London Stansted is marking National Aviation Day by revealing it delivered its busiest flying day ever, when 693 aircraft took off or landed in a single 24 hours during this summer’s peak getaway period.
Hundreds of people came together to deliver the record day, which was 20 July, during Stansted’s busiest ever month, when more than 3.1 million passengers travelled through the airport as families headed off on their summer holidays.
July also saw a record 8,977 departing passenger flights operate from Stansted, the highest monthly total in the airport’s history.
For passengers, the record-breaking day may have simply meant a busy terminal and full flights, but behind the scenes a huge and carefully coordinated operation was under way to keep almost 700 aircraft movements running safely and efficiently.
The result was the culmination of meticulous planning stretching back almost a year, when airlines build their schedules around the airport’s available capacity. Once the day arrives, that plan relies on hundreds of people across the airport working together to deliver it safely and efficiently.
At a single-runway airport, the runway is effectively like a conveyor belt, with aircraft landing and taking off in carefully coordinated succession.
Air traffic controllers play a crucial role, sequencing departures to make the most efficient use of the runway while ensuring the correct spacing between arriving aircraft.
On the ground, teams work to keep aircraft turnaround times to a minimum, with ground crews carrying out highly choreographed ‘pit stop’ turnarounds to get aircraft ready for their next flight and keep the schedule on track.
Flight crews also play their part, arriving at the right speed and using the runway for the minimum time possible, helping to maintain the flow of aircraft throughout the day.
From air traffic controllers and airfield teams to airlines, security staff and ground handlers, hundreds of people worked together throughout the day to keep aircraft moving and passengers on their way.
Nick Millar, Operations Director at London Stansted, said:
“National Aviation Day is a great opportunity to recognise the people who make the UK’s aviation industry work every day, and our busiest day ever is a perfect example of the scale of that operation.
“Handling 693 aircraft movements in a single day is a fantastic achievement and reflects the hard work of hundreds of people across the airport and the careful planning that goes into making a day like this possible.
“The planning starts almost a year in advance, when schedules are built around the capacity we have available. Then, on the day itself, it takes constant coordination between our air traffic controllers, airlines, flight crews, ground teams and everyone else across the airport to turn that plan into reality.
“Most passengers don’t see that side of the operation, but it takes a huge amount of planning, precision and teamwork to manage an airport of this scale, especially during the busy summer period.
“As Europe’s busiest single terminal, single runway airport, every aircraft movement needs to be carefully managed, and we’re proud of how our teams and partners came together to deliver a safe and efficient operation on our busiest day ever.”
London Stansted serves more European destinations than any other UK airport and operates flights to more than 200 destinations across Europe, the Middle East and beyond.
