Rachel Reeves has been making headlines with her growth plans. However, she keeps overlooking an important detail about Manchester Airport’s second runway that opened in 2001.
What she’s missing is that Manchester Airport opened its second runway in 2001. It cost a whopping £172 million and stirred up quite a bit of controversy back then. There were protests about the environmental impact, and it took a while to get it off the ground.
But eventually, it opened in February 2001, making Manchester the only airport outside London with two full-length runways. Despite this, Rachel keeps insisting that we haven’t built a new runway since the 1940s.
She even mentioned this on BBC Radio 4, saying Heathrow might lose its hub status if we don’t act fast. In another chat on LBC, she pointed out that Heathrow is the only hub airport in the UK, handling a huge chunk of freight and long-haul flights.
It’s a bit puzzling, right? Manchester Airport is actually the third busiest in the UK and serves as a hub for several airlines. The Manchester Evening News has reached out to the Treasury for clarification on her comments.
