Stansted has reported its 25th consecutive month of passenger growth, with more than 1.961million passengers passing through the airport during April.

The total represents an increase of 2.7% compared with a year earlier, making last month the airport’s busiest April since 2007.

In the 12 months to the end of April a total of more than 23.234m passengers used the airport, an increase of 10.1% compared with the previous 12-month period and the highest rolling annual total recorded at Stansted since July 2008.

Last month’s total benefited from a record load factor – the percentage of available seats of flight actually filled – of 85.9%, the airport’s best ever figure for April.

Andrew Cowan, chief executive at Stansted Airport, said: “The first full month of the summer flying schedule saw passenger traffic continue to grow at Stansted with a record number of seats occupied on each flight for any April in the airport’s history.

“In our 25th anniversary year, we have now seen passenger numbers grow for 25 consecutive months, a very timely achievement that has helped us add over 2m passengers to the annual total in the last year alone and pushing us ever closer to our all-time high of 24m passengers a year.”

He added: “The summer season promises to be a very busy and exciting time at Stansted. This month we have already seen the launch of Thomson’s new Dreamliner flights to Florida and Cancun and at the end of May we will welcome British Airways to Stansted with its first ever scheduled flights to the popular holiday sunspots of Faro, Malaga, Palma and Ibiza plus a new service to Berlin.

“In addition to this great news, passengers will also enjoy even more choice as Ryanair adds more routes and increases capacity to key destinations across its already extensive network on offer at Stansted.”