What is Aether?What are Aether's car parking options?
With the opening of Aether getting closer, one of the main questions around the private terminal was: where do you park your car? MAN have made it clearer with the launch of a new booking portal
What is Aether?
Aether is the new private terminal at Manchester Airport. It's due to launch on the 4th November 2024, and it's an exciting proposition. Fly from MAN but avoid the main terminals. What's promised is an extremely private experience. Head to a private terminal, be chauffeured to your plane, and then do the reverse on the way back.
If you think that Aether at Manchester Airport sounds familiar that's because it used to be called Premair. That offering closed during covid, and the building has been revamped and renamed.
Why is parking a hot topic?
Aether is located at the Southernmost part of the airport. That's far beyond the main terminals, and almost at the start of the two runways. That means that it's virtually impossible to walk from the main terminal to the private terminal. MAN has plenty of car parks close to Terminals 1, 2 and 3, but they are no use if you're flying from Aether
What's the parking solution?
MAN have launched a meet and greet service at Aether. That means you pull up, walk into the terminal, give them your keys and you're done. Your car will be waiting for you when you return, and if you choose to fly back into one of the main terminals then they say that you can pick it up from there.
The instructions on the website suggest a very simple process:
On Arrival: Arrive to the aether terminal and leave your key with our host and they'll take care of the rest.
Find us at aether, 2 Wilmslow Old Road, Manchester, WA15 8XQ, just a two-minute drive from Junction 6 off the M56 and follow the signs to the Runway Visitor Park.On Return: If you are returning to another terminal we will arrange for our Meet & Greet team to have the vehicle waiting for you there. If you are arriving at aether your car will be returned to aether and your keys with our host.
How much is the parking at Aether?
You will pay a premium for parking at Aether
Doing a dummy booking for a fictional long weekend away in November (12 noon on the Thursday to 4pm on the Sunday) brings up a cost of £36 at Aether. Parking over the same time period at T1 would be £80, or T2 would be £62.
Looking at a longer trip of two weeks, parking comes in at £198 for Aether. whereas the most expensive option in the main terminal is £111.99.
MAN operate dynamic pricing on their car parking, which means that it changes based on availability, so that may be affecting some of the pricing above, but Aether remains significantly higher.
