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Manchester Airport

The airport from the north west

Manchester Airport is the largest airport in the north of the United Kingdom and the third biggest in the country in terms of passenger numbers after Heathrow Airport and Gatwick. It is one of only two passenger airports in the country to have a second runway, the other being Heathrow. With some 200 destinations, it is ranked 13th globally for the number of destinations served.

It opened on 25th June 1938 as Ringway Airport, named after the village and civil parish next to which it was located and is still occasionally referred to by this name by people living locally. After service as a RAF station in the Second World War, it resumed civil activity following the end of that conflict. The first trans-Atlantic flight took place in 1953 with the main terminal being completely rebuilt and opened in 1962. The name was changed from Ringway to "Manchester International Airport" in 1975, with it being abbreviated officially to Manchester Airport on 1st April 1986.

The airport has featured many times in Coronation Street, both as a place mentioned frequently by characters (Street Cars operates an “airport run”), a place used by many characters for their foreign and domestic travel, and as a filming location.

The numbers of mentions within the programme are too great to record but the airport has been used for location filming/recording for 53 episodes with another 5 episodes featuring scenes at the facility, making 58 appearances in total.

This makes it the most-seen location in the programme outside of shots recorded in the city of Manchester and Blackpool.

Episode and transmission date Storyline
Episode 257 (29th May 1963) Harry and Concepta Hewitt fly to Ireland to visit an ill Sean Regan A257
Episode 473 (23rd June 1965) Ena Sharples flies to New York for an onward flight to Nebraska to visit her long-lost brother A473
Episode 734 (27th December 1967) Elsie and Steve Tanner fly to their new life in the United States of America, waved off by Elsie's family A734
Episode 1402 (24th June 1974) Ron Cooke changes his mind about flying to Zaire alone and returns to propose to Maggie Clegg A1402
Episode 1691 (30th March 1977) Rita Littlewood changes her mind about going to Tenerife and stays in Weatherfield to be with Len Fairclough A1691
Episode 1806 (8th May 1978) Annie Walker offers fellow passenger Sonia Forrester in lift in her Rover but Fred Gee arrives in Len's builder's van after the car is stolen A1806
Episode 2629 (11th June 1986) Gail Tilsley begs her lover Ian Latimer not to leave for Australia without her A2629
Episode 2750 (10th August 1987) and Episode 2752 (17th August 1987) Alec Gilroy flies from the airport to Torremolinos in search of missing Bet Lynch and returns with her a week later A2750
Episode 2825 (25th April 1988) Audrey Roberts returns from Toronto and a visit to her secret son Stephen Reid A2825
Episode 2851 (27th July 1988) Stephen's father, Malcolm Reid, is collected by Audrey and Alf Roberts from the airport A2851
Episode 2993 (17th November 1989) Flying to Spain, Mike Baldwin sees Ken Barlow with his mistress, Wendy Crozier Mike 2993
Episode 3140 (29th October 1990), Episode 3141 (31st October 1990) and Episode 3142 (2nd November 1990) Derek and Mavis Wilton are forced to stay at the airport overnight when their travel agent goes bust Episode 3141
Episode 3168 (31st December 1990) Deirdre Rachid and Phil Jennings fly to Paris for the New Year A3168
Episode 3191 (22nd February 1991) Reg Holdsworth meets his estranged wife Veronica when she flies in from New Zealand A3191
Episode 3371 (15th April 1992) Rita Fairclough and Ted Sullivan return from holiday in Florida A3371
Episode 3536 (3rd May 1993) Rita and Bet return from Tenerife A3536
Episode 3618 (10th November 1993) Andy McDonald expects to meet Amy Nelson but her mother Kath arrives alone A3618
Episode 3742 (24th August 1994) and Episode 3749 (9th September 1994) Samir Rachid is held at immigration when he arrives at the airport and leaves a week later A3742
Episode 3780 (21st November 1994) Steve McDonald picks up Fiona Middleton on her return from Tenerife A3780
Episode 3791 (16th December 1994) and Episode 3793 (21st December 1994) Samir is held at immigration on his return to the country A3791
Episode 3867 (9th June 1995) Deirdre takes Samir's body back to Morocco Episode 3867
Episode 4235 (25th July 1997) Jon Lindsay is revealed to be working in Tie 'n' Fly at the airport rather than being a pilot Episode 4235
Episode 4262 (10th September 1997) Ken spots Jon in the tie shop but he claims to be shopping between flights A4262
Episode 4276 (5th October 1997), Episode 4277 (6th October 1997), Episode 4279 (10th October 1997) and Episode 4281 (13th October 1997) After again seeing Jon in the tie shop, Ken tells Deirdre who confronts him about his deceit A4279
Episode 4326 (31st December 1997) Paying a surprise visit to Jon at work, Deirdre discovers he's married with children A4326
Episode 4368 (15th March 1998) Ken stops Deirdre fleeing the country rather than face her trial for fraud Episode 4368
Episode 4428 (28th June 1998) and Episode 4431 (3rd July 1998) Roy Cropper makes his first ever flight abroad to be with Hayley Patterson in Amsterdam but she's stopped at passport control on her return A4428
Episode 4473 (14th September 1998) Alma Baldwin tries to contact Curly Watts who is fleeing a false charge set up by Anne Malone but he has left the payphone he used to ring her with A4473
Episode 4689 (27th September 1999) and Episode 4699 (15th October 1999) Ashley and Maxine Peacock leave for their honeymoon in the Caribbean but she returns alone as he's terrified of flying A4689
Episode 4838 (12th June 2000) Martin Platt begs Rebecca Hopkins not to leave him as she prepares to fly to Dubai Episode 4838
Episode 4906 (9th October 2000) Mike and Linda Baldwin return from their disastrous honeymoon A4906
Episode 5193 (11th January 2002) Dev Alahan and Geena Gregory leave for a holiday in Tobago A5193
Episode 5324 (21st August 2002) Tyrone Dobbs asks Maria Sutherland not to leave for Canada but to stay and marry him A5324
Episode 5401 (16th December 2002) and Episode 5402 (18th December 2002) Vikram Desai almost smuggles drugs into the country but is stopped by Steve. Dev makes Vik leave for Mumbai Episode 5402
Episode 5620 (7th November 2003) Peter Barlow tries to stop Lucy leaving for Sydney with their son Simon A5620
Episode 5759 (17th May 2004) Fred Elliott meets his fake Thai bride Orchid Pattaya upon her arrival A5759
Episode 6017 (1st May 2005) Roy prepares to escort Chesney Brown to Spain to be with Cilla, unaware that she and Les Battersby have arrived back from the same country A6017
Episode 6079 (25th July 2005) Set up by Tracy Barlow, Steve is arrested at the airport for trying to take Amy illegally out of the country Episode6079
Episode 7786 (23rd January 2012) Becky McDonald leaves for Barbados with Danny and Billy Stratton despites Steve's plea that she remain with him A7786
Episode 8018 (14th December 2012) Peter Barlow changes his mind about going to Los Angeles with Carla Connor when Simon tearfully asks him to stay A8018
Episode 9040 (21st November 2016) Defrauded by his partner in crime Harvey McArdle, Pat Phelan realises he has to abandon his plan to fly to Cancun when he finds he only has £5 in his wallet A9040
Episode 9083 (20th January 2017) Steph Britton thinks Andy Carver has abandoned her as she waits for their flight to Portugal, not realising he's in Phelan's hands A9083
Episode 10574/5 (28th February 2022) Chesney Brown persuades his son Joseph not to move to Portugal to live with his grandmother Linda Hancock Episode10574

Other appearances[]

In addition, Episode 1153 (2nd February 1972) featured scenes inside the airport when Stan and Hilda Ogden missed a flight to Paris but these were recorded in the Quay Street studios. Episode 10252 (17th February 2021) and Episode 10431 (16th September 2021) featured scenes of Ray Crosby and Alina Pop respectively waiting in the first class lounge but these were recorded within the premises of the MediaCity studios due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Episode 4153 (3rd March 1997) featured a robbery at an airport warehouse, Episode 7402 (13th August 2010) had a scene where con-merchant Lewis Archer chatted up unsuspecting victim Lydia Radcliffe in the bar, and Episode 9816 (8th July 2019) featured a scene of Gail Rodwell in a first class lounge but it is not clear if these were actually recorded in the airport itself.

The promo episode used to introduce viewers in the US to the programme in 1972 featured filmed shots of a cabby (played by Fred Feast) picking up his visitors at the airport.

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