Stansted celebrates 25th anniversary of terminal building opening

Stansted Airport has marked the 25^th anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen officially opening the terminal building of London’s third largest airport.

On the 15 March 1991, the ‘new’ terminal building at Stanstead Airport was officially opened by The Queen. Since then, the terminal has been extended twice, including a £50m extension to the arrivals area that opened in 2008, and following MAG’s acquisition in 2013, the terminal underwent an £80 million transformation alongside an £11m upgrade to the Satellite One departures area.

Stansted originally began life as a World War II USAAF base but was transformed by the development of a new £400 million terminal in 1991. Since the first flight departed to Glasgow four days later, over 350 million passengers have passed through the Lord Foster designed building on over 3.2 million flights.

At present, the airport serves over 170 destinations and 23 million passengers a year compared to less than 50 routes and 1.1 million passengers when it opened in 1991.

“Stansted is now firmly established as a leading European airport”

Andrew Harrison, Stansted’s Managing Director, said: “The modern Stansted we see today has made an immense contribution in helping transform the aviation landscape in the UK and Europe through access to affordable and convenient air travel.

“Stansted has always been recognised for its world class airport infrastructure and iconic terminal design, but it’s the significant role as a major London airport competing for passengers and attracting new airlines during a period when the sector has dramatically changed and evolved that really marks out what Stansted has delivered over the past 25 years.

“Stansted is now firmly established as a leading European airport, a true international gateway and home to some of the world’s most successful airlines, such as Ryanair and easyJet.

“Building on these excellent foundations, we have recently completed an £80 million investment project to reinvigorate and update the terminal, and following MAG’s acquisition we have added over five million passengers in three years to once again make Stansted one of the UK’s fastest growing airports.

“It’s great to look back and acknowledge past achievements and the progress we have made but with passenger numbers growing rapidly and Stansted already the busiest single terminal airport in the UK, we are now focusing on what developments and investments we need in the future to keep pace with demand, a future that promises to be just as exciting and as fast moving as the past 25 years.”