London Stansted Airport

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London Stansted Airport
IATA: STN - ICAO: EGSS
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		BAA
Serves		London
Elevation AMSL		348 ft (106 m)
Coordinates		51°53′06″N, 000°14′06″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
05/23	10,000	3,048	Grooved asphalt

Stansted Airport (IATA: STN, ICAO: EGSS) is a large passenger airport with a single runway and hub for a number of major European low-cost airlines. It is located in the Uttlesford District of the English county of Essex about 30 miles (48 km) north-east of London. It is about 2 miles out side of the main town in the area called Bishop's Stortford

[edit] Overview

Stansted is the third busiest airport in the London area after London Heathrow and London Gatwick. The airport is owned and operated by BAA.

Stansted Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P529) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

In 2006 it handled over 23 million passengers. Several budget airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet maintain bases at Stansted. FedEx is a dominant operator of trans-Atlantic freighter services.

In December 2003 the Government published a White Paper, setting UK policy for air transport for the next 30 years. The Government gave its backing for massive expansion of air travel. Specifically, it supported maximum usage of Stansted's present runway and the construction of a second runway by 2011/2012. This would allow Stansted to handle more passengers than Heathrow does today. At maximum capacity, the expanded airport could process 80 million passengers per annum and a significant proportion of the UK's freight traffic. The proposals are strongly opposed by campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion.

The airport is named after the small village Stansted Mountfitchet. The nearest larger towns to the airport are Bishop's Stortford and Harlow.

[edit] Ground transportation

Stansted has a railway station below the terminal building, with rail services to London every 15/30 minutes and services to Cambridge and the Midlands every hour. The Stansted Express train runs to and from Liverpool Street station in London every 15 minutes and the journey time is 45 minutes. At the time of writing (updated May 2006) the fare is 25 GBP or 37 EUR (approx) return.

Scheduled express bus or coach services run to and from Stratford, Victoria Coach Station, Liverpool Street Station and Golders Green (all in London), costing half as much as the train but taking rather longer (ca. 80 - 130 minutes). The bus/coach station is adjacent to the terminal building. National Express runs scheduled but infrequent direct coach services to the airport from Oxford as service JL737, taking about three hours, and hourly services to and from Cambridge.

Stansted is connected to northeast London and Cambridge by the M11 motorway and to Colchester and Harwich by the A120 dual-carriageway. The access from the motorway has recently been improved with a new grade-separated junction. The long term car park is situated about a mile from the terminal and passengers need to allow at least twenty minutes to park and use a courtesy bus shuttle service prior to check-in. There are short term car parks next to the terminal building.

[edit] Terminal

The lawn in front of Stansted Airport used to attract large numbers of people waiting for their flight during the summer. It has now been dug up and covered over with tarmac

Stansted has one terminal. There are three boarding piers, one connected to the main terminal by a pedestrian bridge and the other two by a people mover system. The terminal facilities include a bureau de change, left luggage service, several shops and restaurants as well as internet access. Car hire and taxis can also be arranged from within the terminal building. The terminal building was designed by Foster Associates and features a "floating" roof, supported by a space frame of inverted-pyramid roof trusses, creating the impression of a stylised swan in flight. The base of each truss structure is a "utility pillar", which provides indirect uplighting illumination and is the location for air-conditioning and water, telecommunications, and electrical outlets. The layout of the airport is designed to provide an unobstructed flow for passengers to arrive at the short-stay car park, move through the check-in hall and on to the departure gates all on the same level. However, the airport has never catered for spectators or those wishing to watch friends depart.

[edit] Hijackings

The size of Stansted means that an aircraft can be isolated from the terminal and the usual parking stands. Stansted also has purpose-built facilities for dealing with hijacked planes. As such the airport is the designated destination for at-risk flights approaching London. On several occasions planes and planes carrying bomb threats have been diverted to land at Stansted, sometimes from other European countries^[1]. These incidents have all ended with no loss of life.^{[citation needed]} The airport frequently practices handling major security alerts in conjunction with Essex Police.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Incidents and accidents

• February 27, 2002 - Ryanair Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating Ryanair Flight 296 from Dublin to Stansted caught fire shortly after landing. Subsequent investigations found that although the aircraft was fully evacuated within 90 seconds, the air crew struggled to open the emergency doors, and some passengers were initially evacuated towards the fire. The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch recommended changes to training procedures for air-crew to allow better handling of similar situations in future ^[2].
• On February 6th 2000 an Afghan Ariana Airline Boeing 727 with 156 people on board was hijacked and flown to Stansted Airport. After a four-day stand-off the hostages on board were safely freed and the incident ended peacefully. It later emerged that the motive behind the hijack was to gain asylum in the UK, sparking debate about immigration into the country. A large number of passengers on board the plane also applied for asylum. ^[3]

In July 2004, it was reported that a number of hijackers had won their bid for asylum in the UK, their convictions for hijacking having been quashed for misdirection of the jury in 2003.^[4]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

View of the apron at Stansted Airport. Channel Express, Air Berlin, and TUI jets can be seen

[edit] Scheduled service

• Air Berlin (Belfast-City, Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Glasgow-International, Hanover, Leipzig/Halle, Manchester, Münster, Nürnberg, Paderborn, Palma de Mallorca)
• Air Italy (Verona) [starts 1 June, 2007]
• Air Malta (Malta)
• Air Moldova (Chisinau)
• Atlantic Airways (Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands)
• Atlasjet (Istanbul-Atatürk)
• Aurigny Air Services (Guernsey)
• Blue1 (Helsinki)
• Centralwings (Warsaw)
• Czech Airlines (Prague)
• Cyprus Airways (Larnaca, Paphos)
• easyJet (Alicante, Almeria, Asturias, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast-International, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow-International, Ibiza, Ljubljana, Lyon, Málaga, Munich, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Palma, Prague, Tallinn, Valencia)
• El Al (Tel Aviv)
• Eos Airlines (New York-JFK)
• Fly Gibraltar (Gibraltar [starts April 2007])
• Flyglobespan (Larnaca, Tenerife-South, Toronto-Hamilton)
• Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart)
• Iceland Express (Reykjavík-Keflavik)
• Israir (Tel Aviv)
• Kıbrıs Türk Hava Yolları (Antalya, Dalaman, Gazientep, Izmir)
• MAXjet Airways (Las Vegas, New York-JFK, Washington-Dulles [Service Suspended until May 2007])
• Niki (Vienna)
• Norwegian Air Shuttle (Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo, Trondheim)
• Pakistan International Airlines (Islamabad, Karachi)
• Ryanair (Aarhus, Alghero, Alicante, Almeria, Altenburg, Ancona, Balaton, Bergerac, Berlin-Schönefeld, Biarritz, Blackpool, Bremen, Brescia, Brindisi, Brno, Brussels-Charleroi [starts 1 June, 2007], Bydgoszcz, Carcassonne, Cork, Derry, Deauville, Dinard, Dublin, Eindhoven, Esbjerg, Forli, Friedrichshafen, Gdansk, Genoa, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Granada, Graz, Grenoble, Frankfurt-Hahn, Haugesund, Jerez, Karlsruhe, Kaunas, Kerry, Klagenfurt, Knock, Kraków, La Rochelle, Limoges, Linz, Lódz, Lübeck, Malmö, Maribor [starts 6 June, 2007], Marseille, Milan-Bergamo, Montpellier, Munster, Murcia, Nantes, Niederrhein, Newquay, Nimes, Oporto, Oslo-Torp, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca [starts 23 April, 2007], Parma, Pau, Perpignan, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Poitiers, Poznan, Pula, Reus, Riga, Rodez, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszów, Salzburg, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, St Etienne, Stockholm-Skavsta, Szczecin, Tampere, Toulon, Tours, Trieste, Turin, Valencia, Valladolid, Venice, Vitoria, Wroclaw, Zadar [starts 23 April, 2007], Zaragoza)
• Sky Europe (Bratislava, Budapest, Poprad-Tatry)
• SunExpress (Antalya, Izmir)
• transavia.com (Rotterdam)
• Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)
• Wizz Air (Katowice [Starts Summer 2007])
• Zoom Airlines (Montreal, Toronto-Pearson)

People mover system in Stansted makes its way to terminals under the airfield

[edit] Charter operators

• BH Air (Bourgas)
• Darwin Airline (Geneva)
• First Choice Airways (Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Palma, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
• MyTravel Airways (Las Palmas, Tenerife-South, Heraklion, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca)
• Palmair (Palma de Mallorca)
• Thomas Cook Airlines (Antalya, Arrecife, Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Heraklion, Ibiza, Izmir, Kos, Larnaca, Paphos, Rhodes, Tenerife, Zakynthos)
• Thomsonfly (Arrecife, Bodrum, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Mahon, Palma, Tenerife-South, Rhodes)

[edit] Proposed expansion

The airport capacity is limited to a maximum throughput of 25 million passengers per annum (25mppa) in accordance with recommendations made by the public inquiry in 1984 and confirmed by the Government of the day. In November 2006 Uttlesford district council rejected a BAA plc planning application to increase the permitted number of aircraft movements and to remove the limit on passenger numbers. Rejection was on a number of grounds. BAA immediately appealed against the decision and a public inquiry will consider this, starting on 30 May 2007.

BAA has indicated that it will seek permission to build a second runway, in line with a recommendation in the 2003 Air Transport White Paper. A planning application is expected to be made in 2007. This would be the subject of a public inquiry. A second runway would allow Stansted to handle more passengers than Heathrow does today.

[edit] Stop Stansted Expansion

Stop Stansted Expansion [SSE] is a campaign group opposed to the expansion of Stansted Airport. Their objective is: "To contain the development of Stansted Airport within tight limits that are truly sustainable and, in this way, to protect the quality of life of residents over wide areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, to preserve our heritage and to protect the natural environment." The campaign group is well organised with over 6,000 individual members and the support of more than 100 local authorities and other organisations. SSE has been fighting airport expansion by legal means and constructive argument since 2002, when a Department for Transport consultation suggested that Stansted could expand to up to 4 runways. In 2004/2005, SSE mounted a High Court challenge to the government White Paper on aviation transport policy and, although it did not manage to overturn the paper, the judge deemed that the wide-spaced runway option presented as the preferred option in the document was "a bridge too far" and a matter that should be decided through the normal planning procedures.

[edit] History

[edit] World War II

During World War II Stansted Mountfitchet Airfield was used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force as a bomber airfield and as a major maintenance depot. Although the official name was Stansted Mountfitchet, the base was known as simply Stansted in both written and spoken form.

The station was first allocated to the USAAF Eighth Air Force in August 1942 as a bomber airfield. Its USAAF Station Code was 169. Later, in October Stansted was selected to be an advanced air depot for the 9th Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers. Construction was carried out by the United States Army 817th, 825th and 850th Engineering Battalions, completing the airfield by mid-1943.

[edit] 344th Bombardment Group

Unidentified B-26 of the 344th Bomb Group at Stansted, 1944.

Martin B-26G-1-MA Marauder serial 43-34181 of the 495th Bomb Squadron preparing to take off at Stansted Airfield, 1944.

Stansted was officially opened on 7 August 1943 when the 30th Air Depot Group took up residence. The airfield was officially transferred to the Ninth Air Force on 16 October

The 344th Bombardment Group arrived at Stansted on 8 February 1944, from Hunter AAF, Georgia flying the twin-engine Martin B-26 Marauder. It's operational squadrons and fuselage codes were:

• 494th Bombardment Squadron (K9)
• 495th Bombardment Squadron (Y5)
• 496th Bombardment Squadron (N3)
• 497st Bombardment Squadron (7I)

The 344th BG began operations in March 1944, attacking attacking airfields, missile sites, marshaling yards, submarine shelters, coastal defenses, and other targets in German-occupied France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Beginning in May, the 344th helped prepare for the Normandy invasion by striking vital bridges in France.

The 344th Bombardment Group was selected to lead the IX Bomber Command formations on D-Day, with the first aircraft taking off at 04:12 hours, attacking coastal batteries at Cherbourg, and during the remainder of June, it supported the drive that resulted in the seizure of the Cotentin Peninsula.

The unit also defended positions to assist British forces in the area of Caen and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for a three-day action against the enemy in late July when the group struck troop concentrations, supply dumps, a bridge, and a railroad viaduct to assist advancing ground forces at St Lo.

Another action of the 344th was to knock out bridges to hinder the German Army's withdrawal through the Falaise gap, and bombed vessels and strong points at Brest during August and September.

On 30 September the 344th moved to their Advanced Landing Ground at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, France, France (A-59). While at Stanstead the group flew over 100 missions, and lost 26 aircraft in combat.

On the continent, the 344th BG used the following Advanced Landing Grounds:

• A-59 Cormeilles-en-Vexin France 30 September 1944
• A-78 Florences/Juzaine Belgium 5 April 1945

After V-E Day the group moved to Schleissheim, Germany for occupation duty and began training with Douglas A-26 Invaders, but continued to use B-26 aircraft. It was transferred, without personnel and equipment, to the United States on 15 February 1946 where it was inactivated.

[edit] 2d Tactical Air Depot

As well as being an operational bomber base, Stansted airfield was a maintenance and supply depot, concerned with major overhauls and modification of B-26s. After D-Day, these activities were transferred to France, but the base was still used as a supply storage area for the support of aircraft on the continent.

[edit] Postwar RAF use

After the withdrawal of the Americans on 12 August 1945, Stansted was taken over by the RAF No. 263 Maintenance Unit for storage. In addition, between March 1946 and August 1947, Stansted was used for housing German P.O.Ws.

It is interesting to note that there are still many World War II Nissen Huts in use at Stansted today, albeit for various non-military purposes.

[edit] Postwar civil development

After the war, the base was not needed; it was transferred to the Air Ministry in 1947. The US military returned in 1954 to extend the runway for a possible transfer to NATO but this was never realised and the airport ended up under BAA control in 1966.

During the 60s, 70s and early 80s the Fire Service Training School (FSTS) was based on the Eastern side of the Airfield under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, succeeded by the Civil Aviation Authority. The School was responsible for the training of all Aviation Fire Crews for UK Airfields. They also trained personnel for many overseas countries. After the decision, the School was transferred to Teeside where it still continues training Firemen.

Initially, the airport was used by holiday charter operators wishing to escape the higher costs associated with operating from Heathrow and Gatwick. From the outset, however, BAA and the British government planned to develop Stansted into London's third airport, to relieve Heathrow and Gatwick of excess congestion in the future. The airport's first terminal building opened in 1969 and was expanded the next year to handle the growing number of passengers.

In 1984, the government approved a plan to develop Stansted in two phases, involving both airfield and terminal improvements that would increase the airport's capacity to 15 million passengers per year. Construction of the current terminal building began in 1986 and was completed in 1991, and was designed by the internationally acclaimed Sir Norman Foster.

American Airlines operated a transatlantic service between Stansted and Chicago in the early 1990s, but this was unprofitable and was withdrawn. Continental Airlines later operated a service between Stansted and Newark, New Jersey using a Boeing 757-200. However, this service was withdrawn for commercial reasons after September 11, 2001. In late 2005, Eos Airlines and MAXjet Airways commenced an all business class service from Stansted to New York-JFK, with EOS using a Boeing 757-200 and MAXjet using a 767-200. In 2006, MAXjet expanded their service with flights to Washington DC and Las Vegas. Israeli airlines including El Al and Israir have been flying from Stansted to Tel Aiv for a few years now, whilst Pakistan International Airlines started services to Stansted in August 2006 and is currently operating 2 flights a week to Islamabad & Karachi.

In the last ten years Stansted has seen a rapid expansion of passenger numbers: Having 12 million passengers in 2000, the number of passengers using Stansted in 2004 was 20.9 million which rose by 5.3% to 21.9 million in 2005. [2]

[edit] See also

• List of RAF stations
• USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II

[edit] References

• Freeman, Roger A., UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now, 1994
• Maurer Maurer, Air Force Combat Units Of World War II, Office of Air Force History, 1983
• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present
• United Kingdom AIP

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Air Accident Investigation Board
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[edit] External links

• Stansted Airport
• Stansted Airport Consultative Committee
• Stop Stansted Expansion