Aether at Manchester airport promises a private-jet experience with seamless security and a VIP chauffeur, even if you’ve booked with Ryanair.
From: thetimes.com
Budget travel took off in the 1990s in a way it hadn’t before. Ryanair had been going for a decade; easyJet started flying in 1995. Thanks to the rise of the internet and DIY holidays, Britain soon became a nation of city breakers, flying to Europe for pennies. But not much has changed in 30 years. We soon got used to serpentine security queues, taking only hand luggage and sitting on the floor in an overcrowded departure lounge. It was always worth it to get to the destination. Or was it? It’s long been clear that the whole industry is ripe for disruption.
In Manchester, the UK’s lowest-rated airport according to the consumer group Which?, disruption looks something like Aether. The swish private terminal, which opened at the start of November with the Greek name for “clear sky”, wants to offer the private jet experience — separate, seamless security and chauffeurs — to everyone, including those flying easyJet and Ryanair. And it all starts at the decidedly unprincely sum of just £90. For that, you get Aether’s “express” deal: private check-in and security, plus a ride in a BMW to the departure gate.
This private terminal was formerly known as “PremiAir”— a play on words that appealed to the many footballers in this corner of the UK. But while its former iteration was only available to those with premium tickets, Aether is available to everyone, even those on budget airlines. It’s the first of its kind in the UK — a sort of halfway point between a pay-for-use lounge in the airport itself (which typically costs about £40pp), and Heathrow’s VIP Windsor Suite package, which includes collecting passengers from their home and sorts security within the suite while a butler serves dishes created by the celebrity chef Jason Atherton (from £3,630 for up to three people). The benefit of Aether is that it allows passengers to avoid Manchester airport almost entirely, much like if you were flying by private jet. If you’re a frequent traveller out of the UK’s third-largest hub, or concerned about germs — as many still are post-pandemic — you might argue that the hushed calm of Aether is nothing short of priceless.
I used the new terminal on a recent British Airways flight. If I were being unkind, I’d say that Aether is a glorified shed at the southern end of the runway. But two weary decades of battling through airport departures, recently with a small child, have left me feeling more open to the idea; it feels as refreshing as the complimentary glasses of cold Nyetimber that guests are served in the lounge.
Here’s how it works. Passengers arrive by taxi (with no drop-off fee, unlike at the normal terminal) at the weeny building, with its new zinc roof and façade, to be greeted at reception. Passports and documents are inspected by staff; hold luggage, if you have it, is discreetly checked in and whisked away to the plane. If passengers have paid for the £90pp “express” option, designed for those flying hand-luggage only and short on time, they go straight through Aether’s private security lane to a BMW, to be driven directly to their departure gate. Although no food and drink is included in this option, it’s quite the way to arrive for a £10.99 Ryanair flight.
If they’ve booked the “inclusive” package, from £150pp for three hours, there’s an extra (fun) step before security. I’ve already got my boarding pass, which is checked with my passport. I’m then shown into the lounge, with its blond wood, caramel leather seats and floor-to-ceiling windows, and a gobsmacking view over the runway. Although it holds up to eight passengers an hour, I have the entire place to myself at 2pm — though I’m told that that morning, a “VVVIP” was whisked through Aether. Staff are discreet enough to not tell me who it is — in these parts it could be a politician, a Premier League footballer or a Corrie star. Earlier this week, when the MTV awards were held at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, celebrities including Rita Ora travelled through the terminal.
For your £150, a six-course small-plate menu from the local chef Adam Reid is included — I’m still thinking about the malt loaf and beef butter, and the cheese from Chorlton Cheesemongers — plus unlimited drinks, including champagne and English sparkling wine. This is all very nice, but the really cool thing is the view out across the apron where, mere metres away, planes are taxiing past. I’m in there for an hour and see a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a Turkish Airlines Airbus A330 and a Saudia Dreamliner cruise to the runway. There’s also an incredible straight-on view of the more mundane easyJet and Ryanair single-aisle jets banging down on the tarmac, landing from destinations including Malaga and Marrakesh.
If a smooth airport experience and lounge access is crucial to a happy holiday, Aether compares favourably with a business-class ticket. For comparison, a morning flight on Monday, November 18, with Emirates costs £495 from Manchester to Dubai in economy and £2,915 in business class. Book an economy seat and the inclusive package — for a total of £645, less than a quarter of the business fare — and you get the lounge, plus the easier check-in and the BMW ride.
You can also book the inclusive Aether experience on arrival into Manchester. Passengers are met at the plane door (or straight off the jet bridge) and you’re driven in a BMW to the lounge, where your documents are processed and bags are collected — all while enjoying small-plate dishes. An express experience for domestic arrivals is soon to launch, whereby passengers from the UK and Ireland (without hold luggage) can avoid the airport and exit via Aether instead. I’m sceptical about how useful this will be — if you’re a domestic arrival with no bags to collect, leaving the airport is usually pretty fuss-free, so it doesn’t seem worth it.
Back in the lounge, where I’m waiting for my flight, it’s almost painful to get the discreet tap on the shoulder that it’s time to go through security. No lurking around an airport departures screen here. My greedy fingers are uncurled from an espresso and I’m shown through the single security lane next door — which happily has a new-gen scanner, meaning no liquid restrictions and I don’t have to remove my laptop — before I’m shown to a BMW. In all my years of flying I’ve never been chauffeured across an airport apron; I feel like a million dollars doing it. Unintelligible air traffic control chatter buzzes through the car radio, and it feels as though the car momentarily darkens with the shadow of the Jet2 Airbus A330 from Alicante that taxis in front of us.
The major snag is that passengers are dropped off at the gate inside the terminal, rather than at the plane door itself; a so-far unavoidable security hurdle when leaving the UK. And so my VIP experience comes to a screeching halt the moment I am shown to gate 143 in Terminal 3 and have to queue up with everyone else. Unfortunately, I’m back where I belong. But for two hours, airports felt like they could be enjoyable again … which I’d say is worth £150.
Cathy Adams was a guest of Aether, which has express departures from £90pp for adults, £67.50 for children 2-12, free for under-2s (experienceaether.com)