Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Half-term holidays give London Stansted busiest passenger day in airport history

Over 100,000 passengers passed through the airport on 27 October

Natalie Wilson
Tuesday 12 November 2024 08:59 EST
Comments
The airport revealed that destinations across Turkey, the Canaries, Spain, and Portugal were the most popular
The airport revealed that destinations across Turkey, the Canaries, Spain, and Portugal were the most popular (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Half-term holidays saw London Stansted experience its busiest day in history, with a record number of travellers taking off for European holiday hotspots.

On 27 October, more than 107,000 passengers passed through the airport’s terminal on the first weekend of the autumn break.

The airport revealed that destinations across Turkey, the Canaries, Spain, and Portugal were the most popular with holidaymakers seeking sunnier climes.

At the same time, international arrivals to London for European football and NFL games peaked at the end of last month.

Previously, the highest recorded footfall of passengers was 104,000, which was set on 23 August 2024.

Over the last 12 months from October, 29.45 million passengers have used London Stansted for travel, an increase of 6.7 per cent compared to the previous year.

According to the airport, 99 per cent of passengers passed through security in 15 minutes or less during the busiest day, with an average queue time of two minutes during the main departure peaks.

Earlier this month, the aviation hub announced plans to invest £1.1 billion in airport services over five years to help “secure links to global destinations” and “transform the airport journey”.

Gareth Powell, London Stansted’s managing director, said: “To record the busiest day in the history of London Stansted in late October is an incredible achievement and a powerful reflection of reliability, great choice, value and operational efficiency the airport and our airline partners are able to offer our passengers.

“We know all these aspects of travel are really important to passengers when choosing where they fly to and from, so our teams work hard every day to ensure we do all we can to make the airport experience as seamless and smooth as possible while offering the best connectivity to Europe of any UK airport.”

For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in