Manchester Airport UK
General Information
Airport code : MAN
Tel : +44 (0)161 489 3000
Distance : 16km from Manchester

The Manchester International Airport provides a wide range of facilities including those for business, children and the disabled. Public transportation to and from the airport is reliable and frequent with a choice of trains, coaches, taxis and car hire. From 1975 until 1986, the title Manchester International Airport was used. It is located on the boundary between Cheshire and Manchester in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

It has two parallel runways, three adjacent terminals, and a railway station. The airport is owned by the Manchester Airport Group which is controlled by a group of ten local authorities in the Greater Manchester area. MAG owns several other UK airports; East Midlands, and the smaller Hurn, Bournemouth and Kirmington, Humberside. Most other major airports in the UK are owned by BAA plc.

Those wishing to drive to the airport will find it easily accessible and well sign posted from the access roads. The airport offers a range of short and long stay parking and 24 hour petrol stations.

Voted European Airport of the Year in 2001, Manchester Airport is served by around 95 airlines flying more than 19.5 million passengers to over 180 destinations each year.

The wartime years from 1940 to 1945 saw 60,000 of Britain’s airborne forces troops training there. With another prominent plane maker A.V.Roe setting up shop alongside Fairey some of the most famous military aircraft of the conflict was manufactured in Manchester. It was here that the prototype of the Lancaster bomber made its first flight.

Peacetime brought new opportunities for civil expansion and in 1949 part of the old Parachute School cast off its past and was converted to handle an increasing number of passengers. Two years later the runway was lengthened and in the 1960′s an imposing terminal building with air traffic controls facilities and two passenger piers were added. That development heralded two decades of burgeoning traffic and growing facilities which included a third pier, new departure hall and a longer runway.

In the 1980s the airport was designated an International Gateway handling direct long-haul international flights. A second international passenger terminal and direct rail and motorway links have made the airport increasingly accessible to a wide catchments area.

Liverpool
Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary.

Built across a ridge of hills rising up to a height of around 230 feet (70 metres) above sea-level at Everton Hill, the city’s urban area runs directly into Bootle and Crosby in Sefton to the north, and Huyton and Prescot in Knowsley to the east. It faces Wallasey and Birkenhead across the River Mersey to the west. Liverpool is governed by one of five councils within the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and is one of England’s core cities and its fifth most populous – 441,477 in 2002, with 816,000 in the Liverpool Urban Area, which includes suburbs on the Liverpool side of the Mersey but not those on the Wirral.

Inhabitants of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and nicknamed “Scousers”, in reference to the local meal known as ‘scouse’, a form of stew. The word scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect.

Liverpool, now classed as a World Heritage city, is full of culture, excitement and an important maritime history. Famous for its Mersey waterfront, Liverpool has recently redeveloped many areas in central Liverpool with unrivalled architecture, including the trendy Albert Dock, complete with museums, cafés, bars and shops, Stanley Dock, Waterloo, Wapping and the general Liverpool Pier Head area. Now a city of world significance, with an impressive university, Liverpool is also known throughout the world for being the home of the famous rock band, The Beatles, which attractions huge numbers of tourists to Liverpool each year.

In the late 19th century, Liverpool reached the zenith of its power and was the “second Port of the Empire”, It controlled one seventh of the world’s shipping and handled more goods than any British city outside London. Liverpool in the late Nineteenth century and early Twentieth century was thought of as a ‘world city’, rather than British provincial. During the late 20th century, towards the 1980s, the decline of the Port of Liverpool as a source of employment and the later contraction of manufacturing industry in the city region badly affected the city’s economy. However, the city’s economy has grown strongly and faster than the national average since the mid nineties. The city has been undergoing a general economic and civic revival since then, which was kick started by the regeneration of the city’s Queen’s Square. In 2007, the city will be celebrating its 800th anniversary, and in 2008, will hold the European Capital of Culture title. In 2004 Liverpool was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site. As part of the ongoing regeneration in the city, the developers Grovsenor are constructing the ‘Paradise Street Project’ (PSDA), which is the largest retail-led regeneration project in Europe. The Construction of a new cruise liner terminal at the Pier Head, will allow the world’s largest vessels to visit the city, which the QE2 intends to do as part of Liverpool’s birthday celebrations at the end of this year.