Manchester Airport’s Terminal Two will be lit up in red, white and blue this weekend to mark Independence Day in the United States.
More than 100,000 people travel to the US from Manchester Airport every month, with New York, Houston, Orlando and Atlanta all served by direct flights. The North West of England is home to around 20,000 American-born residents, many of whom are expected to travel across the Atlantic this weekend to join friends and family members for Independence Day festivities. They will be getting a special send-off, with Terminal Two’s famous honeycomb lights lit up in the colours of the Stars and Stripes and a ‘Happy Fourth of July’ message displayed on the giant Media Wall screen.
The famous honeycomb lights were lit up in red, white and blue
Chris Woodroofe, managing director of Manchester Airport, said: “I’d like to wish a very happy Fourth of July to everyone who is travelling out to the US from Manchester to join the Independence Day celebrations.
“Earlier this month, Virgin Atlantic announced the return of direct flights to Las Vegas from next summer, which demonstrates the strong post-pandemic recovery in demand for travel to the US. We’re doing all we can to expand our transatlantic route network even further in the years ahead.
Passengers travelling from Manchester can fly directly to four US cities
At the moment, passengers travelling from Manchester can fly directly to four US cities, with a fifth soon to follow.
Pre-pandemic, Manchester had the third largest transatlantic network of any UK airport, and 12th largest in Europe. The US is both Greater Manchester’s largest export destination and largest source of imports, according to the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, accounting for a combined £2.5bn of exports and imports in the city region alone in 2021, and over £86bn nationally.
In the three years immediately before the pandemic (2016-2019), the North West of England saw the number of visitors from the US grow by around 32%, compared to just 14% for the UK nationally.
Images: Manchester Airport
