London Stansted handled a record 2.88 million passengers in September, a 6.4 per cent increase on the same month in 2025, as the airport moved key elements of its terminal transformation from demolition into construction.
The September total exceeded the airport’s previous September record, set in 2024, by 170,000 passengers. It was also the first September in which Stansted recorded more than 100,000 passengers on 12 separate days. Its rolling 12-month total reached 30.87 million, 2.9 per cent higher than the comparable total a year earlier.
The figures give a detailed view of demand at one of London’s principal airports after the summer peak. Late-summer leisure travel and short breaks were prominent in September. Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Faro and Malaga were the leading sunshine destinations named for the month, while Dublin, Istanbul, Barcelona and Rome were among the strongest city-break markets. Spain, Italy and Turkey were the most popular countries across August.
Monthly totals count passengers passing through the airport rather than separate individuals, but the scale of the September result matters for terminal operations. A day above 100,000 passengers can place particular pressure on check-in, security, gates, baggage systems, surface access and turnaround activity. The airport did not announce a new passenger cap or a change to its operating rules alongside the figures. The release instead presented the result as evidence of sustained demand following its busiest summer season.
The update also records two construction milestones in the airport’s transformation programme. Its 12.8MW on-site solar farm has become operational and is intended to contribute to the airport’s electricity needs. Separately, the airside passenger-bussing facility and link bridge have been removed. That cleared the site for foundation work on the new terminal extension, taking that element from demolition into the construction phase.
Those are enabling works rather than the opening of a new terminal. Travellers should not interpret the announcement as an immediate change to the layout of their journey or to the services available in the terminal. The significance is that a visible part of the programme has crossed into a new phase while passenger volumes are continuing to rise.
The airport has said its transformation programme is designed to improve the passenger experience while supporting longer-term sustainability goals. The latest traffic release does not set a completion date for the extension, specify how much extra terminal capacity will be available when it is finished, or announce new airlines or routes. It does, however, place the building work against a high-demand operational backdrop: nearly 2.9 million passengers used the airport in one month and the annual rolling figure is now above 30 million.
For the London and east-of-England travel market, the September figures underline the continuing importance of Stansted’s mix of European leisure, visiting-friends-and-relatives and short-break routes. The airport’s next test will be the autumn half-term period, which it expects to be busy. The new monthly record and the start of extension foundations are separate developments, but together they show an airport managing present demand while pursuing a longer-term rebuild.
