New April record as Stansted Airport handles 2.5 million passengers

A record 2.5 million passengers passed through Stansted Airport during April, with numbers boosted by the Easter getaway.

The total was an increase of nearly 54,000 (2.2%) on the same month last year, the airport’s previous April high.

Stansted welcomed 1.5 million passengers during the two-week Easter holidays alone and recorded its busiest day of the year so far with more than 94,000 passengers taking to the skies on Good Friday.

April was the first full month of the summer flying season and saw the launch of a host of new services, including Ryanair to Lübeck in Germany and Linz in Austria, Air Algérie to Algiers in Algeria and Transavia to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The number of passengers using Stansted in the last 12 months has grown to 29.95 million, an increase of 4.5% on the previous year.

The most popular destinations in April were Dublin, Istanbul and Edinburgh, with Spain, Italy and Germany the most visited countries.

Ciaran Brannigan, Stansted’s commercial director, said: “April was another very good month at London Stansted, where we delivered a very strong operational performance for a record-breaking number of passengers, who enjoyed a smooth and reliable experience as they passed through the airport, particularly over the busy Easter holiday period.

“The great choice, value and convenience we can offer our passengers continues to drive strong growth and demand, and with a number of new routes having launched last month and more taking off in the coming weeks, we expect to welcome even more people as we head into summer.”