Stansted airport soars above pre-pandemic passenger numbers, while Heathrow and Manchester lag behind

Average security wait at the Essex airport was six minutes, while at Heathrow it was just 90 seconds

Quick turnaround: Jet2 Boeing 737 landing at London Stansted while a Ryanair aircraft waits to depart (Simon Calder)

Three of the UK’s busiest airports have reported mixed results for passengers handled in August – the peak summer holiday month.

London Stansted handled 2 per cent more passengers last month than in August 2019, with a total of 2.91 million. Its busiest day was 18 August 2023, with 100,561 passengers passing through – a rate of 70 per minute.

The busiest routes were Dublin, Istanbul and Palma de Mallorca.

But it was not the Essex airport’s busiest-ever month: that was in August 2018, which also saw its three busiest single days.

All UK airports were hit by the national air traffic control failure on bank holiday Monday, which caused the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights to, from and within the UK.

Gareth Powell, Stansted’s managing director, said: “Across the summer, despite very high passenger volumes and operational challenges such as the recent air traffic control outage, we have delivered a strong and consistent level of customer service with an average security queue time of just over six minutes during our busiest departure periods of the day.”

Stansted’s sister in the MAG organisation, Manchester airport, handled slightly more passengers: 3.09 million. But it is lagging behind pre-pandemic levels, at 93 per cent of 2019 figures.

The UK’s busiest airport, London Heathrow, handled 7.5 million passengers in August – a rate of 168 per minute – but that remains 2.6 per cent down on the figure for 2019.

The airport said in a statement: “Passenger satisfaction was higher than pre-pandemic, reflecting the investment the airport, airlines and their ground handlers have made in recruiting and training over 25,000 new colleagues in the last two years.

“This extra resilience meant that while flights at Heathrow were impacted by the UK-wide air traffic restrictions in August, operations quickly returned to normal.” The average wait time for security was 90 seconds.

“Passengers used the extra time in the airport to stock up on food as Pret A Manger sold nearly one million sandwiches this summer,” the airport said.

“Others indulged in retail therapy to get ‘beach ready’, with a pair of sunglasses sold every two minutes.”

The outgoing chief executive, John Holland-Kaye said: “I am very proud of the way colleagues across Team Heathrow made sure that passengers had a super start to their summer holidays, with record levels of passenger satisfaction and average security queue times of less than two minutes – Heathrow is back to its best.”

Mr Holland-Kaye’s successor is Thomas Woldbye, currently the boss of Copenhagen airport.

The remaining airport in the UK’s top four, London Gatwick, has yet to report its August traffic figures.