The surprising destination named Manchester Airport’s most popular in November, beating Canary Islands and Dubai

Thousands of passengers jetted off to winter sun destinations from Manchester Airport in November, with the likes of Dubai, Tenerife and Alicante proving popular. But one European city came out on top as the most visited place for jetsetters, bucking the trend for a sunny getaway.

A total of 94,990 flew to Amsterdam last month, making it the top destination from the airport - the first time this year its taken the title. It was closely followed by another northern European city, Dublin, which welcomed 92,299 passengers from Manchester.

Dubai, Tenerife and Alicante helped to make up the top five, as many travellers favoured warmer climes as the weather declined in the UK. Overall Manchester Airport welcomed 2.1million passengers in November, beating the previous record by 13 per cent.

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This month travellers expected to seek out festive magic in colder destinations, with around 25,000 passengers expected to fly to Finland in December. Although you can fly to Helsinki from Manchester all year round, this month five more Finnish airports are added to Manchester’s networks: Ivalo, Kittila, Enontekio, Kuusamo and Rovaniemi.

All of these airports provide access to Lapland, home of thick snow, husky rides, pine forests and, of course, Father Christmas himself. The airport is expecting a busy Christmas holiday period, with around 1.1million passengers expected to fly into or out of Manchester during the two weeks between Friday December 20 and Thursday January 2.

Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said: “Christmas is a magical time here at Manchester Airport. We’re always proud to connect the North to the world but the