A record total of more than 10.8m seats will be available on flights at London Stansted Airport this summer, an increase of 1.2m compared with last year’s summer schedule.
Stansted will welcome five new airlines during the forthcoming summer season ? Emirates, Primera Air, WOW air, Air Corsica and Widerøe ? with new destinations including New York, Washington DC, Boston, Toronto, Dubai, Corsica, Reykjavik and Kristiansand.
The new daily Emirates service to Dubai will offer more than 100,000 seats in its first year of operation, while Primera Air’s new direct transatlantic routes will offer more than 200,000 seats to the United States and Canada.
Existing carriers will also offer more destinations and increased capacity this summer including new Ryanair services to Rimini and Belfast and new Jet2.com routes to Nice, Naples, Malta, Bodrum, Almeria, Thessaloniki, Kefalonia and Verona.
In addition, Thomas Cook will again operate a seasonal long-haul programme to Orlando, Las Vegas and Cancun from July in addition to re-commencing flights to Tunisia.
Flights to key business destinations have also increased, including Frankfurt with more than 80,000 additional seats, Dusseldorf with 19,000 more, double the number of seats to Belfast and 30,000 more seats to Munich.
Ken O’Toole, chief executive at London Stansted, said: “The start of the summer schedule is always a really exciting time at the airport but this year is extra special given the growth in passenger choice we’re seeing at London Stansted.
“London Stansted will be the fastest growing London airport in 2018. This summer alone we will offer more than 10.8m seats to over 190 destinations, an increase of 1.2m compared to 2017. We’re also welcoming five new airlines to Stansted, taking the total to 22 and doubling the number of airlines using the airport since acquisition by MAG.
“This is fantastic news for passengers with more choice available than ever before and this big step up in interest is also clear recognition of the opportunity Stansted provides to airlines wanting to serve the London and East of England markets.
“With limited spare capacity at other airports in the South East, Stansted will deliver 50% of London’s expected passenger growth over the next decade. Given this anticipated growth, we expect to reach our current planning cap by the early 2020s.”
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