Stansted Airport Chamber of Commerce

Published: 03 May 2024

• £8 million upgrade of satellite one departures area and space secured for long-haul carriers
• creating value for airlines and better facilities for passengers 
• investment aimed at differentiating the airline offer
• Stansted is ready to meet the needs of the ever changing airline industry

	London Stansted has announced the next phase of its airport transformation - an £8million upgrade of its Satellite One departure gate area.  Unveiling details at ‘Future Travel Experience’ industry conference in central London, the Airport’s Managing Director, Andrew Harrison outlined MAG’s vision to transform the passenger experience at Stansted by upgrading and rejuvenating the areas most valued by passengers, whilst offering airlines a more tailored and differentiated airport product.   Part of a wider £260million investment programme, this development is being driven by the airport’s ambition to attract more passengers, airlines and long-haul services to Stansted.  The multi-million pound upgrade of Satellite One will not only make the area sleek, modern and contemporary in style but provide enhanced passenger facilities in the form of comfortable lifestyle seating, fully refurbished toilets as well as free charging points and improved wi-fi.  Space is also being secured for bespoke lounge facilities to be developed to differentiate the offer to airlines.    Design plans for the airport’s new Escape Lounge were also unveiled; an exciting development which serves the needs of Stansted’s changing passenger profile and the first lounge in the main departures area in the airport’s 24 year history.   Speaking at the conference Andrew Harrison, Managing Director of Stansted Airport, said:   “These are really exciting times and will be a significant turning point in the airport’s history.  Having successfully returned Stansted to growth, making it once again London’s fastest growing airport, we’re driving forward our ambition to attract a greater mix of airlines, including long-haul connections to serve our region and the London – Stansted – Cambridge economic growth corridor.          “The value of these investments isn’t just about how much is being spent, it’s the focus being placed on delivering designs and facilities that work for both our passengers and airline partners because the money we spend has to represent value for both.  I’m really excited and looking forward to this time next year when this phase of re-development will be completed and our passengers can fully experience how Stansted is changing because this is just the beginning.”    Great progress has been made in the past year with the £80m transformation of the terminal building.  The new security area that has doubled in size opened last year together with phase one of the brand new departure lounge with its flagship entrance through the biggest walkthrough World Duty Free Store in the World Duty Free Group.   All new cafes, bars and restaurants will open by this Spring including many firsts not just for Stansted Airport but the travel industry too and the successful tenders for the remaining 18 retail outlets will be announced in the coming months.    For further information on the changes taking place at Stansted visit www.stanstedairport.com/transformation

Published: 03 May 2024

• Stansted’s annual passenger numbers up by 9.8%, highest since February 2005

• Monthly traffic grows 16.9% over October 2013, the largest monthly increase in over 10 years

• Busiest winter flying programme for years and Flybe joins network

The number of passengers using Stansted Airport each year is growing at the fastest rate since February 2005 as over 19.4 million passed through the terminal in the 12 months ending October 2014, an increase of 9.8% over the previous year.
 
Monthly passengers increased by 16.9%, the largest monthly increase in over 10 years, as more than 1.8 million passengers flew through Stansted in October, over 272,000 more than used the airport in the corresponding month last year.
 
October’s performance signals the start of one of Stansted’s busiest winter seasons for many years and is in addition to the announcement yesterday that Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, will launch new flights to the Isle of Man, Newcastle and Newquay from March 2015.
 
The growth in passengers continues to be driven by increased frequencies on key routes across Europe plus an increase in the average number of seats sold on each aircraft – up from 81.6% in 2013 to 85.2% in October 2014.
 
Andrew Harrison, Stansted’s Managing Director, said:
 
“The strong growth we’ve seen at Stansted across the summer months has continued through to October with annual passenger numbers increasing at their fastest rate for nearly 10 years to maintain our leading position as the fastest growing airport in the south-east.
 
“To grow our monthly passenger numbers by 16.9% demonstrates the strength of our route network and the success of our airline partners in attracting more and more passengers on to each flight as load factors continue their upward trend.
 
“Stansted has now seen over 1.7 million more passengers use the airport in the last 12 months, and with one of our busiest winter flight schedules for many years now in operation, we expect to see passenger numbers continuing to grow in the coming months.
 
“This increasing demand underpins why we believe it’s critical Network Rail’s Anglia Route Study proposals need to show more ambition and greater vision to deliver faster rail services to unlock the airport’s potential as, unlike other London airports, Stansted has spare runway capacity today and significant room to grow in the future.”