London Stansted is gearing up for what is set to be its busiest ever summer as it continues to invest in its future, unlocking runway capacity and enhancing the passenger experience.
Following a record-breaking 2025, Stansted has continued its strong start to the year with a bumper June that saw passenger volumes up 3.4% year-on-year at 2.88m, and the busiest June on record.
It is now expecting more than 6.5m passengers to pass through the terminal during the peak summer months.
And the airport is accelerating work on its transformation programme that will deliver new passenger facilities, support growth and unlock spare capacity on its existing single runway.
Since announcing its transformation plans in October 2024, Stansted has been developing detailed designs and carrying out enabling works for the scheme, which will give it the terminal capacity to grow to serve more than 40mppa in the coming years.
The next phase of development will see work begin later this summer on the construction of new “skylink” walkways to connect the terminal to existing satellite buildings, enabling Stansted’s track transit people mover system to then be decommissioned.
The delivery of this project and removal of the transit system will enable the terminal building to be extended in later phases of the transformation work.
The centrepiece of the transformation, the three-bay extension to the existing terminal will add 16,500m2 of space, creating a bright spacious environment with new shops, bars and restaurants, making Stansted the biggest single terminal airport in Europe.
The five-year programme has already seen a number of projects successfully delivered or underway including:
- Development of the airport’s on-site solar farm
- Opening a new domestic arrival building
- Enlarged security hall featuring 17 latest technology scanners allowing passengers to leave liquids and large electrical items in hand luggage
- New security entrance portal with additional boarding card scanner
- New airside access security facility
- Refurbishment of Satellite Two gate areas
- Baggage system upgrades
Stansted’s investment programme is a key driver in attracting new fights to an array of global destinations. This will see Stansted play an increasingly important role in driving economic growth for London, the east of England and wider UK, reflecting its status as one of the only major UK airports with immediately available spare capacity.
This year’s strong demand from passengers has been driven by the great value, convenience and choice of more than 200 destinations on offer from Stansted with airline partners increasing capacity, adding more seats and choice of destinations, particularly Ryanair, Pegasus and Jet2.com.
Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s largest carriers, made its debut at the airport in March, flying to Istanbul up to 15 times a week, opening up easy onward connections to 353 destinations across Asia, Africa, Australia and beyond.
Other new additions include BA CityFlyer to Sardinia, easyJet flying to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Jet2.com expanding its summer programme with new routes to Jerez in Spain, Samos in Greece and La Palma in the Canary Islands.
At the end of last year, Stansted also secured permission to grow to up to 51m passengers a year over the next two decades. This will see the total number of on-site jobs increase by 4,500 to more than 16,000, and GVA double to nearly £2.5bn a year as passenger numbers grow to the 2040s.
Gareth Powell, London Stansted’s Managing Director, said:
“This year has already been another exciting period for everyone connected with London Stansted as we continue to welcome a record number of passengers, new airlines and routes and drive forward the airport’s transformation programme.
“We have real momentum behind our vision for London Stansted and a strong platform to build upon having joined the big league of airports last year when we passed the 30m passengers a year milestone and securing planning permission to serve up to 51m passengers a year.
“This presents us with a great opportunity to develop and optimise the infrastructure of the airport as we continue to grow passenger numbers and secure links to even more global destinations over the next couple of decades.
“We sit at the heart of the Innovation Corridor that runs from London to Cambridge and onwards to Peterborough and is growing at a rapid pace. This economic success is underpinned by excellent international connectivity, so our ability to increase passenger numbers coupled with our investment plans will bring new opportunities for growth across the Corridor.
“We have made great progress on enabling works to set the scene for the next stage as we now ramp up work and move to the delivery phase that will shape the airport of the future.
“We are unique among major airports in operating a single terminal, which means we can give people a simple, efficient and seamless experience, which we know they value, whether travelling for business, leisure or to visit friends and family. These exciting plans mean we are able to retain all those benefits, while introducing an array of new facilities and giving us the space we need to grow.
“Given the strong economic performance of our region, our ability to grow passenger numbers by making best use of the available runway capacity and the investment in new facilities, I’m confident the airport’s future is looking very bright.”
