London Stansted is that this week marking the thirtieth anniversary of her majesty the Queen formally opening the terminal constructing on March fifteenth, 1991.
The milestone comes because the airport faces one of many largest challenges in its historical past, with the Covid-19 pandemic grounding all however important flights and the aviation sector going through persevering with uncertainty over when journey may resume.
Before the pandemic, the airport would welcome round 28 million passengers a yr flying to nearly 200 locations.
This compares to fewer than 50 routes and simply over a million passengers when the terminal opened in 1991.
However, within the final 12 months the variety of passengers passing via its doorways at the moment are just like ranges final seen in 1994.
The trendy Stansted was created by the event of a brand new £400 million terminal and airfield infrastructure in 1991 that reworked the unique airfield that started life as a World War II USAAF base.
Four days after the official opening, the brand new terminal welcomed its first passengers for the primary departing flight, an Air UK service to Glasgow, and greeted its first arrivals when an Air France flight landed from Paris.
Since that date, almost 460 million passengers have handed via the Lord Foster designed constructing on 3.95 million flights.
Steve Griffiths, London Stansted managing director, stated: “London Stansted has an extended and proud historical past, and to be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of our iconic terminal constructing, a constructing that has undoubtedly stood the take a look at of time, is one other nice milestone on the airport’s journey.
“While the fashionable Stansted has been on the forefront of the revolution in air journey over previous three a long time, we presently face a disaster on a scale like by no means earlier than.
“Passenger numbers are nearly again on the similar ranges as once we first opened, however we all know there may be demand from the thousands and thousands of travellers who begin and finish their journeys via our doorways every year.
“That is why it’s extra vital than ever that the federal government’s Global Travel Taskforce acts shortly to ascertain a framework for the restart of worldwide journey in May.
“Stansted has helped create so many unbelievable reminiscences for our passengers and our extremely valued colleagues over time, 70 of whom have been with us since we welcomed the Queen all these years in the past.
“We can’t wait to welcome again our passengers to start the following 30 years of Stansted’s story, and we’re assured the airport has a really brilliant and profitable future as soon as individuals are in a position to begin planning for his or her well-deserved summer season getaways.”
In the final 30 years, the terminal has been prolonged twice, together with a £50 million extension to the arrivals space that opened in 2008, and following MAG’s acquisition in 2013, the terminal has undergone an £80 million transformation together with an £11 million improve to the Satellite One departures space.
The evolution of the terminal has continued with the introduction of a brand new ‘shoreline’ check-in space in 2019, immediately going through passengers as they enter the terminal, and earlier this yr, the set up of a brand new £60 million hi-tech baggage system beneath the terminal was accomplished forward of schedule after almost 4 years of complicated work.
Aviation improvement in recent times has seen Ryanair proceed to quickly develop its operation at Stansted, and the airport has welcomed key new airline companions, together with Jet2.com which established its solely base within the south-east of England in 2018, and the world-renowned Emirates that started each day flights to Dubai in 2018.
Images: Stansted Airport
Older
Expo 2020 take a look at occasion well-received in Dubai
Newer
