The station is 9+3⁄4 miles (15.7 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly at the end of a short branch from the Styal Line constructed by British Rail in 1993.

The station platforms are connected by escalator, lift, ramps and an elevated covered walkway (known as the "Sky Link") to the airport terminal buildings in which is a staffed railway ticket office.

The following year Network Rail noted that it had "greatly increased operational flexibility at the station, and reduced the number of times that late-running trains had to be terminated at Manchester Piccadilly.

"[1] In 2009, Network Rail stated that the creation of the third platform has meant that the capacity at Manchester Airport will become constrained by the layover of the trains and congestion at the throat.

[7][8] In January 2013, the Government announced that Manchester Airport would be included in the second phase of the High Speed 2 railway line.

There are eight trains per hour (tph) to Manchester Piccadilly and beyond, seven of which start and end their journeys here, and the other continues south to Crewe via Wilmslow.

It was planned that infrastructure developments that are part of the Northern Hub system of schemes such as the Ordsall Chord should enable direct trains to Manchester Victoria and on towards Bradford from May 2019.

With the introduction to a zonal ticketing system on Metrolink services in January 2019, Manchester Airport is located within zone 4.