London Stansted Airport has completed the first phase in its amazing £600 million transformation programme this week, with the operational opening of four new parking stands.
The echo stand extension, spanning 40,000m², is the size of four premiership football pitches and boosts the airport’s ability to handle more aircraft during peak hours, helping to make airfield operations more efficient.
A total of 23,000m³ of concrete was poured, 15 km of drainage pipes and 1850 metres of cabling laid during the seven-month-long development project by the main contractors, VolkerFitzpatrick.
The second phase is already underway at the airport and will include new taxiways, additional aircraft holding areas and a further 20 new aircraft stands, which will make a major milestone in the airport's development.
"This is the first step in an extensive programme of works to our airfield at London Stansted, which includes new taxiways, additional aircraft holding areas as well as the new aircraft stands." Paul Willis, Programme Delivery Director, Stansted Transformation Project explains, "London Stansted is the only major airport in the South East that has potential to grow in line with the Government’s aviation strategy of optimising existing runway capacity. These new stands will provide extra capacity for aircraft to park, unlocking spare capacity and improving operations from the airport’s single runway."
The Stansted Transformation Programme is one of the largest airport projects currently underway in the UK. The plans include a new arrivals terminal and the reconfiguration of the existing terminal into a departures only facility. It also features a revamped retail and restaurant offer, as well as new car parks and airfield infrastructure.
