Here's a brief trip report from Monday 16th June. My visits to Manchester are very rare nowadays (once every few years) so I enjoy looking around the place and this trip made me feel a little nostalgic for the soon-to-close T1.
My wife and I were flying on the 2pm Emirates EK18 service. As our taxi approached the airport I noticed that the ramp up to level 5 departures was closed, so our driver dropped us off at T1 arrivals. Lots of other departing passengers were there too so we waited for the lift up to level five. There were three elevators but one was out of service. The queues for the two working lifts were long but as the lifts have a large capacity, once one arrived the queue moved quickly. Total wait time was a little over ten minutes.
Once we got up to level five, I stopped to look at the roadway into the terminal. No work was going on so I have no idea why the ramp up to departures was closed. Our taxi driver said it closed a couple of weeks ago. Does anyone know the reason? The inconvenience of waiting for an elevator rather than being driven straight to departures caused numerous negative comments from the other passengers who were queuing with me.
Check-in for the Emirates flight was straightforward with a minimal wait - certainly no more than five minutes. We were traveling in business class so went to that queue, but it probably would have been quicker to join the economy queue. There were similar numbers of passengers in both queues (only about ten passengers each) but as there are more economy check-in desks that line moved more quickly.
Next stop was the oversize baggage check where again the wait was only around five minutes before moving on to fast track security. As with check-in, it probably would have been quicker to go the the regular queue as there were more people in fast-track than the other line. The wait to go through security was about 7 minutes. The rejection rate was 25%. I got through the scanner OK as did my bag, but my wife failed both. Once she had been wanded and had her bag inspected we headed into the main concourse. Total time from leaving the taxi to clearing security was 43 minutes.
I spent a lot of time at Ringway in the 1980's and 90's. In the 80's it was mostly as an aviation enthusiast, with annual trips as a passenger on family holidays. In the early 90's I worked there in a shop (The Aviation Shop on the roof of the spectator's terraces) but also traveled fairly regularly on leisure and business trips. So it was interesting to see how T1 has changed since then. Leaving security brought us into the concourse from the side, whereas in the "old days" you used to walk down a ramp from check-in. There's no evidence of that ramp now as there's a money exchange positioned across where it used to be. The ceilings in the concourse looked higher than they used to be and it felt quite spacious. I glanced the doors to the stairway that took you up to the staff canteen and roof terrace, but didn't attempt to investigate further.
We passed through the extensive duty-free area into the late-80's IDLEX area which was quite busy but looked clean and well maintained. I took a stroll down pier C into the satellite extension and the shortcomings of T1 were apparent in terms of the horizontal separation now enforced. Then back to IDLEX to check out the shops and restaurants before heading to the Emirates lounge.
The lounge exceeded my expectations. I was last there a few (maybe six) years ago, but I can't recall if it was the same lounge back then or if it has moved. Last time it was scruffy with buckets positioned around the floor to catch water from the leaking roof. This time it felt elegant and the food was excellent. A good feed (prawn curry, a selection of cheeses, apple crumble, champagne and a cappuccino) and an excellent view of the airfield were had. However, as most activity at the airport is from T2 and T3, most of the stands on pier B (which dominated the view) were empty. A visitor to the lounge who is not familiar with the airport may think that there's not much air traffic at Manchester.
The flight was called for boarding so I took my last walk down pier B. On a previous arrival into the airport in 2021, pier B looked awful internally. There was thick dust and grime along the beams at the roof of the pier and windows were smeared. This time the cleaning crews had been out and it gave a much better impression. It was apparent to me that management at Ringway have focused on improving the passenger experience compared to previous visits. The terminal was cleaner and better maintained and the queues had been drastically shortened. T1 is undoubtedly at end-of-life but for a building that at its core dates from 1962 it was doing OK.
A short taxi to 23L and we departed. Next time I visit Manchester I'll be passing through T2 as T1 will have closed by then. It'll be interesting to see T2 as I've only been through it twice, once in 1994 with Ryanair and then in 2001 with Cathay. I really can't remember anything about it, but with the investment in the Transformation Programme I'm expecting it to be a very different experience to T1. Although it's sad to see the 1962 terminal close, it really needs to happen in order to give passengers the best experience of the airport.
For those interested in such things, I couldn't see if any of the 1st class suites were occupied, but in the business cabin which dominates the upper deck, it was about 90% full. Premium traffic always used to be Manchester's Achilles Heel, but the load factor on this flight was encouraging.
