Stansted is to attempt to steal Gatwick’s crown as Britain’s second biggest airport under ambitious plans to almost double passenger numbers.
The Essex airport announced yesterday that £130 million would be spent on a new arrivals building to allow it to make full use of its runway capacity.
For the first time, the airport, which is 45 minutes by train from central London, will create separate buildings for arrivals and departures.
Airport bosses said it would enable Stansted to grow from 24 million passengers a year to its present planning limit of 35 million by 2030.
It will eventually lodge fresh planning permission to enable it to take 43 million passengers — putting it in direct competition with Gatwick as Britain’s second biggest airport. It declined to go into detail about a timeframe for the planned increase in passenger numbers.
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Speaking to The Times, Andrew Cowan, Stansted’s chief executive, insisted that the airport was attempting to capitalise on the fact that both Heathrow and Gatwick were effectively full, with little capacity to expand.
He said that the airport, renowned as a hub for European holiday flights, was now in talks with American and Middle Eastern long-haul carriers that were struggling to get available slots at Heathrow and Gatwick.
The government has given Heathrow approval to build a third runway, but the extra capacity will not be created until 2025 at the earliest, with experts suggesting that it could be delayed until the end of the decade, given the strength of opposition to the plans.
Mr Cowan said: “Over the next ten to 15 years we are effectively the only game in town because Heathrow and Gatwick are full. What this does is enable us to make best use of the runway capacity we have here. Low-cost travel will dominate growth here. However, we also see that being augmented with full service scheduled carriers. We are in discussions with American and Middle Eastern carriers and we see that as being part of our growth in the future.”
Stansted, which was bought by Manchester Airports Group in 2013 after the break-up of BAA, is the busiest single terminal airport in Britain. Both departures and arrivals are managed from the same building.
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Under new plans, a 34,000sq m building will be built within the existing airport area on land adjacent to the terminal. It will house arrivals while the existing terminal will be turned over to departing passengers.
The new three-storey building will include a large immigration and baggage reclaim area, additional retail facilities and a public forecourt. The outcome of a planning application is expected in February or March next year. It is expected to be completed by 2022.
The existing terminal will be reconfigured to create more space at check-in and security.
Stansted is the fourth biggest airport in Britain after Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester. It is the main British hub for Ryanair and also serves easyJet, Thomas Cook, TUI and Germanwings.
Conflict of interest claim over new airport boss
The boss of Britain’s high-speed rail line was accused of having a conflict of interest yesterday after joining Gatwick as its new chairman.
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Bosses of airports along the route of HS2 are understood to be angry that Sir David Higgins will join Gatwick while key decisions over the rail line are still to be made.
It was announced yesterday that Sir David, who is also chairman of HS2, will join Gatwick and hold both positions from January 1. He is reportedly paid a salary of £242,400 for a three-day week at HS2.
Work will start next year on the first phase of HS2 between London and Birmingham. The line will include a station at Birmingham airport. The second phase of the line will include a stop at Manchester airport and the line will pass close to East Midlands airport.
Sources told The Times of a potential conflict of interest, with Sir David being given access to highly sensitive information over their passenger forecasts while working for Gatwick. It is understood that safeguards will be put in place to maintain a proper separation between the roles when Sir David takes up his position with Gatwick.
