A brand-new report has found that Manchester Airport’s Runway 2 has ‘profoundly changed’ the Northern economy over 25 years, and has stated that it could provide an ‘even greater boost’ in the future.
However, the report also states that policy-makers must ‘grasp the golden opportunity’ to utilise the runway, which was the last to be built in the UK and opened in 2001, to create a ‘super-connected’ global North that makes the most of its new economic strengths and closes the UK’s productivity gap.
The study, A Route to Growth for the North, has been published by economic consultants Metro Dynamics, and has concluded that the 172 million GBP investment has resulted in the airport becoming a global gateway that connects the North to over 200 countries, representing 75% of global GDP and providing a 9.5 billion GBP economic impact on the North every year.
Delivered in four years from grant approval to implementation, Runway 2 was constructed as part of a response to deep industrial decline across the North that saw its home city lose one in four jobs in the preceding decades.
Since then, Manchester’s connectivity has enabled the North to become a growing economy. The study states that the region now possesses clusters of high-value industries in all its major cities, and now offers higher value exports; surging student and visitor numbers; and inward investment increases whilst national levels declined over the last 25 years.
Report authors have stated that the airport’s two runways may still provide the means to double passenger numbers from today’s 32.2 million – more than twice the number it has added since Runway 2 opened – a projection which report authors state is a reflection of the ‘untapped potential’ of the Northern economy as a whole.
MAG CEO Ken O’Toole said:This demonstrates clearly that when the right conditions are in place to encourage long-term investment in strategic infrastructure, the benefits are transformational and can power a generation of growth and beyond.
Airports are not just buildings people pass through as they travel for work or leisure – they are a route to growth for regional economies - economic catalysts integral to our success as an island trading nation.
Investing in Manchester Airport’s runways and terminals required visionary leadership, a culture of public and private sector collaboration and an understanding that infrastructure investment not only creates jobs and value in the short term, but can change the economic trajectory of regions in the long term.
While Runway 2 shows what is possible, the UK’s overall performance on investment ranks poorly against other major economies. This Government has an opportunity to embed a policy environment that encourages key strategic investments just like this in regions across the UK, as part of its mission to deliver growth in every postcode. That includes delivering on Northern Powerhouse Rail and reforming business taxes to remove barriers to much-needed investment.
The full report can be read here.
