London Stansted advances major terminal expansion and infrastructure projects

London Stansted is making progress on a major transformation programme designed to expand terminal capacity, improve operational resilience and enhance the passenger experience, with construction work now advancing on key infrastructure projects.

A central part of the programme is the construction of new Skylink walkways, which will extend the existing terminal building and provide additional capacity to support the airport’s longer-term growth.

The progress was highlighted during a recent visit by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP, who toured the airport to see how the investment programme is taking shape.

Foundation and steelwork are now under way on the Skylink project, while sections of the new walkways are being pre-assembled offsite in a vacant airport hangar. Once completed, the sections will be transported to the construction site for installation in the coming months.

The project forms part of London Stansted’s wider plans to make better use of its existing runway capacity and accommodate future demand. The airport has planning permission to increase its annual passenger capacity to 51 million over the next two decades, compared with its current annual throughput of around 31 million.

The investment programme is intended to provide the infrastructure needed to support this growth while improving the efficiency and resilience of airport operations.

The latest construction progress comes as Stansted reported a record October, handling 2.79 million passengers, up 4.2% on the same month in 2025. Sunday 25 October also became the airport’s busiest day on record, with 109,881 passengers.

Gareth Powell, Managing Director of London Stansted, said:

“The airport now serves nearly 31m passengers a year and plays a key role in driving trade, investment and tourism for London and the East of England. With planning permission to serve up to 51m passengers over the next two decades, we have a strong platform to unlock the spare capacity on our existing runway and deliver our ambitious plans to increase passenger numbers and help improve the UK’s connectivity with the rest of the world.

“In addition, we’re also making good progress on our transformation programme. It was a pleasure last week to welcome the Secretary of State for Transport to the airport and demonstrate the scale of our investment, the progress being made to support future growth and enhancements to the airport experience for passengers in the years ahead.”

As construction progresses, London Stansted says it remains focused on maintaining efficient and reliable operations while delivering the infrastructure required to support its next phase of development.