Planning has been secured for the £130 million dedicated arrivals terminal which will allow the existing terminal building to expand and be redeveloped for departures only

Another hefty investment & gearing up for future max use of the existing runway...Well done MAG as they state also since acquiring STN traffic has increased 40%...(admittedly from the low point inherited)..In lieu of the transformation also announced is a further increase in capacity-(with work to commence later this Summer)-within the existing departures inc more check-in desks & more seating & more restaurants airside......When complete STN will be the only airport in the UK with stand alone Arrivals & Departure Terminals....

Their airport at Bournemouth has the same arrangement.

I should imagine Satelite Four will be the next investment to be announced then SAT 3 and SAT 4 could be purely Ryanair releasing extra gates in SAT 2 for any Jet2 expansion.

I believe that is broadly the plan longer term

Here's the picture. It doesn't look particularly separate as it's just butted up as an extension of the current terminal. Which it would have to be to allow access to the train station etc.

Stansted Airport announces new £130m arrivals terminal - BBC News

But what an architectural mish-mash. The architects have gone out of their way to design something which, while of comparable height etc as the current building, is just jarring and out of keeping in almost every respect. Whatever happened to good design ?

And LHR terminals all look the same.....

At Heathrow all of the terminals are separated by distance. This looks like a single building even though it is not so looks a little odd. Once inside they will no doubt be connected so passengers and visitors will feel as though they are in one building. At Bournemouth I had to step outside to cross the gap which felt very strange.

Stansted has the luxury of plenty of land for expansion. That very fact means it will have a great future and should rival Gatwick in terms of capacity for its single runway.

That seems to be the MAG way - I believe it's called 'Value-engineering'. Just look at the proposed expansion of MAN T2, not exactly a beacon for good architecture !

It is good to see Stansted growing and with more variety of carriers and the investment in new facilities is definitely needed as the terminal is nothing like the calm space it was originally designed and intended to be. That said I think it's sad they have opted for a cheap looking add on structure rather than in keeping with the Foster Associates terminal design. Maybe it will all look fantastic in a few years time but personally I think it should be built in the existing style.

The existing terminal was built in the BAA era, when money was no object and appearance was more important than profit.

I suppose if the day comes when airlines like Ryanair and their customers are happy to pay more for airport charges and ticket prices then MAG will build them whatever they want. Since that's never going to happen the best we can hope for is "functional". It's the UK plc way.

And this will happen at STN long before even a bulldozer gets access to start expansion at LHR ! In 5 years time, the MP's will still be debating LHR so as to keep their jobs whereas STN just goes ahead. I admit, we're not talking about another runway at STN but even so........

With the heat stepping up on longhaul particularly to the US from Gatwick with Norwegian I wonder if the likes so VS or BA will ever consider starting up at Stansted it's an untapped market and the demand is definitely there to be honest I'm supposed it hasn't happened this summer
Continental and American managed it years ago with good loads
In my opinion Virgin would do very well out of Stansted
In a slightly different market BA have been surprised with demand from Stansted on its holiday city and ski destinations from Stansted so surly its only a matter of time.

No they didn't, it was a financial flop, which is why they were withdrawn. The economy cabin was filled through various discounters, business and first just didn't sell. If you thought there were pax seated in there, they would be upgrades in the normal US carrier fashion.

Incidentally, when AA ran (in 1992-3) from Stansted to Chicago with 767s, they ran a competition, prize a couple of transatlantic tickets, for what US onward destination had the most onward connecting pax from their first month's flights. I remember picking up the entry form when passing through the STN terminal, and dropping it in the box at the AA desk. Didn't win. What do you think the correct answer was ?

That really surprised me do you know for fact, I worked at the airport during this time and the flights always seeemed full but even if your correct the airport and travel in general has moved on much faster than even I would have dreamed of I for one and there is no way I'm alone in thinking this is I hate traveling to LHR and even LGW I live in Essex and it's not that far to either airport but the M25 is just to much I connect through AMS now when traveling to the US which I do approx 6x a year I'm more than confident that scheduled longhaul from Stansted will work now not only in one direction but with the network of destinations from Stansted people traveling from the US have a massive amount of choice for visiting European cities and the Mediterranean.
But my main point is Norwegian will definitely have an impact on passenger numbers on BA VS etc so why not get in there first and establish at Stansted.

daz211

'Continental and American managed it for years with good loads'

As far as I am aware

Continental (Boeing 757) only operated to Newark from June 2000 to September 2001 (terminated after 9/11 never to return as it was a very marginal route)

American (Boeing 762) operated to Chicago from June 1992 to April 1993 (having lost $10 million on the route)

American (Boeing 763) operated to New York JFK from October 2007 to July 2008 (in response to EOS (Boeing 757) and Maxjet (Boeing 762) and the flights were heavily discounted)

Good loads maybe but no one was making any real returns.

I share your passion regarding Stansted airport but you won't be seeing British Airways flying long haul from the airport, a few BACF sun and ski routes as at present with perhaps an expansion into more European destinations going forward.

Virgin Atlantic may well offer an Orlando flight in coming years and possibly a Las Vegas flight but nothing more than that.

Any possible transatlantic connection from Stansted in the future will more than likely come from JetBlue if and when they announce any transatlantic expansion in the next couple of years.

It's a pity that Norwegian moved their London operations from STN to LGW a few years ago as the expansion from that airline since then has been amazing to watch especially their long haul flying, imagine if all that was at STN rather than LGW!

Thomas Cook and TUI Airlines both have flights to Orlando (MCO & SFB respectively), Don't think there is enough demand for a VS service to Orlando given than MT and TOM are only operating these in high season.

TUI have weekly flights to Cancun and Montego Bay, MT operate LAS and CUN in high season. I would think that they would be the most likely to bolster long haul at Stansted before VS would operate from a third London airport.

I was referring to scheduled flights rather than the charter flights operated by TCX and TUI.

When I was referring to Virgin Atlantic, i did say in 'coming years', just like they have done at GLA and to a certain extent BFS.

I am sure and I do hope that both TCX and TUI will expand their long haul charter operations from STN in the foreseeable future but looking forward that might encourage Virgin Atlantic to offer a flight from STN to Orlando MCO in a similar way to GLA that already had competition to Florida from both TCX and TUI.

If the huge networks of flights to Europe accepted transfers then I'm sure it could work, but other than that you're going to prefer to book a connection somewhere they call it a connection...

If Ryanair do start allowing transfers then I suspect Ryanair Atlantic is a logical progression. Other than that I can't see it happening.

Connecting and interlining are not as important as you may think I know a lot of people who travel STN-AMS (easyJet) and STN-DUB (Ryanair) for onward travel to the US instead of using LGW and LHR both these routes are self connections point to point also there is enough foot fall between the US and London alone to support at least a daily flight from STN to New York.