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Stansted Airport Information

Facilities

Stansted Airport's main terminal offers all amenities including those for business travellers, children and the disabled. Stansted has several conference facilities which can be found in Enterprise house, next to the airport. The information desk is situated on the International Arrivals concourse and is open from 05:30-01:30 daily.

Transport

Stansted boasts a railway station below the terminal building with frequent services into London and as well as services to Cambridge and the Midlands. In addition, the Stansted Express travels to and from Liverpool Street station every 15 minutes with a journey time of 45 minutes.

There are also scheduled express bus or coach services running to and from several inner London locations and the bus/coach station is adjacent to the terminal building.

History

Stansted was built by the United States Army in 1942 as a bomber base during the war and by 1944 over 600 aircraft were stationed there. The base played a large part in the Battle of Normandy but after the war, it was not needed and was therefore transferred to the Air Ministry in 1947. The US military came back in 1954 to extend the runway as there was a possibility that NATO would take over the base but this never came to fruition and as a result the airport came under BAA control in 1966.

For three decades from the 1960s onwards, the Fire Service Training School was based on the eastern side of the Airfield with the support of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, and after that by the Civil Aviation Authority. The School provided training for all Aviation Fire Crews for UK Airfields and they also trained personnel for other countries. The School was subsequently transferred to Teeside where it still continues to train firemen.

Initially Stansted Airport was used by holiday charter operators who wanted to escape to the higher costs incurred when operating from Heathrow and Gatwick. Immediately however, BAA and the British government intended to develop Stansted into London's third airport, to relieve some of the burden on the other two as the demand for air travel grew. Stansted's first terminal building opened in 1969 and was developed the following year in order to cope with increased demand.

In 1984 the government approved a plan to develop both Stansted's airfield and terminal, which as a result would increase the airport's capacity to 15 million passengers per year. The new terminal building was designed by internationally acclaimed Sir Norman Foster and was completed in 1991, five years after work first commenced. In the early 1990s American Airlines began operating a transatlantic service between Stansted and Chicago but it proved to be unprofitable and was subsequently withdrawn. Continental Airlines later operated a service between Stansted and Newark, New Jersey but this service as also withdrawn for commercial reasons after the devastation of the September 11th tragedy.

Today Stansted Airport is a large passenger airport with one runway and a hub for a number of major European low-cost airlines, including Ryanair and easyJet. In addition Volga-Dnepr often station a large Antonov An-124 freighter to the northwest of the runway to carry outsize cargoes and FedEx is a dominant operator of trans-Atlantic freighter services.

Despite strong opposition from the local campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion, the Government has given its backing for a massive development of air travel that will include the construction of a second runway at Stansted by 2012. This would allow Stansted to cope with more passengers than are handled by Heathrow at the moment.

Car Park Services at Stansted

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Stansted Super Parking Meet and Greet
Stansted Meteor Meet and Greet
CSL Car Storage Park and Ride
CSL Car Storage Return Meet and Greet
CSL Car Storage Meet and Greet
CSL Premium Meet and Greet
Park and Refresh