Stansted set to welcome new routes in 2024

From Jordan to Florence, there are some exciting new flights that will be taking to the skies from London Stansted in 2024.

12 new services will be added to the airport's departure boards, giving people even more access to destinations from their local airport.

London Stansted serves more European destinations than any other UK airport and the new services will further strengthen its current route network, which now covers over 190 destinations across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Amman, Jordan – Royal Jordanian

An exciting new route will be added this spring when Royal Jordanian Airlines launches flights to Amman, Jordan’s capital. The flag carrier, a member of the oneworld Alliance which includes British Airways, will operate three flights a week starting March 3, increasing to four weekly flights during peak summer.

Flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays using the airline’s new Airbus A320 neo fleet with one-way fares from London starting at £257. The Stansted to Amman leg will depart mid-afternoon at 3.45pm and arrive at Queen Alia International Airport at 10.35pm.

Nice, Florence and Ibiza – British Airways

Wideroe to start new Bergen - London Stansted route next month.

A new Widerøe flight linking London Stansted and Bergen will offer travellers from London and the East of England easy access to Norway's famous fjords from 26 March 2023.

Widerøe, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, will operate a twice-weekly service to the country’s second-largest city using a 110-seat Embraer E190-E2 aircraft.  Flights will depart London Stansted at 18.40 on Fridays and 11.30 on Sundays.

A World Heritage Site located in the west of Norway, Bergen, is renowned for its Bryggen harbour district, one of Europe's oldest ports, and as the gateway to Norwegian fjords.

Simon Gorrighan, London Stansted’s Aviation Director, said:  "We're delighted to welcome Widerøe to London Stansted, adding yet another new destination to our growing network and giving passengers even more choice when travelling from their local airport.

This new route makes a beautiful region of Norway more accessible to UK travellers as well as being an important route for business, especially the energy industry in Norway and the East of England."

Christian Skaug, Widerøe’s Commercial Director, said:   "We are very pleased to be flying to London Stansted from 26th March and being able to maintain London as part of our route map. London Stansted has smooth and convenient connections to the City of London, which we know our customers will appreciate."

Several other new flights will be available from London Stansted this summer, including Belfast, Newquay, Edinburgh, Asturias, Klagenfurt, and Leipzig with Ryanair.

Massive loss of £320 million for Manchester Airports Group.....

Manchester Airports Group has just released details from its full-year results for the period 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022 which show toe company served 20.5m passengers in 2021/22, up 225% year-on-year.

The Group – which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports also reported massive losses of  £320m for the year.

MAG is preparing for the aviation industry’s busiest period, as the peak summer season approaches. The Group expects passenger volumes over these months to increase to levels close to those seen in 2019, leading to a fuller recovery over the course of 2022/23.

MAG CEO Charlie Cornish said: “With travel restrictions in place for nearly all of the last 12 months, it was another uncertain and unpredictable year for MAG and the wider aviation industry.

“After tentative steps towards recovery last autumn, the emergence of the Omicron variant once again resulted in major barriers for people looking to travel internationally.

“MAG played an industry-leading role in highlighting the ineffectiveness of international travel testing, which helped pave the way for the removal of travel restrictions in spring this year.

“Free of those restrictions, we were confident that airlines and passengers would return quickly to our airports.

“The pace of that recovery has brought its own challenges, and recruitment has taken longer and been more difficult than we anticipated. We’ve now recruited more than 1,500 new staff across MAG since January so that we can give passengers the best possible experience this summer.

Airport boss criticises UK government

Manchester Airports Group MAG owns and operates East Midlands, Manchester and London Stansted Airports

In response to the UK Government' announcement on quarantine measures, the CEO of MAG took a swipe at the decision saying it would be a brick wall to the nation's recovery.

Charlie Cornish is currently consulting with staff and unions at the airport group over staff reductions following on from enforced annual leave, reduced working hours, pay cuts and many of those temporary lay-offs will become permanent.  Current estimations at the groups East Midlands airport is that one-third of staff will lose their jobs completely.  

Cornish doesn't see much help from the government,  "For as long as it lasts, a blanket quarantine policy will be a brick wall to the recovery of the UK aviation and tourism industries, with huge consequences for UK jobs and GDP."

Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) loose high court battle

A High Court judge has dismissed an appeal by Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) to have the airport’s planning application to serve more passengers determined by Central Government.

The application, which would see the airport increase the number of passengers it can serve to 43 million per year without increasing the number of flights already permitted, was first put forward in February 2018. In line with Government policy encouraging airports to make best use of their existing runways, the application was submitted for local consideration to Uttlesford District Council (UDC). The Secretary of State for Transport subsequently confirmed it did not qualify as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), and that UDC was the right body to determine the application.

This decision was challenged by SSE in a Judicial Review brought against the DfT in August 2018. The case was heard in the High Court in November 2019.

Stansted Airport For Sale

Airports operator BAA has decided to sell Stansted Airport, ending its long-running legal battle.

It has been fighting a 2009 Competition Commission ruling that it must sell Stansted because of the lack of competition between London airports.

BAA was told to sell off Stansted and Gatwick, but by then it had already started the process of finding a buyer for Gatwick.