Manchester Airport welcomed 2.1 million passengers in November, with Amsterdam as the top destination.
The airport said it had a record November, with passenger numbers up 13% compared to the previous year.
The increase was fuelled by 94,990 people travelling to the Dutch city. The next most popular destination was Dublin, visited by 92,299 passengers. November also saw travellers heading to winter sun spots, with 90,628 passengers travelling to Dubai and 83,447 to Tenerife.
Other destinations in the top 10 included Alicante, Paris, Qatar, Lanzarote, Belfast and Copenhagen.
Over the Christmas period from 20 December to 2 January, around 1.1m passengers are expected to fly into Manchester.
In December, around 25,000 travellers are expected to fly to five Finnish airports (Ivalo, Kittilä, Enontekiö Kuusamo and Rovaniemi) from Manchester for Lapland visits.
Manchester Airport Managing Director Chris Woodroofe said: “Christmas is a magical time here at Manchester Airport. We’re always proud to connect the North to the world but the importance of that role really shines through at this time of year. It feels wonderful when you see travellers having emotional reunions in arrivals and families in departures getting ready to visit Father Christmas in Lapland.
“It’s also always a popular time to fly and, having broken our passenger records every month for well over a year now, we expect this Christmas to be the biggest and busiest we’ve ever seen with over a million passengers flying in the two-week festive period.”
