Greater Manchester's ten councils received £318m from Manchester Airports Group (MAG) between March 2023 and September 2026, even though dividends on the airport group's profits have been suspended since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures reported by the Manchester Evening News.

As first reported by the MEN's Local Democracy Reporting Service on 17 October, the payments are linked to the loans the councils made during the pandemic and to their investment in the Drop & Go car parks at Manchester Airport. Manchester City Council received more than £165m of the total, and the other nine councils received around £17m between them. The MEN says private shareholders received £150m over the same period.

MAG's own website gives its ownership as Manchester City Council (35.5%), the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (35.5%) and the nine other Greater Manchester councils (29%).

MAG's FY26 investor report, published in July 2026, says payments to shareholders in the form of dividends and shareholder loan interest rose to £134.4m in the year to 31 March 2026, from £124.4m the year before. They were £47.6m of scheduled shareholder loan interest in each of September 2025 and March 2026, £34.7m of interest that had previously been deferred, and a £4.5m dividend linked to the councils' Drop & Go investment.

The report lists further proposed payments: a £3.9m Drop & Go dividend and £47.6m of loan interest in September 2026, then £47.6m of scheduled interest and £65.3m of previously deferred interest on 31 March 2027, which adds up to £112.9m for that date. It also says £271.4m of shareholder loan interest due since 2020 had been rolled up as at 31 March 2026.

A dividend on profits has not returned. The last major one was over £110m, the MEN reported, and the councils provided a finance package of more than £250m to keep the group going during the pandemic.

Some councillors want it restored. Stockport's deputy leader, Jilly Julian, told a council meeting she would “dearly love” a significant dividend for local councils “sooner rather than later”, the MEN reported. The paper also reported that Bolton's treasury chief, Graeme Wilson, suggested the dividend was not likely “before the end of the decade”.

A Manchester City Council spokesperson said the council “would welcome the dividend returning when it is sustainable” and that its overriding priority remains the long-term success of the airport. A MAG spokesperson told the MEN that the group had “agreed a long-term dividend strategy with its Board and shareholder representatives”, which had allowed it to keep investing in airport infrastructure.

MAG's report shows the business growing. Revenue rose 12.8% to £1,514.7m in FY26 and adjusted EBITDA rose 7.7% to £614.4m. Manchester Airport handled 32.3m passengers, up 3.6%, and the group's capital expenditure was £561.7m.

Sources: Manchester Evening News, 17 October 2026; Manchester Airports Group, FY26 Investor Report (July 2026); Manchester Airports Group, ownership structure. This article was produced with the help of AI tools and checked by an editor against the sources above.