Well the Evening News is covering itself in glory today:
Big headline: Number of Manchester Airport passengers hits all-time high "
"The number of passengers handled by Manchester Airport soared by nearly 850,000 last year - the highest rise of any UK gateway.
Latest figures reveal more than 19.7 million people jetted in and out of Manchester during 2012, an increase of 4.5 per cent."
Well of course it would be, if we ignore these years:
2004 MANCHESTER 20,969,335
2005 MANCHESTER 22,083,008
2006 MANCHESTER 22,123,762
2007 MANCHESTER 21,891,723
2008 MANCHESTER 21,062,749