LONDON STANSTED AIRPORT

'London Stansted Airport' 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 outside Bishop's Stortford and outside Harlow. It is the third largest airport serving the London area after Heathrow and Gatwick; and is one of London's five international airports along with Luton and London City Airports.

Contents

History

World War II

Postwar use

Commercial operations

Incidents and accidents

The airport today

The future

Proposed expansion

Stop Stansted Expansion

Ground transportation

Trains

Coaches

Roads

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled service

Charter operators

Cargo airlines

See also

References

External links

History

World War II

During World War II 'Stansted Mountfitchet Airfield', as the airport was officially known, was used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force as a bomber airfield and major maintenance depot. The station was first allocated to the USAAF Eighth Air Force in August 1942 as a bomber airfield (station code 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.
Stansted was officially opened on 7 August 1943 when the 30th Air Depot Group started operations and 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. Its operational squadrons and fuselage codes were:
The 344th BG began operations in March 1944, 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 Stansted the group flew over 100 missions, and lost 26 aircraft in combat.
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.

Postwar use

After the withdrawal of the Americans on 12 August 1945, Stansted was taken over by the RAF Maintenance Unit for storage. In addition, between March 1946 and August 1947, Stansted was used for housing German P.O.Ws. After the war, however, the base was not needed and 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, now the Civil Aviation Authority. The School was responsible for the training of all Aviation Fire Crews for UK Airfields as well as for many overseas countries.

Commercial operations

Beginning in 1966, after Stansted was placed under BAA control, it 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 1988 and was completed in March 1991, and was designed by the internationally acclaimed Sir Norman Foster.
Long-haul scheduled services became reality in the early 1990s when American Airlines operated a transatlantic service between Stansted and Chicago. This was unprofitable and was withdrawn, however, in a similar fashion to the Continental Airlines service between Stansted and Newark, New Jersey using a Boeing 757-200, which was withdrawn shortly after beginning following September 11, 2001. The first long-haul scheduled service which has lasted at Stansted has been that offered by Israeli airline El Al Israel Airlines between Stansted and Tel Aviv, following an excess of demand for its flights at Heathrow. This was followed by another Israel airline, Israir Airlines.
Long-haul services to the USA returned in late 2005, when Eos Airlines and MAXjet Airways commenced all business class services 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, and the airline is soon starting services to Los Angeles. American Airlines is set to return to Stansted in late-2007 when it starts services to New York-JFK airport.

Incidents and accidents

★ On 31st March 1998 flight HS748, carrying the Leeds United football team, suffered an engine explosion on take off resulting in an emergency landing and evacuation. All onboard survived due to the distinct bravery of the captain.

★ On the 22nd December 1999, Korean Air Cargo flight 8509, a Boeing 747, crashed shortly after take off from the air field due to pilot error. The only people onboard at the time were the aircrew and all four were killed. The aircraft crashed in Hatfield Forest near the village of Great Hallingbury.

★ 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.^[3]

★ On February 6th 2000 an Ariana Afghan Airlines 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.^[4]
: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.^[5]

The airport today

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.
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. [1]

The future

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.
In April 2007, a major expansion program to the existing terminal began. Works to add nearly 6000 square meters of floorspace are underway and are designed to give space for additional baggage carousels, a new immigration and passport control hall and a hypostyle arrivals hall with improved facilities.

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.

Ground transportation

Trains

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 (operated by Central Trains Citylink). The Stansted Express train runs to and from Liverpool Street station in London every 15 minutes and the journey time is 45 minutes. The current fare is 25.50 GBP or 37.50 EUR (approx) return.

Coaches

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.
A new service, EasyCoach, has recently launched and provides journeys between the airport and Baker Street, Central London.

Roads

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.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled service

★ Air Berlin (Belfast-City [ends 28th October 2007], Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Glasgow-International [ends 28th October 2007], Hanover, Leipzig/Halle, Manchester [ends 28th October 2007], Münster/Osnabrück, Nürnberg, Paderborn/Lippstadt, Palma de Mallorca, Sylt)

★ Air Italy (Verona)

★ Air Malta (Malta)

★ Air Moldova (Chisinau)

★ American Airlines (New York-JFK) [begins October 28, 2007]

★ Atlantic Airways (Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands)

★ Atlasjet (Istanbul-Atatürk)

★ Aurigny Air Services (Guernsey)

★ Albanian Airlines (Tirana)

★ Blue1 (Helsinki)

★ Blue Air (Bucharest-Baneasa) [begins October, 2007]

★ Centralwings (Warsaw)

★ Czech Airlines (Prague)

★ Cyprus Airways (Larnaca, Paphos)

★ Cyprus Turkish Airlines (Antalya, Dalaman, Gazientep, Izmir)

★ easyJet (Alicante, Almeria, Asturias, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast-International, Bilbao, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Faro, Funchal [begins October 29, 2007], Geneva, Glasgow-International, Ibiza, Ljubljana, Lyon, Málaga, Munich, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Palma, Prague, Tallinn, Valencia)

★ El Al Israel Airlines (Tel Aviv)

★ Eos Airlines (New York-JFK)

★ Flyglobespan (Larnaca, Tenerife-South, Toronto-Hamilton)

★ Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart)

★ Iceland Express (Reykjavík-Keflavik)

★ Israir Airlines (Tel Aviv)

★ MAXjet Airways (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Washington-Dulles)

★ Norwegian Air Shuttle (Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo, Trondheim)

★ Royal Bengal Airlines (Dhaka) [begins late, 2007]

★ Ryanair (Aarhus, Alghero, Alicante, Almeria, Altenburg, Ancona, Balaton, Bergerac, Belfast-City [begins October 30, 2007], Berlin-Schönefeld, Biarritz, Billund [starts October 2007], Bremen, Brescia, Brindisi, Brno, Brussels-Charleroi, Bydgoszcz, Carcassonne, Cork, Derry, Deauville, Dinard, Dublin, Eindhoven, Esbjerg [ends October, 2007], Forli, Friedrichshafen, Gdańsk, Genoa, Girona, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Granada, Graz, Grenoble, Frankfurt-Hahn, Haugesund, Jerez, Karlsruhe, Kaunas, Kerry, Klagenfurt, Knock, Kraków, La Rochelle, Limoges, Linz, Łódź, Lübeck, Malmö [ends October, 2007], Maribor, Marseille, Milan-Bergamo, Montpellier, Murcia, Nantes, Niederrhein, Newquay, Nimes, Oporto, Oslo-Torp, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Parma, Pau, Perpignan, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Poitiers, Poznan, Pula, Reus, Riga, Rodez, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszów, Salzburg, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Shannon, St Etienne, Stockholm-Skavsta, Szczecin, Tampere, Toulon, Tours, Trieste, Turin, Valencia, Valladolid, Venice/Treviso, Vitoria [ends October, 2007], Wrocław, Zadar, Zaragoza)

★ SkyEurope (Bratislava, Poprad-Tatry) [ends October, 2007]

★ SunExpress (Antalya, Izmir)

★ TACV (Santa Maria (Sal)) [begins Winter, 2007]

★ transavia.com (Rotterdam)

★ Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)

★ Wizz Air (Katowice)

Charter operators

★ Air Europa (Las Palmas, Tenerife-South)

★ Air Southwest (Jersey)

★ BH Air (Bourgas)

★ BritishJet (Malta)

★ Channel Express (Calvi, Lourdes, Olbia)

★ Darwin Airline (Geneva)

★ European Air Charter (Palma)

★ First Choice Airways (Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Palma, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)

★ Iberworld (Palma)

★ Monarch Airlines (Palma, Zakynthos)

★ MyTravel Airways (Mahon, Reus)

★ Nouvelair (Monastir)

★ Onur Air (Bodrum, Dalaman)

★ Thomas Cook Airlines (Antalya, Arrecife, Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Heraklion, Ibiza, Izmir, Kos, Larnaca, Mahon, Paphos, Palma, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)

★ Spanair (Palma)

★ Thomsonfly (Arrecife, Corfu, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Mahon, Ovda-Eilat, Palma, Paphos)

★ Titan Airways (Lourdes & Preveza)

★ XL Airways (Alghero, Corfu, Dalaman, Hearklion, Kos, Arrecife, Ibiza, Tenerife-South, Faro, Las Palmas, Zakynthos, Paphos)

Cargo airlines

★ Air Contractors (Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester, Paris CDG) Air Contractors operate wet leased flights for FedEx

★ Asiana Airlines

★ BAC Express (Exeter)

★ FedEx

★ Jet2.com (Edinburgh, Newcastle)

★ Royal Jordanian Airlines

★ Titan Airways (Belfast, Edinburgh, Exeter)

★ UPS

★ GSS on behalf of British Airways

See also

★ List of RAF stations

★ USAAF Ninth Air Force - World War II

References

★ Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now. After the Battle ISBN 0900913800

★ Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.

★ [2] USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present
1. UK Aeronautical Information Service
2. Aircraft Movements, Air Passengers by Type and Nationality of Operator
3.
4.
5.


★ The Bishop's Stortford Herald newspaper, 26 April 2007.

External links

★ Stansted Airport

★ Stansted Airport Consultative Committee

★ Stop Stansted Expansion