The new owners of Stansted today launched a battle of the skies as they vowed to take passengers from Heathrow and Gatwick after competing the £1.5bn purchase of the Essex airport.
They promised to take the airport, traditionally a stronghold of budget airlines, into the premier league with flights to 40 new long-haul destinations including the US, Caribbean and the Middle East.
Owners Manchester Airport Group (MAG) pledged to double annual passenger numbers 35 million, build new stands for the A380 superjumbos and spend £40m on new shops.
By 2018 they aim to boost annual passenger numbers by 5.5m to almost 23 million per year. There will be an extra 40 destinations, mainly long-haul flights to the US and the Caribbean and the Gulf. Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Air France, KLM and Virgin are all set to fly out of Stansted which has been traditionally dominated by budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet.
Last edited by daz211; 1st Mar 2013 at 11:11.