Nearly 2.3m passengers passed through Stansted Airport during May, another new record for the month.
A total of 2,294,643 travellers used the airport during May, an increase of 7.0% compared with the figure of 2,144,773 for the same month last year which was itself a record.
Spain, Italy, Germany and Poland were the most popular international destinations during May although the biggest growth year-on-year came from routes to Denmark, Bulgaria and Cyprus.
Cargo volumes also saw strong growth during the period with 22,700 tonnes passing through the airport’s specialist cargo facilities, an increase of 10.9% from 20,463 tonnes in May last year.
In the 12 months to May 31 Stansted’s passenger numbers grew by 5.9% compared with the previous year, from 23,329,990 to 24,714,192, while cargo volumes grew by 3.8%, from 247,217 tonnes to 256,674 tonnes.
Stansted Airport chief executive Andrew Cowan said: “The strong growth in passenger traffic at the start of the summer season continued in May as we welcomed nearly 2.3m to Stansted, up 7% on 2016 and more passengers for the month than in any previous year.
“As we head into the main summer period we expect this trend to be maintained with the number of flights already scheduled by our airline partners across the peak months up by around 10% over last summer.
“During May we saw the arrival of another two new airlines as BMI Regional began a twice daily service to the City of Derry and Arkia Israeli Airlines launched flights to Tel Aviv, and in the coming months we will also see Stansted pass the 25m passengers a year for the first time ever, another milestone achievement for the airport.”
Stansted Airport currently has planning permission to expand its annual passenger total of 35m and earlier this month it submitted a scoping document to Uttlesford District Council – a precursor to a formal planning application – proposing an increase in the cap to 44.5m passengers.
This is within the capacity of the airport’s current runway but the Stop Stansted Expansion Campaign said it would fight the proposal, with a spokesman describing the move as “premature” in light of current passenger numbers.
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