STN

London Stansted Airport

London, Essex, United Kingdom

Operated by Manchester Airports Group plcmixed

Opened1943ICAOEGSSElev348 ft

The Verdict

59/100Could be worse (but not by much)

Infrastructure is the weak link. The trajectory is flat — no improvement in sight.

Ranked #81 of 198 airportsBased on data from 2007–2026

Operational30%

76Pleasantly competent

Sentiment25%

50Below par

Infrastructure15%

34Room for improvement

Sent. Velocity15%

50Middling

Connectivity15%

77Actually decent

What People Think

STN is the airport equivalent of 'it's fine.'

3.4Avg Rating / 10

1,457

ReviewsGoogle 1447Skytrax 10

25%Positive

★ 3.5on Google Maps (1,447 reviews)

Sentiment Trajectory (2026–2026)0.00 over 2 years

Then: 4.9/5 (1448 reviews)Now: 4.9/5 (1448 reviews)

Positive25%

Neutral13%

Negative63%

Queuing

1.8

Cleanliness

2.0

Staff

2.1

Food & Bev

2.7

Wifi

2.9

Wayfinding

2.1

Transport

3.2

Shopping

—

The Numbers

29.8MPassengers (2025)

-0.0%YoY Growth

Record year! 29.8M passengers in 2025, up 6% from pre-pandemic levels and a staggering 316% rebound from the 2021 COVID low.

28.2MInternational (95%)

1.6MDomestic (5%)

194,881Aircraft Movements

Passenger History

Lounges

2 available

Essence by Escape Lounges

priority pass

The Camden Bar & Kitchen

priority pass

Tardiness Report

2026/03–2025/04 · 172,989 flights

0.9%Flights Delayed1,586 of 172,989 flights

0.2minAvg Delay

Almost nothing is delayed. Either this airport is excellent or the data is lying.

+0.5pp vs prior year+0.4min vs prior year

Delay Causes (ATFM)

Weather71%

Carrier0%

ATC10%

Airport8%

Where You Can Escape To

Jet2.com·Base

Ryanair·Base

TUI Airways·Base

202 routes · 3 regions

Europe8

Dublin Airport (DUB)—

Alicante International Airport (ALC)—

Faro Airport (FAO)—

Lisbon Portela Airport (LIS)—

Venezia / Tessera - Marco Polo Airport (VCE)—

Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN)—

Tirana International Airport Mother Teresa (TIA)—

Shannon Airport (SNN)—

Middle East2

Adnan Menderes International Airport (ADB)—

Dubai International Airport (DXB)—

Ground Transport

MMetro

RRail

TTram

BBus

The Runway Report

1 Runway

04/2210,003ft × 151ft · ASP · Lighted

The Backstory

1943

Opened

HistoryThe redevelopment of Stansted into London's third airport began with outline planning permission granted in 1985, for a new terminal building to accommodate up to 15million passengers annually. Initially, the project was planned in two phases. The fi...

Awards

None recorded. A clean record — in the worst sense.