Stars aligned at soaraway Stansted
Billions of pounds have been invested down the years to make Stansted what it is now – a record breaking hub and a jewel in Europe’s aviation crown. Millions more have been pledged by airport owner MAG to maintain the pace of sensible and in-demand upgrades.
It is fair to say the outlook for the airport hasn’t always been as rosy. A privatised BAA sold Stansted to Manchester Airport Group in 2013 as a result of a March 2009 ruling by the Competition Commission against BAA's monopoly position.
BAA had owned the hub from 1966 when England won football’s World Cup for the first and only time. No more wingless wonders now, of course! Football really did come home last weekend when the England Euro 24 squad winged in from Germany having reached the final before losing to Spain.
The team’s arrival was just the latest celebrity occasion on MAG’s watch. In the last few weeks alone, Stansted has said hello or goodbye to A-list music stars like Taylor Swift, Rod Stewart – who most definitely wasn’t ‘Sailing’ – Ed Sheeran and Kylie Minogue, 2024 winner of the Brit Global Icon Award.
The ubiquitous broadcaster and podcaster Piers Morgan and Julian Assange, the former WikiLeaks founder whose own wings were recently unclipped by the US authorities, are recent Stansted passengers.
And, as if heeding Sir Rod Stewart’s recent urgings to give Labour a chance at government, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer joined the throng using Stansted literally taking the seat that his predecessor Rishi Sunak had previously occupied by right – just a fortnight after the Japanese Emperor winged in.
In former years, of course, US and Russian presidents – including Barack Obama – have flown through Stansted for G7 events and we believe the interactions of their respective security teams were quite something to behold.
London Stansted passed the rolling 29 million passengers a year milestone for the first time in its history following its busiest ever June on record.
It welcomed 2.8 million passengers in June, an increase of 8.3 per cent on the same month last year, and 153,000 more passengers than the previous busiest ever June in 2019.
Stansted also recorded its first ever 100,000 plus passenger days in the month of June, with more than 100,800 passengers passing through the terminal on June 28. This was also the third busiest day ever at Stansted.
Operational performance remained good with 97 per cent of departing passengers passing through security in 15 minutes or less.
Public users? Box ticked. Private aircraft owners. Ditto. And the beat goes on! The Government’s planning inspectorate – before the General Election – approved MAG’s plans for major expansion of the terminal, to provide another important and timely show of faith in the burgeoning Essex hub.
It all adds up to a spanking and sustained success for the East of England’s business and tourist industries and provides a resounding endorsement for MAG’s commitment to continue investing in the UK’s third largest airport.
