. Some 15 years on, it is easyJet's sixth most-served airport by seats for sale with 21 aircraft stationed there.

Flashback: March 30th, 2008

easyJet's initial Manchester flight took off on March 30th, the first day of the northern summer season that year. According to Cirium, it had six routes that first summer: Alicante, Heraklion, Malaga, Malta, Paphos, and Tenerife. Given how significant the destinations are, it is no surprise that they all remain.

In 2008, easyJet was Manchester's 19th biggest airline by seats for sale. It had 1.5% of the airport's capacity. It was a time when things were very different, with many then-significant operators no longer around.

Thomas Cook was Manchester's largest carrier, with Flybe second, Monarch third, bmi fifth, and bmibaby seventh. Obviously, all of these have gone.

easyJet at Manchester
Source of data: Cirium. Figure: James Pearson.

15 years on

A decade and a half later, easyJet is Manchester's second-largest airline. It has 2.22 million departing summer seats for sale (double for both ways), behind only Ryanair (2.58 million). Jet2 is third (1.83 million), TUI Airways fourth (1.21 million), and Emirates fifth (380,000).

easyJet now provides one in four Manchester seats. It is the LCC's sixth most-served airport after London Gatwick, Geneva, Milan Malpensa, London Luton, and Bristol. However, reflecting distance and activity, Manchester is behind only Gatwick network-wide by available seat kilometers.

easyJet A320 landing
Photo: Markus Mainka I Shutterstock

69 summer routes

easyJet has 69 summer routes, as shown below. They include Istanbul Airport, the enormous city's primary gateway, and a brand-new airport in the carrier's network. It'll be served twice-weekly from June 9th. There's also Belfast City (four weekly from June 29th).

Click here for Manchester-Istanbul flights.

Both new routes join Paris Orly, which launched on March 27th (daily), and Murcia, which started on March 28th (twice-weekly). Adding Orly means Manchester is one of just five UK airports to have flights from Orly, CDG, and Amsterdam.

easyJet S23 Manchester network
(Summer 2023 network.)

The 69 routes are spread across 24 countries. Inevitably, it has more capacity to Spain than anywhere else, followed by the UK (mainly thanks to Belfast), Greece, France, and the Netherlands. These five countries have almost six in ten seats (58%).

Click here for Manchester-Belfast flights.

Amsterdam is #1, but...

At the airport level, Amsterdam is easyJet's number-one Manchester route this summer. It has 171,600 departing seats and up to six daily flights. It is followed by Belfast International (171,200 one-way capacity), Paris CDG (116,400), Alicante (90,600), and Dalaman (78,300). Of the six 'originals', only Alicante is in the top five list 15 years later.

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At the city level, the launch of Belfast City means that the Northern Ireland city inevitably jumps to first place, then Amsterdam and Paris.

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.