Half-term Getaway Helps London Stansted Record Busiest Ever May

A bumper half-term holiday week at London Stansted helped boost May's passenger numbers to a record-breaking 2.7million, the busiest ever May at the airport.

The monthly total was up 6.4% on the same month in 2023, and surpassed the previous busiest ever May in 2019 by 143,000 passengers.

London Stansted's extensive route network, and simple and efficient airport operation saw 860,000 passengers use the airport during the half-term week, with more than 98,000 passing through the terminal on 27th May alone – the busiest single day of the year so far – as many families jetted off on holiday, and tens of thousands of overseas visitors chose Stansted as their gateway to the UK.

The 12-month rolling total to the end of May stood at 28.8 million passengers, an increase of 9.8% on the previous year.

Operational performance in May remained good with 97% of departing passengers passing through security in 15 minutes or less.

The top destinations during the month were Dublin, Istanbul and Edinburgh, with the most popular countries being Spain, Italy and Germany.

May also saw the welcome return of British Airways, with new services to Ibiza, Nice and Florence as well as the opening of the airport's first electric vehicle charging forecourt. A new multi-year partnership with London Stadium was also announced during the month.

The airport is now set to welcome thousands of football fans who will be 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.

James Richardson, London Stansted's Finance Director, said: "London Stansted's fantastic range of destinations, and reliable and efficient airport operation continues to drive strong demand as we welcomed 2.7 million passengers to the airport in May.

"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.

"We were also delighted to see the return of British Airways to Stansted during the month with the launch of three exciting new services which I'm sure will prove very popular with passengers looking to head off to Ibiza, Nice and Florence this summer. 

"Ahead of the main summer getaway, we expect this month to be yet another busy period for the airport. We have already played host to thousands of football fans arriving for the Champions League final at Wembley earlier this month, and we are now preparing to welcome even more fans to Stansted as they head off to Euro 2024 thanks to the 10 direct services available to Germany."