London Stansted Airport recorded the busiest day in its history on October 27, as over 107,000 passengers passed through, kicking off the United Kingdom’s half-term holidays.

In a press statement, London Stansted Airport says that this new daily high surpassed the previous record of 104,000 set in August, marking the fourth time Stansted has broken passenger records in 2024.

According to airport authorities, October’s strong travel demand saw Stansted host a record 2.67 million passengers, up by 97,000 compared to last October, making it the airport’s busiest October yet.

Gareth Powell

“To record the busiest day in the history of London Stansted in late October is an incredible achievement and a powerful reflection of reliability, great choice, value and operational efficiency the airport and our airline partners are able to offer our passengers. We know all these aspects of travel are really important to passengers when choosing where they fly to and from, so our teams work hard every day to ensure we do all we can to make the airport experience as seamless and smooth as possible while offering the best connectivity to Europe of any UK airport,” says Gareth Powell, Managing Director, London Stansted.

Family vacations and short trips to destinations such as Türkiye, the Canary Islands, Spain, and Portugal were top choices.

Stansted also saw a notable influx of international arrivals, driven by major European football and NFL events in London.

The statement adds that operationally, Stansted performed smoothly, with 99 pc of passengers clearing security in 15 minutes or less, and an average security queue time of two minutes during peak departures. Stansted’s annual passenger count now stands at 29.45 million, reflecting a 6.7 pc increase year-over-year.

“The month was not only a great success due to the record number of passengers we welcomed to London Stansted, we were also very proud to be named Airport of the Year at the prestigious UK National Transport Awards, and delighted to unveil further details of our very exciting and ambitious GBP 1.1 billion investment plans for the airport,” Powell adds.

“The five-year investment programme will deliver wide-ranging benefits to passengers and help secure links to even more global destinations, helping transform the airport journey while maintaining the simple, efficient and reliable experience we know our passengers really value when they choose to fly from Stansted,” he says.