Record-breaking August rounds off Stansted’s busiest ever summer

London Stansted rounded off its busiest summer ever with a record-breaking August, as 3.27 million passengers travelled through the airport, up 6.5% on the same month last year. The record total was almost 200,000 passengers higher than August 2025, also making it the airport’s busiest month on record.

Passenger numbers exceeded 100,000 on every day of the month, with 16 August becoming the busiest day in Stansted’s history, when almost 110,000 passengers travelled through.

Nine of the airport’s 10 busiest days ever have now taken place during August 2026, as strong demand for summer holidays, city breaks and visits to family and friends drove record passenger numbers.

The airport also recorded its busiest ever month for departing flights, with 9,097 departures during August. Aircraft movements reached record levels too, with 28th August becoming the busiest day ever for runway movements, with 708 movements.

August’s record performance followed strong passenger demand across the start of summer season. In total, 9.27 million passengers travelled through London Stansted during June, July and August, up 5.4% on the same three months last year.

Collaboration underpins a record breaking summer season

Gareth Powell, London Stansted’s Managing Director, said: “August has been an incredible month for London Stansted, with more than 3.27 million passengers travelling through the airport and every single day seeing more than 100,000 people pass through our terminal.

“Breaking our record for the busiest ever month, alongside our busiest ever day and a new record for departing flights, shows just how strong demand for travel has been this summer at the airport. Across the summer months of June, July and August we welcomed more than 9.2 million passengers, making this our busiest summer ever, which is a fantastic achievement and a real testament to the hard work of our colleagues and the close collaboration with our airline and airport partners.”

The airport’s rolling 12-month passenger total now stands at 30.7m, up 2.4% on the previous year. Istanbul was the busiest individual route during August, followed by Dublin and Palma de Mallorca, whilst Spain remained the most popular country market, with more than 566,000 passengers, followed by Italy and Turkey.

The airport also transports over 250,000 tonnes of goods worldwide each year, including to the Far East and the USA.

How investing in infrastructure transformation is accommodating sustainable growth

Stansted has the highest public transport use by passengers of any major airport in the UK and is among the best in Europe. It is continuing its transformation to accommodate growth, supported over 12,000 employees working for 200 companies, it is the largest single-site employer in the East of England.

Gareth said: “While these records demonstrate the strength of demand for Stansted, they also underline the importance of our ongoing transformation programme. We are investing significantly in the airport to ensure we have the capacity and infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing number of passengers who choose to fly from Stansted, while also making their journey more comfortable and enjoyable.

“As we now move into the autumn, we’ll continue to ramp up our work to transform the airport while maintaining a sharp focus on delivering the best possible experience for the millions of passengers who choose to fly from London Stansted.”

London Stansted was awarded Level 3+ carbon neutral status in 2018 by reducing emissions under its direct control The airport is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2038 and to working with airline and industry partners – as well as with Government through the Jet Zero Taskforce – to reach net zero for UK aviation by 2050.

The airport has sourced all its electricity from renewable sources since April 2013 and this year it will begin generating electricity via its own on-site 14.3MW solar farm. In addition, the airport diverts 100% of its waste from landfill, recycling more than 75%.