A bumper half-term holiday week helped London Stansted passenger traffic reach record-breaking levels in May, ahead of what is expected to be one of the busiest summers ever.
Some 2.7m passengers passed through the hub last month, up 6.4 per cent year-on -year and surpassing the previous 2019 record by 143,000.
It brings Stansted’s 12 month rolling total to 28.8m, an increase of 9.8 per cent year-on-year amid a string of monthly records.
Over 98,000 travellers used Stansted on the 27th May during the half-term bonanza, marking the busiest day of the year so far.
Top destinations included Dublin, Istanbul and Edinburgh, with the most popular countries being Spain Italy and Germany.
British aviation has boomed in recent months as travel demand holds following last years dramatic rebound from Covid-era passenger lows.
Heathrow this morning revealed it had carried a historic number of passengers in the last 12 months as around 81.5m travellers used the hub.
Airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are preparing extensively for the coming months, with events such as the Olympics and Euros expected to further boost demand.
Stansted said it was “set to welcome thousands of football fans” travelling to the Euros in Germany over the next month.
“London Stansted serves 10 German destinations so all the tournament cities will be easily accessible for fans of both England and Scotland, plus many other European nationals based in the UK who will be heading off to follow their teams,” the airport said in a statement.
James Richardson, London Stansted’s Finance Director, said: “The record-breaking numbers were boosted by a very busy half-term week as hundreds of thousands of Brits headed off on holiday as well as huge numbers of overseas visitors choosing the airport as their gateway to London and the East of England.
“Ahead of the main summer getaway, we expect this month to be yet another busy period for the airport.”