London Stansted Airport Eyeing 2025 Start On Terminal Extension Construction

Construction on a £600 million ($784 million) extension to the passenger terminal at London Stansted Airport (STN) is expected to begin in 2025, according to UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Transport Secretary Louise Haigh.

The terminal expansion is a part of a £1.1 billion upgrade planned for STN. The terminal building program is expected to last two to three years, the UK officials said in a joint statement announcing that construction will move forward. The overall program, which also includes a planned solar farm, is working on a five-year time frame.

General planning approval for the project was secured in 2023, but funding has now been confirmed and more details revealed.

Manchester Airports Group, owner of STN, is in the “final stages of the procurement process” for the upcoming construction, Reeves and Haigh said.

The extension will add 16,500 m² (54,100 ft.²) to the terminal and is aimed at increasing the airport’s capacity to 43 million annual passengers. STN handled 29.4 million passengers in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, up 7.2% year-over-year and the most ever in a 12-month period.

STN Managing Director Gareth Powell said terminal design “teams have carefully considered every touch point of a passenger’s journey through the terminal to ensure the extension transforms the airport experience.”

He added the airport has a “critical role to play in serving the future capacity needs of London … The updated [terminal] design also reveals an enlarged immigration hall moving from its current location, freeing up additional space for a bigger departure lounge, plus new larger arrivals baggage carousels.”

The project will also include building a 14.3-megawatt onsite solar farm “to supply current and future energy needs,” STN said. Taxiway upgrades are also included in the plans.

“The funding will expand the existing terminal by a third, securing new air routes to key business and holiday destinations, boosting local supply chains and further cementing the UK’s place on the international stage,” Reeves and Haigh said. “The investment consists of £600 million for the terminal extension, alongside another £500 million to improve the existing terminal and wider airport estate.”

For the month of September, STN handled 2.7 million passengers, up 3.4% year-over-year. The number marked the busiest September ever for the airport, surpassing September 2018 by 31,000 passengers.

STN said the most popular countries to which passengers traveled from the airport in September were Italy, Spain and Turkey. “Dublin, Istanbul, Edinburgh, Belfast and Rome [were] the most in-demand short break and city destinations,” the airport said.

Popular “sunshine destinations” during the month included Alicante, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca in Spain, as well as Antalya, Turkey, and Faro, Portugal, according to STN.