It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2021–2025, in which it is categorized as a small hub primary commercial service facility.

Manchester–Boston is New England's third-largest cargo airport behind Connecticut's Bradley International, which is a hub for UPS Airlines, and Logan in Boston.

UPS uses Manchester to "feed" the rest of northern New England by contracting with Wiggins Airways,[7] which flies smaller prop-driven planes to places like Portland, Augusta, Bangor, Presque Isle, Rutland, and other communities.

FedEx previously used Manchester as a regional sorting station as well but now supports the northern New England destinations via direct flights from Memphis, Tennessee, to Portland and Burlington.

A contract with the Postal Service fills the FedEx jets (coming from hubs in Memphis and Indianapolis) with mail in addition to the typical assortment of express and overnight packages.

[1][8] For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2021, the airport had 32,845 aircraft operations, an average of 90 per day: 33% commercial, 26% air taxi, 39% general aviation and 2% military.

The board of aviation convinced George G. "Scotty" Wilson, a barnstormer operating out of Boston, to move to New Hampshire and start Manchester's first flying service.

Delta Air Lines absorbed Northeast in 1972 and continued to serve the airport with the DC-9 until 1978, then Boeing 727-200s until 1980 when it discontinued service at Manchester.

Manchester was also a "tag-on" for United flights heading from Bangor and Portland, Maine, to Chicago, but the carrier no longer serves either city with mainline aircraft.

The 757 has been used by both United and US Airways at Manchester, which stands as the largest passenger-carrying plane to serve the airport in scheduled service.

The Airbus A320 series of aircraft is also commonly used by United, Northwest Airlines (merged with Delta Air Lines), and occasionally by US Airways.

Two years later, a new 158,000-square-foot (14,700 m2) terminal designed by HNTB and Lavallee Brensinger opened, providing ample room for larger jets.

United Airlines canceled its Chicago O'Hare service in July 2018, making Newark its only destination from Manchester, which was replaced by Washington Dulles in March 2019.

[citation needed] The decline in service is due to increased activity at Logan International Airport in Boston and to mergers between airlines, which led to decreased flights.

[23] In 2007, construction began on Raymond Wieczorek Drive (then known as Manchester Airport Access Road), an expressway connection from the F.E.

[37] From November 13, 2006, to June 30, 2008, the airport operated a shuttle bus — free to ticketed passengers — that ran every two hours, 24 hours a day, to the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn, Massachusetts (45 minutes), on to the Sullivan Square subway station in Boston (75 minutes), and back to the airport via Woburn.

Flight Line offers hourly service between the airport, several points in northern Massachusetts, and the city of Boston for $39 each way.

Buses serve Concord and Hanover in New Hampshire; White River Junction, Montpelier, and Burlington in Vermont; and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Montreal in Quebec, Canada, when going northbound.

On June 3, 1928, at 3:02 p.m., Lt. George Wilson's Curtiss OX-5 nosedived 40 feet (12 m) and crashed at the south end of the airport while landing before thousands of onlookers.

On February 19, 1933, Real N. Bourke died when the Arrow Sport two-seater he had hired from Northeast Airways burst into flames a quarter mile north of Manchester Airport on the Boone Farm.

On December 10, 1942, a fighter plane connected to Manchester Airport (Grenier Field) crashed in Mont Vernon around noon; the unidentified pilot was uninjured.

On April 24, 1944, at 9:00 a.m., a four-motored Army B-24 Liberator bomber (#42-5111) took off from Manchester Airport and crashed into a densely wooded area on Fort Mountain near Epsom, killing all ten crew on board.

On November 29, 1944, at 9:30 a.m., another Army B-24L (#44-49669) crashed nose-first in Pawtuckaway State Forest in Nottingham, 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Manchester, killing all nine crew.

On April 22, 1971, at 5:00 pm, an 18-year-old single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, registered to New England Aviation Corp., crashed during takeoff, killing four people (one crew, three passengers).

After leaving Manchester it continued to Boston, but during landing there the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 hit a sea wall at the end of Runway 4, killing 83 passengers and six crew.

[43] On October 3, 1979, a small private plane carrying Agnetha Fältskog of the Swedish pop band ABBA was traveling on one of the last legs of their 1979 North American tour (New York City to Boston).

The Embraer 110 crashed into a Walmart Garden Center approximately a half mile north of the airport, shearing off both wings upon impact.

[45] On September 23, 2020, Air Force 2, a modified Boeing 757 carrying then U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on a flight from Manchester to Washington, D.C., suffered a bird strike while climbing out of the airport.

[47] On December 10, 2021, a Castle Air Swearingen Metroliner, flying in from Essex County Airport in New Jersey, crashed into the western bank of the Merrimack River, while attempting to land on runway 6 around 11:30 pm.

[48] On January 5, 2022, a FedEx Boeing 767 Bound for Memphis Slid off Taxiway H due to an ice storm and struck the airport's anemometer around 9:00am.