name mag type public holding industry transport founded 2001 headquarters manchester airport manchester greater manchester england united kingdom products airport operations and services revenue 738.4 million 2015 1 10.0 % operating income 283.6 million 2015 2 17.2 % total assets 3.218 billion 2015 3 0.01 % total equity 1.5 billion 2015 4 0.01 % owner ten boroughs of greater manchester 64.5 % total ifm investors 35.5 % number of employees 40 000 subsidiaries mag developments bournemouth airport east midlands airport london stansted airport website www.magworld.co.uk the manchester airports group plc commonly abbreviated as mag is a holding company which is owned by the ten metropolitan borough councils of greater manchester in north west england and australian investment fund ifm investors . founded in 2001 following the acquisition of east midlands airport mag is the largest uk owned airport operator following the purchase of baa by spain s ferrovial group in 2006 . the group owns four british airports bournemouth east midlands and manchester airport which is the busiest airport outside the london region as well as london stansted airport . in 2014 47.1 million passengers used manchester airports group of the ten metropolitan boroughs of greater manchester manchester city council holds the largest stake at 35.5 % . the remaining nine councils hold a total of 29 % . ifm investors own a 35.5 % stake in mag . the group has its registered office at manchester town hall . 5 mag operates on a commercial basis at arms length from its public owners who only take a dividend from profits . this was 20 million in 2010 while mag retained 80 million from the 100 million profit . 6 contents 1 history 2 ownership 3 airports 4 references 5 external links history edit manchester airport opened in 1938 and was funded by manchester city council and has remained in public ownership ever since . it is the third busiest airport in the united kingdom after heathrow and gatwick and is fractionally busier than stansted see busiest airports in the united kingdom by total passenger traffic . the m56 motorway was built to serve the airport in 1972 a new rail station was opened in 1993 and a second runway was completed in 1997 . in 1999 manchester airport bought humberside airport marking its arrival as an airport management company . in 2000 national express put both east midlands and bournemouth airport up for sale both of which were sold for 241 million to mag in 2001 . 7 consequently the councils of greater manchester saw it fit to create a dedicated holding company to manage this portfolio at arms length . manchester airports group was formed in 2001 to own and operate manchester airport and the other smaller acquisitions . manchester airports group runs airport service related businesses including baggage handling and ground services car parking fire fighting airport security engineering motor transport services and advertising . the property and development arm of mag previously known as madl manchester airport developments was rebranded as mag developments in early 2009 . the group reported 2007 08 profits of 96.5 m 8 and decided in 2008 to sell humberside airport after 9 years of ownership . 9 however this decision was reversed later in the year following a surge in passenger numbers and little interest from potential bidders . 10 however mag sold its 83.7 % share of humberside in 2012 for 2.3 million to eastern group who operate nearly half of all flights there amid a return to a general decline of passenger numbers for small regional airport and desire to focus on larger airports . 11 mag in partnership with a canadian pension fund and financial assets unsuccessfully bid for london gatwick airport this followed a report by the competition commission into baa s market dominance in london south east england and scotland forcing it to sell off some of its airports . mag made a 1.4 billion offer to acquire gatwick airport in 2009 . originally baa wanted 2 billion for the airport but eventually came down to an asking price of 1.5 billion . however mag refused to arrange a further 100 million of finance and consequently pulled out of the race . 12 in january 2013 it was announced that mag had agreed to purchase london stansted airport for 1.5 billion . 13 the sale was completed on 28 february 2013 . 14 in 2011 the proposed airport city manchester office and commercial space development abutting the airport became one of the governments new low tax enterprise zones the zones featured include world logistics hub to the south of the airport offering logistics and air freight airport city to the north of the airport offering office and high tech manufacturing medipark around wythenshawe hospital for medical and clinical firms alongside several retail office and business parks inside the town of wythenshawe itself . 15 the group are focused on delivering the 659 million manchester airport city . 16 planning permission for the airport city development was confirmed on 17 january 2013 and construction work is due to begin in february 2013 . 17 on 18 january 2013 it was announced that mag would purchase stansted airport from heathrow airport holdings for 1.5 bn . 13 ifm investors purchased a 35.5 % stake in mag to help fund the takeover . 18 the sale was completed on 28 february 2013 . 14 ownership edit manchester airports group is majority owned by the ten local authorities of greater manchester with manchester city council owning 35.5 % . the remaining nine authorities the metropolitan boroughs of bolton bury oldham rochdale stockport tameside trafford wigan together with salford city council collectively own 29 % . in 2012 it was decided that rules on shareholding would be changed to allow external private investors to purchase stakes in order to provide extra capital for future investment and takeovers of airports . manchester city council would retain a controlling stake over the organisation . 19 to raise funds for the purchase of stansted airport ifm investors purchased a 35.5 % share in the group . 20 airports edit mag owns and operates manchester airport the third busiest airport in the united kingdom mag owns four airports in the united kingdom see busiest airports in the united kingdom by total passenger traffic . national rank airport airport workers total passengers 2012 total passengers 2013 total passengers 2014 total passengers 2015 change 2014 15 3 manchester airport 20 600 19 736 502 20 751 581 21 989 682 23 136 047 5.2 % 4 london stansted airport 10 000 17 472 699 17 852 393 19 941 593 22 519 178 12.8 % 11 east midlands airport 5 000 4 076 178 4 334 117 4 510 544 4 450 862 1.3 % 26 bournemouth airport 600 692 545 660 272 661 584 706 776 6.8 % total 36 200 41 977 924 43 598 363 47 103 403 50 812 863 7.9 % references edit mag annual report 2014 15 pdf . mag . retrieved 2016 02 08 . mag annual report 2014 15 pdf . mag . retrieved 2016 02 08 . mag annual report 2014 15 pdf . mag . retrieved 2016 02 08 . mag annual report 2014 15 pdf . mag . retrieved 2016 02 08 . annual reports and accounts pdf . manchester airports group . retrieved 2012 03 11 . airport generates 100m dividend . manchester confidential . 7 october 2010 . retrieved 2013 01 20 . manchester airport spreads its wings . bbc news . 19 february 2001 . retrieved 2013 01 21 . airport profits taking off again . bbc news . 29 july 2008 . retrieved 2012 04 06 . humberside airport to be sold off . bbc news . 25 april 2008 . retrieved 2012 04 17 . mag cancels humberside airport sale plan . manchester evening news . 16 december 2008 . retrieved 2012 04 17 . humberside airport sold by manchester airports group . bbc news . 2 august 2012 . retrieved 2012 08 23 . milmo dan 15 july 2009 . baa debt repayment plans at risk after potential gatwick buyer pulls out . the guardian . retrieved 2012 04 14 . a b stansted airport being sold to manchester for 1.5 bn . bbc news . 18 january 2013 . retrieved 18 january 2013 . a b sinead holland 28 february 2013 . 1.5 billion stansted airport sale complete . harlow star . retrieved 1 march 2013 . http www.manchesterairportez.co.uk file bhegnh5dt9 121375.pdf manchester airports group considers takeover . bbc news . 15 february 2012 . retrieved 2012 03 11 . go ahead for 650m manchester airport city project . building.co.uk . 21 january 2013 . retrieved 2013 01 21 . manchester airport group confirms stansted takeover deal . bbc news . 28 february 2013 . retrieved 1 march 2013 . agma to consider manchester airport restructure in takeover bid . manchester evening news . 15 february 2012 . retrieved 12 april 2012 . about us & our airports . manchester airports group . 2013 . retrieved 1 march 2013 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title manchester airports group & oldid 743510034 categories manchester airports groupaviation in englandtransport operators of englandairport operatorscompanies based in manchestercompanies owned by municipalities of england2001 establishments in englandcompanies established in 2001manchester airport navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 00 14 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . 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