Stansted Airport | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Owner/Operator | Manchester Airports Group | ||||||||||
Serves | |||||||||||
Location | Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, England, United Kingdom | ||||||||||
Opened | 7 August 1943 | ||||||||||
Operating base for | |||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 348 ft / 106 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 51°53′06″N 0°14′06″E / 51.88500°N 0.23500°E | ||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2022) | |||||||||||
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Stansted Airport (IATA: STN, ICAO: EGSS) is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, 42 mi (68 km) northeast of Central London.
As London's third-busiest airport, Stansted serves over 180 destinations across Europe, Asia and North Africa. London Stansted is a base for a number of European low-cost carriers. This includes being the largest base for low-cost airline Ryanair, with over 150 destinations served by the airline. As of 2022[update], it is the fourth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom after Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester.[3] During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, it ranked second in the country.[4] Stansted's runway is also used by private companies such as the Harrods Aviation, Titan Airways, and XJet terminals, which are private ground handlers that can handle private flights, charter flights, and state visits.
Converted to civil use from RAF Stansted Mountfitchet in the late 1940s, Stansted was used by charter airlines. It came under British Airports Authority control in 1966. The privatised BAA sold Stansted in February 2013 to Manchester Airports Group as a result of a March 2009 ruling by the Competition Commission against BAA's monopoly position.[5][6]
The airport has one main passenger terminal, with three passenger satellites containing the departure gates; one is connected to the main terminal by air bridges, one by the Stansted Airport Transit System people mover, and one by both. The terminal building was designed by Foster and Partners on a single level with open canopies to facilitate passenger movement.
From 1997 to 2007, Stansted had rapid expansion of passenger numbers on the back of the boom in low-cost air travel, peaking at 24 million passengers in the 12 months to October 2007, but passenger numbers declined in the next five years. Passenger totals later increased, and in 2016 recorded an annual increase of 8.0% to 24.3 million, and numbers have since continued to rise.[2]