The managing director of Manchester Airport, Chris Woodroofe, has defended the airport's car parking charges, describing them as "competitive". This follows criticism from a customer regarding a charge of over £150 for two weeks of parking.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which operates Manchester, London Stansted, and East Midlands Airports, recently reported £453m in income from parking, representing about a third of its total income. Woodroofe compared the two-week parking cost to daily town centre parking charges, though he acknowledged this comparison "isn't really like-for-like".
Woodroofe stated that the airport competes with other parking providers, Uber, and taxi firms. He also mentioned that the income from parking contributes to the airport's running costs and future investments, including a planned new multi-storey car park due to high demand. He added that Manchester Airport's drop-off charge of £5.50 for five minutes is "the lowest charge of any of the big airports across the UK".