Half-term fun at the Runway Visitor Park

Between Monday 14 and Friday 25 February, Manchester Airport’s Runway Visitor Park will host child-friendly aircraft tours.

Now one of the most visited attractions in the region, the park’s raised viewing areas mean you can stand literally just a few metres away from real ‘live’ planes as they go past, with around 600 aircraft movements – landings and take-offs on the runway – every day.

Visitors hoping to see the behemoth Emirates A380 super-jumbo on its daily visit to Manchester can watch it arrive at around 11:45am* and depart at around 1.30pm*

The park is also home to a variety of retired planes, which are open for visitors to tour and explore, including the spectacular supersonic airliner, Concorde and former RAF military spy plane, Nimrod. There’s also a DC-10, Avro RJX and a retro Trident airliner, offering a glimpse of what flying was like in the 1960s and 1970s, all open for visitors to explore.

Usually all tours of Concorde must be pre-booked, however throughout half-term, the park will be offering a new child-friendly Concorde tour, available without booking on a turn up and go, first come first serve basis. The tour gives you the opportunity to get on board this fabulous plane, have a look at the cockpit and the controls and find out which seats many famous celebrities sat in - from Michael Jackson to the Queen, and the tales attached to their travels on this iconic British airliner.

Andrew Harrison, Manchester Airport’s Managing Director, said: "The park’s main attraction is its location, next to the airport’s busy runways, which gives visitors the chance to watch the hundreds of aircraft that land and take-off on those runways every day. It’s always very popular during the school holidays as families look for alternative ways to entertain the kids – it’s exciting and it’s interesting, there’s no place quite like it.”

In addition to a picnic area, there is also Ringways Restaurant and The Aviation Shop, which stocks a range of plane-related souvenirs, suitable for children through to the more serious aircraft enthusiasts.

The Runway Visitor Park is located next to Manchester Airport’s runways, off Sunbank Lane in Altrincham, two minutes from Junction 6 of the M56 motorway. It’s open daily from 8am until one hour before dusk.

For more information go to www.manchesterairport.co.uk or call 0161 489 3932.

(*scheduled times, subject to change).