London Stansted growth can provide timely boost to region’s productivity and global connectivity
London Stansted’s Chief Executive Officer Ken O’Toole has set out how the airport’s growth over the next decade will play a critical role in boosting productivity by improving global connectivity and providing a greater choice of international destinations for businesses across the eastern region.
Speaking at the CBI’s East of England productivity conference at Babraham Hall in Cambridge alongside the Director General of CBI, Carolyn Fairburn and other business leaders, Ken O’Toole said the airport’s planning application to raise the current cap on the number of passengers it is permitted to serve from 35 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 43mppa would deliver significant economic benefits to the UK and Eastern region by boosting international long-haul routes to fast-growing markets like China, India and the US.
Stansted is a key enabler for economic growth and improving international connectivity and competitiveness, which in turn helps make our region even more attractive to inward investment.
The last five years have been a stellar period for the airport during which we have increased passenger numbers by nearly 10 million, doubled the number of airlines and secured six of the top eight unserved routes including Dubai, New York, Boston, Toronto and Washington.
Building on these successes, we now have ambitious and exciting plans for Stansted’s future which will take the airport to the next level.
To complement our £600 million investment programme to transform airport facilities, this week we submitted a planning application to make best use of our single runway and serve up to 43 million passengers a year. This will unlock Stansted’s potential, enable us to add 8 million passengers a year over the next decade and extend the choice of airlines and destinations we serve.
The enhanced choice and convenience of more long-haul connections available from the heart of the region will save passengers valuable time and money associated with flying from other London airports and help attract more companies to invest in the region.
The word transformation is often overused, but in Stansted’s case it’s appropriate, because we have the opportunity to do something truly remarkable over the next decade – to transform Stansted into a genuine global gateway, providing valuable new connectivity which will boost UK productivity in the period after Brexit.
