MANCHESTER Airport’s phenomenal success has been forged in a series of long-standing partnerships with international air companies.
One of the most successful of these has been with United Airlines, before and since its merger with Continental in 2010. The American giant this week celebrated two decades of flying passengers from Manchester to Newark, its New York hub.
Passengers, ahead of the anniversary flight to Newark, were given champagne and, naturally, birthday cake.
Bob Schumacher (above left), managing director of sales UK and Ireland said: "There’s no other market outside London where we have been this long, and I’m sure we will continue to grow as we see the growing strength of the north west economy and the US economy too.
"We are that conduit that links the success of both. I think it’s a great time for aviation and after 20 years in Manchester we are here to stay.”
One of United’s huge successes has been the three-year-old seasonal service direct to Washington DC and Schumacher hinted that in the future more such services Stateside could follow. The airline, which operates 5,000 services a day to 373 destinations worldwide, has US mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, LA, and San Francisco.
United operates the Manchester New York/Newark service with Boeing 757-200 aircraft featuring a total of 153 seats (45 with added leg-room) in Economy and 16 flat-bed seats in Business First.
Flight UA80 departs Manchester daily at 9.25am, arriving at New York at 12.15pm the same day., the return flight leaving at 7.30pm, reaching Manchester at 7.40am the following day. Flight times are 7 hours 50 minutes westward, 7 hours 10 minutes eastbound. The flights are timed to connect at New York/Newark with a network of destinations.
Stephen Turner, commercial director for Manchester Airport, said: “We would like to congratulate United Airlines on reaching this fantastic milestone of 20 years service to New York. Through their daily New York and Washington DC services, United provide our passengers with the opportunity to fly direct to these two hugely popular destinations as well as the ability to connect on to their extensive route network.”
