The annual passenger total at Stansted Airport has topped 24million for only the second time in its history as it continues to close in on a new record.

A total of nearly 2.184m travellers passed through the airport last month, representing its second-busiest September ever and an increase of 6.9% compared with the same period a year ago.

This took the rolling annual total for the 12 months to the end of September to just over 24.009m, 8.4% higher compared with a year earlier and just 6,000 short of the record high reached in October 2007.

Last month’s growth was driven by high load factors – which measure how full planes are – with 88.5% of all available seats filled, a record high for the month of September at Stansted.

Cargo volumes also continued to grow with more than 21,000 tonnes of goods and products passing through the airport’s dedicated cargo facility during the month to take the annual total to more than 250,000 tonnes, an increase of 6.5% over the previous 12 months.

Stansted Airport chief executive Andrew Cowan said: “Stansted Airport has enjoyed a period of rapid and sustained growth in passenger numbers under the ownership of MAG and through long-term deals with key carriers such as Ryanair.

“This month saw us pass yet another significant milestone as we broke through the 24m passengers a year total for only the second time in the airport’s history.

“September was once again a strong month of passenger growth, despite the end of the traditional school holiday getaway, with volumes up nearly seven per cent over the same month last year. This helped push the annual total tantalisingly close to Stansted’s all-time passenger high, a record I’m sure we will pass during this month.”

He added: “In addition to passenger growth, the airport’s substantial cargo operation continues to report increasing volumes with the annual figure for goods and products passing through Stansted now topping 250,000 tonnes for the first time since 2005.”