The London Airport With 180+ Destinations But Just 2 Long Haul Routes

London Stansted welcomed 2.8 million passengers in July – 90,000 daily – with traffic 1.6% above what it had in 2019. Air Service One data shows that it was far more recovered than UK airports generally (-7%) and was the country’s most improved airport of those with two-plus million passengers. While many airports have not yet released August numbers, Stansted saw 2.9 million passengers that month, 1.7% above 2019.

Stansted in July: 90% seat load factor

In the past few days, the UK Civil Aviation Authority released passenger information for July, which provides a breakdown of data for non-stop destinations. Analyzing the 2.8 million passengers shows that more people were carried to/from Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Ireland than other countries.

Photo: Marvin Mutz I Shutterstock.

Relating traffic data to 3.1 million seats for sale indicates that airlines serving Stansted achieved an average seat load factor of 90%. This is across all carriers and all routes, so it hides massive variation at the route level.

As July is one of two peak summer months, absolutely vital to airlines’ finances, such a high SLF should not be surprising. The airport’s dominant carrier, Ryanair, had a 96% SLF across its whole network in July, although its own statistics include booked passengers even if they do not fly.

Stansted’s 10 busiest markets

One in five Stansted passengers traveled to/from the top 10 airports in July, with the list shown in the following table. With over 82,000 roundtrip passengers, Dublin was the most popular. It is, of course, by Ryanair – its most served route out of 2,300+. The ULCC had eight daily departures in July, with the 737-800, 737 MAX 8-200, and occasionally Lauda A320s all used.

Photo: Luke Peters I Simple Flying.

Ryanair filled an average of 171 seats per flight to/from the Irish capital, with an average SLF of 90%. That was inevitably lower than major sunny tourist hotspots, among them Tenerife (96%), Alicante (95%), and Barcelona (95%).

While CAA data is great, it does have limitations. For example, while more than 77,800 flew to/from Sabiha Gökçen (2,500+ daily), it does not mean that the Turkish airport was their origin/destination. Pegasus and AnadoluJet revolve around transit passengers, so many passengers would have connected, yet the data makes it look like they just traveled to/from Istanbul. This is not a problem for Stansted routes operated by Ryanair, Jet2, easyJet, or TUI.

Photo: Bradley Caslin I Shutterstock.

Just two long-haul routes; one ranked 17th

As you know, Stansted is not about long-haul passenger operations. Just one in 74 passengers flew non-stop long-haul in July. Turkmenistan Airlines continues to operate weekly from Ashgabat using the Boeing 777-200LR, which often takes about seven hours to the UK because of headwinds. You could argue whether it is actually long-haul, but let’s not split hairs.

Photo: Soos Jozsef I Shutterstock.

There is also from Dubai. Served double daily by Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ERs, the airline carried 38,701 Stansted passengers in July with an 87% SLF. Booking data shows that about 30% traveled to/from Dubai, with 70% transiting beyond. Dhaka, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Amritsar, and Melbourne were the top five markets.

Did you fly to/from Stansted in July? Let us know in the comments.

Sources of information: UK CAA, Air Service One, Cirium, Ryanair, Flightradar24, booking data.