Stansted Airport announces rise in revenue

Stansted Airport has announced earnings of more than £270million in the last year, which is an increase of nearly 11 per cent.

Financial figures for the 2014/15 year, announced today, show the airport catered for £2.9m more passengers than last year, making Stansted the fastest growing airport in the UK in terms of passenger numbers.

Last week saw the return of long-haul flights to the airport with Thomas Cook launching journeys to Orlando, Las Vegas and Cancun, with extra departures already announced for next year.

Charlie Cornish, CEO of Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns the airport, said: “MAG has delivered a fifth consecutive year of strong growth, investment and development that has enabled us to exceed expectations across many of our key measures, including the delivery of industry leading passenger numbers and trading performance.

“I am especially pleased with the performance of our two largest airports, Manchester and London Stansted, which are both currently enjoying robust growth and have bright futures ahead of them.

“Our airports have a vital role to play in the next 10-15 years as London expands eastwards, the northern powerhouse becomes a reality and runway capacity in the South East becomes even scarcer.”

“Following the Airports Commission’s submission of its Final Report, it is imperative that the focus of Government and other stakeholders is on the practical steps needed to maximise the potential of existing airport capacity in the period before any new runway is completed.

“We continue to request that Government and Network Rail apply greater efforts to improve the rail links into Stansted and Manchester, which together can accommodate an extra 50-60 million passengers a year.”