London Stansted hails busiest year ever

Tuesday, 13 Jan, 2026 0

London Stansted Airport just enjoyed its busiest ever year in 2025.

Passenger traffic numbers surpassed the 30 million milestone for the first time. 

A host of new route launches and seat capacity increases saw the airport record 16 days when passenger numbers topped 100,000.

This is up from 10 days last year.

The airport completed the record year with its busiest ever December, driven by strong demand festive season demand.

The airport handled 2.26 million passengers in December, which is a 1.6% increase on the same month in 2024.

The airport says Dublin and Istanbul were the top two popular destinations with nearly one million passengers flying to and from each location.

Edinburgh was third most popular city from Stansted.

Turkiye joined Spain and Italy as the top countries for passengers.

It is set to get even more popular with the launch of 15 weekly flights to Istanbul by Turkish Airlines starting in March.

Last month the airport also secured planning permission to increase its annual passenger limit up to 51 million.

Gareth Powell, London Stansted’s MD, said: “It was a really successful year for London Stansted in 2025, the busiest year in our history. We have built real momentum behind our vision for Stansted.

“As we look to the future, we were delighted to receive the green light to increase our annual passenger limit.”



Related News Stories:  Emirates launches two new Southeast Asia routes    



 

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TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.



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