Manchester Runway Viewing Park, Cheshire

The Runway Visitor Park is a popular plane spotting location in Manchester. It's situated about 2/3's of the way along a runway and is ideal for a family trip with a picnic.

A different type of Cheshire day out for me saw me at Manchester Airport with a spotty little boy recovering from chickenpox.

Manchester Airport is set in North Cheshire's stunning, green countryside. Beautiful.

The Viewing Park is a purpose built viewing area and is next to the taxiways that are used by aircraft landing and leaving the airport. There are 3 raised mounds that give a higher view of the airfield. We were so close to the planes and our grandson loved it . Best of all it is a FREE attraction but we paid parking.

The car park is huge, and there is a Shop, a hangar with Concorde in it, a complete Avro Jet, a Monarch DC-10 nose section, a complete BEA Hawker Siddley HS-121 Trident 3B and a complete Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod.

There are various tours of Concorde and it is housed in its own hangar.

The cost was £5.00 parking for two hours which made for a cheap morning out for a little boy recovering from chickenpox.

green Cheshire land of course

Manchester Airport VIewing Park

The history

Ringway Airport started construction in 1935 and opened in 1938. Before this there had been Manchester Airfields in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Ringway was later named Manchester Airport but we locals still call it Ringway on occasion.

Manchester was used by the Royal Air Force in World War 2. The visitor park was opened in 1992 and has much developed since then.

Airbus 380

The Airbus A380s is always a popular one as it is so large. There are always plenty of people taking photos when it is due to take off. See how close we were to it.

airbus 380 ; everyone's favourite

Viewing mounds

The 3 raised mounds give a superb view of the airfield. There are little telescopes for getting a better view.

one of the raised mounds for viewing

another mound is in the background

Children's playground and picnic area

Family friendly

Although the Viewing Park is full of plane-spotters, it is also family friendly. There is a children's play area and a little café. The sheer size of the area means that it doesn't feel crowded. The play area is ( sensibly :) ) away from the viewing mounds.

Several picnic tables are available for families not wanting to pay café prices.

THE AVRO

This AVRO is free to go on and look around. The cockpit dashboard looks terrifying to me!

THE AVRO JET

FREE OF CHARGE

The Avro

inside the plane

my grandson loved this

The cockpit

CONCORDE

Concorde was decommissioned in 2003 and the resting place for one of them is here at Manchester. It stands in a hangar and tours of it are hugely popular.

Concorde is housed at Manchester

Concorde was a British Airways jet

Several Carriers

Most of the world's major airlines come into Manchester and it is also the site of several package holiday flights. There are planes coming in every few seconds and there are two parallel runways. A third is under discussion.

Different carriers

arriving

2 more planes to look in

Beautiful blue skies, nary a cloud to be seen.

Only a high fence separates us from the runway.

Here in the car park, there are another two planes available for tours or viewing. You can see them in the background.

This is a great day out for just the cost of parking the car. Obviously, it isn't our best Cheshire air, standing there next to the runway but it is a great family day out regardless of that.

Updated: 05/26/2016, Veronica

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Veronica on 06/20/2017

Derdriu

Manchester is a publically owned airport owned by the 10 town councils around Greater Manchester. They maintain all the grounds and it is a beautiful place on North Cheshire land. The viewing part is a lovely family day out and very cheap too.

DerdriuMarriner on 06/20/2017

Veronica, Do you know when the airport does its lawn maintenance? The grounds photograph so beautifully that I started thinking about how I never have seen yard-working crews anywhere, not around the airport here, not around airports anywhere, no matter what hour I go by.

Veronica on 05/31/2016

TY Mihgasper ,

It is a lovely place and being able to get on planes and be so close to them is fascinating. The cost makes it an ideal day out.

mihgasper on 05/31/2016

What a lovely way to spend a nice day off with a family! We could definitely use the same recipe at our biggest airports. Having a huge unoccupied place is a privilege we are too often not aware of. Thank you for the tour and all the photos.

Veronica on 05/26/2016

Ringway is actually a hamlet between Wythenshawe and Hale Barns. There is a very old chapel there next to the Viewing Park and also an old pub The Romper.