Not is all well in Hertfordshire.

https://www.travelmole.com/news/coun...ort-expansion/

Typical NIMBY council stuff really, especially where "leafy shires" are concerned!

Councils very rarely appear to appreciate that airports also provide jobs and prosperity to the region as a whole.

Sad to see the news yesterday that PLAY Airlines has ceased operations :( Keeping fingers crossed that the crew who were there will be able to find work quickly. This of course will now leave Jet2 as the sole airline from STN to KEF; I'm wondering whether in the light of PLAY's demise, they could convert their KEF flights to year-round? Maybe even Iceland Air may be tempted to have a look at STN?

In terms of the transformation work that is currently underway... how is this going? I'll be passing through STN next week for the first time in over a year, so will be interested to see what's happening and how the upgrade and modernisation of SAT 2 is going? (Can't see any photos online on what the new look will be like annoyingly).

With the loss of PLAY, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Icelandair eventually announced STN. Tbh I'm surprised that Icelandair doesn't already operate to STN. With its hub at KEF and it's many connections it makes perfect sense for Icelandair to serve STN alongside LGW and LHR.

Regarding possible airline additions at STN.

Now that Airblue and PIA have both been given permission to resume flights to the UK, I wonder if we will see Airblue at STN at some point 🤔

And looking slightly further ahead, the possibility of IndiGo 👍

With Wow & now Play gone, is there a valid business model for transfers via KEF? Icelandair's own figured show only 38% are transfers.
I think the 321XLR will kill that market.
If LGW can get spades in the ground and release new slots, there might be less chance of new carriers at STN or if they do arrive, a defection to LGW would be on the cards.

I wonder how many residents of Hertfordshire use both Stansted and Luton airports? I would imagine quite a lot. I rest my case.

Depends on where in Hertfordshire tbh. I'm mid/west Hertfordshire and of all the 'large' London airports, Stansted is by far my least used of them. Luton is a short taxi or Thameslink ride away. Heathrow is similar. Gatwick is a direct train away. Stansted on the other hand, is a Thameslink/Elizabeth/Stansted Express journey of the best part of 2 hours, or nearly an hour drive depending on how the M25 is feeling. Unless it's a destination not served by the others, I don't even consider Stansted these days.

In another lifetime I lived much nearer to STN than LTN. Of course it depends on your destination (and the frequency and prices of flights) as to which of the two you might plump for ... but my experience was that STN was easier for car parking, rail links and road links than LTN ... once you got there! Just my tuppence worth.

It’s a bit like those that always say “Stansted is miles from London”. When in fact what they mean is that they live in Epsom, so yes it is miles from where they live in London.

I can do Stansted to parts of east London in 30 minutes by car. That is as long as the M11/A406 Are both playing ball.

Just passed through STN for the first time in over 15 months yesterday. Things I observed - lots of work being done in security to modernise the entrance to security screening and upgrade the remainder of the lanes to the latest screening equipment. Work also being done to extend the security area, including opening new lanes. Worked extremely well and I was through in less than 5 minutes :) The former orientation area/corridor leading to the entrance of the departure lounge has been boarded off while works in the terminal progress - unsure what'll become of this space once the terminal works and reconfiguration are completed though?

I also passed through SAT 2 - there is a lot of work being done here, and its great to see MAG finally investing in this area as it really was looking very dated and tired, having had no work done to it for many years. Things I saw included new white tiled flooring being installed in place of the old, shabby carpet flooring leading to the gates, the same as what is in SAT 1. Nothing seems to have been changed to the ceiling fittings/lighting (yet), but I guess this will come once work on gate reconfiguration has been completed? All of the old gate area seating has now been replaced. Gates 37/38 are the first to have received the new look and reconfiguration, which seems to have involved more and new seats installed, new signage and way finding, new staff desks for passenger processing and a new queuing/segregation system that looks far better than the present system. Unsure though if there is/will be any work done to the areas below where the escalators lead to the jet bridges - anyone know of more?

Further, many of the gates (e.g. 29/30) are currently boarded off whilst work continues to install new seating and flooring, so my guess is overall utilisation of SAT 2 (gates 20-39) will be less than usual during the refurbishment works. Annoyingly, I did try looking online for any mention of SAT 2 project works and timelines, but couldn't find anything :( So not sure when the SAT 2 modernisation programme will be fully completed - again, anyone on here know more?

Tui Summer 2026
 

It would appear that both DLM and LPA have been dropped from the summer 2026 schedules. Flights now operated by a third party, namely Ryanair. This leaves three gaps in the schedule. Two afternoon departures on a Monday and one afternoon departure on a Thursday.

Could we be seeing new destinations or increased frequency to current destinations launching imminently?

Stansted transformation
 

Some new pics on the Stansted Facebook page showing more of their transformation plans. It’s good to see that the shoreline check-in concept will be expanded. The current check-in zones (with the exception of the 500’s) is looking cramped, cluttered and dated. This will definitely give landside an improved overall feeling of space.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3a5fc8f7d.jpeg

Was any timeline given for these improvements?

looks good - it feels almost reminiscent to what STN looked like under BAA’s ownership. The shoreline check in looks fantastic and will definitely help to open up the terminal and create a more open, airy space. The top photo appears to be what the new entrance to the departure lounge will look like… does anyone know whether the current duty free walkthrough/path will remain as is or be removed? IIRC, when BAA owned STN, passengers entered straight into the departure lounge upon clearing security (so no walk through duty free path back then), unless I’m mistaken? I wonder if MAG plan to revert the route to something similar?

Cut out a route to a major revenue stream, never unless for Assistance Travel Passengers like Gatwick North only.

I have to agree, I think it’ll stay. Whilst a lot of us regular fliers might find it a hindrance, there’s still a lot of folk who see duty free as a big part of their airport experience. I’m not sure there’s many, if any major airport in the UK that doesn’t force you through their duty free shop?

Looking forward to the shoreline check-in happening. The current landside experience isn’t great, it makes the terminal feel a lot smaller than it actually is. Not sure on timelines? But winter is probably a good time to commence with this change?

Wishful thinking on my part lol. But in all seriousness, from the CGIs, it does look promising, certainly better than the previous Arrivals Building project designs, and it does look fairly spacious in the extension section of the IDL, quite like the layout BAA used when it owned STN. Hopefully they'll release more info re. timelines soon, as it'll be interesting to see when MAG envision the extension being opened.

Also - does anyone know when the TTS is now likely to be decommissioned? I hope MAG still plan on installing moving walkways within the new 'skylinks', as it sounds like walking times will be long without a transit in place.

I haven't been through STN for about twelve years. Those images look rather like it was way back when! I just remember the whole concourse being ram-packed with shops and check-in. It felt crowded and put me off going there unless there was no choice.Thus far I have managed to avoid it.

I think it's come to realisation that the forced-flow retail layout isn't really conducive to additional spending. WDF is a different story as that's the norm almost everywhere and I wouldn't expect that to fundamentally change. In most airports once leaving WDF, you're into an open retail/dining space, but STN (and LTN) take it a step further with much of the general retail continuing with the same forced-flow concept. To an extent it was designed like that because it allows more floor space for retail use in a fairly constrained area. Plus it means there are no "hot" or "cold" spots since every passenger passes through/by every retail unit, which also helps contractual agreements with the retailers.

Going forwards, and I have no detail/confirmation of this, but I have heard the existing retail layout maybe reconfigured at some point as well. The aforementioned space constraints are adressed by the terminal extension and the corridor through much of the existing retail area will likely be too narrow for the number of passengers in future going through it (I would argue it already is). The future thinking from what I've heard is a move to a more open space and a line-of-sight to the retail offering, much like what you see in the artist impressions.

STN Transformation
 

It looks from the CGI very similar to what they have done at T2 in Manchester albeit on the one level.

The check-in and Departures / Security entrance looks very familiar and a more open retail experience in the Departures Lounge looks very likely.

The retail route will 100% be staying as its been proven it increases discretionary spend and MAG spent millions on consultants to get this behaviour modelled.

Having seen T2 in MAN I am not expecting to see moving walkways to the piers, there are some long walks in MAN now to some of the A gates and I suspect that STN will be the same but thy would definitely make the experience more pleasant.

Hopefully escape will move too and we might possibly see a 1903 lounge.