Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the public-private partnership that runs Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports, confirmed Thursday that a cyberattack exposed personal data belonging to roughly 8.7 million customers. The three airports collectively handled more than 65 million passengers last year, though only customers who used certain services — car park or lounge bookings, Fast Track security access, or in-airport Wi-Fi sign-ups — are affected.
The compromised data includes email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers, and postcodes. MAG says no financial information was exposed because neither the company nor the affected system stores customers’ bank or payment card details. The company was alerted to the breach on Tuesday; it believes attackers first accessed the data a few days before discovery. MAG has brought in outside cybersecurity specialists, notified relevant authorities, and temporarily suspended its online Manage My Booking service while investigation continues. All upcoming reservations remain valid, and flights and parking operations are unaffected.
How to check if you’re affected
Affected products include car park bookings, lounge reservations, Fast Track passes, and Wi-Fi registrations at Manchester, Stansted, or East Midlands airports. If you used any of these services, MAG will contact you by email. Watch out for follow-on phishing attempts — MAG has confirmed it will never contact customers unexpectedly to request payment card details, banking information, or passwords. If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from Manchester Airport, do not click any links or provide payment details.