London Stansted Airport Information

Airport type	Public
Owner	BAA Limited
Operator	Stansted Airport Limited
Serves	London
Location	Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
Passengers	19,957,077
Movements	182,810

London Stansted Airport is a passenger airport located at Stansted Mountfitchet in the local government district of Uttlesford in Essex, 48 km (30 mi) northeast of Central London.

Stansted is a hub for a number of major European low-cost carriers, being largest base for low-cost giant Ryanair with over 100 destinations served by the airline. It is the third-busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third-largest airport serving the London area after Heathrow and Gatwick; it is one of London's five international airports, along with Luton and London City.

The airport is owned and operated by BAA, which also owns and operates five other UK airports, and is itself owned by ADI Limited, an international consortium, which includes Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and GIC Special Investments, that is led by the Spanish Ferrovial Group. However in March 2009, the UK Competition Commission ruled that BAA must sell Stansted within two years, a decision quashed within a year.

Overview

Stansted Airport has one main passenger terminal, near a village called Stansted Mountfitchet. There are three passenger satellites in which the departure gates are situated, one is connected to the main terminal by an air-bridge and the other two by the Stansted Airport Transit System people mover. A fourth satellite is now under construction and hopes to be finished by mid 2010. The terminal facilities include several bureaux de change, luggage services, shops, restaurants and bars as well as internet access. Car hire and taxis can also be arranged from within the terminal building.

Terminal and satellite buildings

Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures. There are no gates in the main terminal building, instead there are three separate oblong satellite buildings in which the gates are located, with a fourth satellite building under construction. Two satellite buildings are reached by transit trains taking passengers from the departure hall and to the arrivals hall in the main terminal building. The third satellite building is not operated by the transit system, but is connected to the terminal building by a walkway. When completed, the fourth satellite building will also be served by transit trains.

Air traffic control tower

Stansted's air traffic control tower is amongst the highest in Britain. It is located at the north east of the airfield just south of the terminal building. Its height is necessary as it needs to be able to view satellite 3 clearly as that's where almost half of Stansted's aircraft movements occur. Like most control towers in the UK, it can be seen from miles away, due to its height. All of the glass windows on the control tower have green tinted glass, which matches the windows on all the satellite buildings. This control tower has replaced the old control tower which still exists at Stansted. Its only very small however and is located at the west of the airfield so a new control tower was needed as Stansted has grown massively since it was opened to passengers in 1991.

Ground transport

Trains

Stansted Airport railway station is below the terminal building, with rail services to Cambridge, Leicester and the Midlands every 60 minutes operated by CrossCountry. The Stansted Express train runs to and from Liverpool Street station in London every 15 minutes and the journey time is 45 minutes to one hour. A Monday - Saturday hourly service operates to Harlow and Stratford, London, calling at most stations.

Buses and coaches

Scheduled express bus or coach services run to and from Stratford (45 minutes), Victoria Coach Station (75 minutes), Liverpool Street Station (55 minutes) and Golders Green (70 minutes) (all in London), costing about half the train fare but taking longer. The bus station is next to the terminal building. National Express runs scheduled but infrequent direct coach services to the airport from Oxford as service JL737, taking about three hours, and hourly services to and from Cambridge. EasyBus and Terravision provide journeys between the airport and Central London. Excel operates a coach service to Capel St Mary and Ipswich every 2 hours, 24 hours a day. This service operates as Airdirect. Also a new route has been introduced linking Stansted Airport to Grays via Brentwood , Ongar , and Basildon called route X3 operating 24 hours a day, every 2 hours. First Group operates a bus service between the airport and Clacton-on-Sea, (calling at Braintree, Bradwell, Marks Tey, Colchester North Station, Essex University and Frating), the X22 service departs every 2 hours 7 days a week (excluding Christmas Day).

Roads

Stansted is connected to northeast London and Cambridge by the M11 motorway and to Braintree, Colchester and Harwich by the A120, which is dual-carriageway until Braintree.

As of October 1996, the airport has 2,500 short stay parking spaces within walking distance to the terminal. In addition, as of the same month, the airport has over 8,000 long stay spaces located near the M11 motorway and A210 junction. A courtesy bus service links the long stay spaces to the terminal.

London Stansted Airport links

» London Stansted Airport Wikipedia Information
» London Stansted Airport Official Website