London Stansted accelerates transformation programme

London Stansted Airport is accelerating its transformation programme, with new ‘skylink’ walkways and a major terminal extension set to enhance the passenger experience, boost capacity and support long-term growth.

Summary:

London Stansted Airport is accelerating its terminal transformation programme to enhance the passenger experience, support future growth and increase capacity.
New ‘skylink’ walkways will replace the airport’s track transit people mover, enabling the next phase of terminal expansion and operational improvements.
A 16,500sqm terminal extension will introduce new passenger facilities including shops, bars and restaurants, supporting growth to more than 40 million passengers annually.

London Stansted Airport – a member of Manchester Airports Group (a Corporate Partner of the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub) – continues to invest in enhancing the passenger experience. The airport is accelerating work on its transformation programme that will deliver new passenger facilities, support growth and unlock spare capacity on its existing single runway.

Since announcing its transformation plans in October 2024, London Stansted has been developing detailed designs and carrying out enabling works for the scheme, which will give it the terminal capacity to grow to serve more than 40 million passengers annually in the coming years. The next phase of development will see work begin later this summer on the construction of new ‘skylink’ walkways to connect the terminal to existing satellite buildings, enabling London Stansted’s track transit people mover system to then be decommissioned. The delivery of this project and removal of the transit system will enable the terminal building to be extended in later phases of the transformation work.

The centrepiece of the transformation, the three-bay extension to the existing terminal will add 16,500sqm of space, creating a bright spacious environment with new shops, bars and restaurants, making London Stansted the biggest single terminal airport in Europe.

“This year has already been another exciting period for everyone connected with London Stansted as we continue to welcome a record number of passengers, new airlines and routes and drive forward the airport’s transformation programme,” said Gareth Powell, Managing Director, London Stansted. “We have real momentum behind our vision for London Stansted and a strong platform to build upon having joined the big league of airports last year when we passed the 30 million passengers a year milestone and securing planning permission to serve up to 51 million passengers a year. This presents us with a great opportunity to develop and optimise the infrastructure of the airport as we continue to grow passenger numbers and secure links to even more global destinations over the next couple of decades. We have made great progress on enabling works to set the scene for the next stage as we now ramp up work and move to the delivery phase that will shape the airport of the future. We are unique among major airports in operating a single terminal, which means we can give people a simple, efficient and seamless experience, which we know they value, whether travelling for business, leisure or to visit friends and family. These exciting plans mean we are able to retain all those benefits, while introducing an array of new facilities and giving us the space we need to grow.”