Stansted Airport recorded its busiest year since 2007 as 22.56 million passengers travelled through the terminal in 2015, an increase of 2.6 million passengers and 13% on the previous 12 months. 

Domestic traffic experienced the strongest growth during 2015 with passenger numbers up by 50%, primarily driven by a significant increase in capacity on Scottish routes by Ryanair and easyJet.
 
In December, over 1.7m passengers used Stansted, an increase of 9.2 per cent on the previous year, making it the second busiest December on record and the 21st month of continuous growth for the airport.
 
The month also saw the highest ever load factor for any December with an average of 83.2% of all available seats occupied on each flight, surpassing the previous best of 81.5% set in 2014.
 
Cargo tonnage at Stansted during December increased by 7.8% over the same month last year to lift the annual total to over 237,000 tonnes in the past 12 months, up 4.7% on the previous year and the highest annual total since 2012.

 
Andrew Harrison, Stansted’s Managing Director, said:
 
“The last 12 months have been another exciting and transformational period for Stansted with more rapid growth in passenger numbers and a host of significant changes taking place around the airport.
 
“During the year we saw six consecutive months of two million plus passengers - the first time this has been achieved since 2007- and ended the year with the second busiest December in the airport’s history.
 
“On the development front, we are now putting the finishing touches to our £80million terminal transformation following the opening of the final phases earlier this year, and work is now underway to construct a new £45 million 357-bed hotel next to the terminal to provide even more choice and enhanced facilities.
 
“These were all fantastic achievements and real positive signs of the progress we are making at Stansted.
Looking at 2016, it promises to be yet another great year for Stansted as we mark the 25th anniversary of HM The Queen opening the terminal building in 1991, and I’m optimistic we will be able to announce new airline partners joining us at Stansted in the coming months, including more long-haul services.”
 
To hear more from Andrew Harrison visit the airport’s YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0XHjMYzpxk