The Mancunian Way: 'A reasonable experience'

Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.

Here's today's Mancunian Way:

By Damon Wilkinson, Friday July 1

A 'reasonable experience' for passengers is probably the bare minimum a major international airport should be aiming for. But following a chaotic summer of long queues, staff shortages, cancelled flights and lost luggage Manchester Airport's new boss Chris Woodroofe can be forgiven trying to manage expectations.

In his first big interview since starting the job last week he's been outlining how he plans to turn things round, but in the meantime he's asking for a bit more patience from holidaymakers. We'll hear more from Mr Woodroofe in today's Mancunian Way.

Elsewhere we'll take a look at a new city centre tower block backed by a Premier League star that's been described as a 'gold-cladded monstrosity'.

And we'll also reveal what the deal is with all the shipping containers that have been piling up in Piccadilly Gardens this week.

Chris Woodroofe has got a big job on his hands to say the least. So in the circumstances striking a tone of cautious optimism is probably sensible.

In a wide-ranging interview with transport reporter Charlotte Cox, Manchester Airport's new MD admitted things have been 'poor' so far this year, but, with the summer holidays on the horizon, he insisted it will get better.

"It’s not going to be as good as we want it to be, it’s not going to be as good as it was in 2019 but what it will be is considerably better than it was three or four weeks ago," he said.

“The vast majority of passengers this summer are going to have a reasonable