Airport Community Network

Airport Community Network

Members of the Network include Manchester Airports Group, World Duty Free, Enterprise Rent a car, Greater Manchester Police, UK Border Force, NATS, Holiday Inn Express, Marriott Hotel, AECOM, Mashco, Interstate Hotels, Star Handling, Menzies Aviation, Hilton Hotel, MACE, Trafford College Group, ABM, Macdonald Hotels, Eurovia, Dnata, BAM, Jet2.com, UPS, MediaFour, DHL, BCEGI, SSP, ASIG and First Trans Pennine Express.

Our network has an innovative vision to support the efforts of staff to develop projects that benefit the local community.

Dragons Den

Manchester Airport’s Community Network has announced the return of its popular Dragons’ Den competition for school pupils in its neighbouring communities.

This year’s competition will be the 12th edition and follows a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Groups of up to six budding entrepreneurs will work together to develop a business model and bid for a business start-up loan of £200

Once they have secured the loan, teams will purchase materials, make their gift, and market and sell the product in their local communities, with items to retail for a maximum of £8. Each group will be assigned a mentor from the Manchester Airport Community Network to guide them through running their start-up.

The overall winner will be the team that declares the most profit at the Grand Final in December, with all proceeds going to their choice of one of six charities - Prevent Breast Cancer, Francis House Children's Hospice, St Ann's Hospice, East Cheshire Hospice, Seashell Trust and The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. The winning group will enjoy a VIP trip to see the Lion King at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.

A panel of ‘Dragons’, including representatives from Manchester Airport’s leadership team and bosses from other businesses based on the airport site, will also award additional prizes for best presentation and most innovative start-up enterprise.

For more information and to enter the 2022 competition please see the 2022 Airport Community Network Dragons Den brochure and online application.

Airport Academy

Airport Academy | Manchester Airport combines the delivery of key business benefits (creating a sustainable business positioned to grow), it supports and inspires local people to work with us in the future and engages our colleagues.

Support in the wider community

Manchester Airport staff have come together to collect food, toiletries and other essential goods for distribution to local food banks over the school summer holidays.

The Feed a Family scheme, which has been led by the Airport Community Network, was open to colleagues working for the airport. Other employers such as airlines, retailers and construction firms were also invited to donate.

Items collected were delivered to the Message Community Grocery in Sharston, and The Welcome Café in Shaw Heath, Knutsford.
Colleagues from partner organisations across the Airport Community Network provided items for the collection, including CAVU, Mace, NATS, Holiday Inn Express, DoubleTree by Hilton and Mediafour Limited.

Read more.