Stansted Airport managing director Steve Griffiths, who stepped up to the top job in July 2020 after joining from Transport for London in October 2018, sets out his reasons for optimism…
The last 18 months have undoubtedly been the toughest the aviation industry has faced in its entire history, with traffic levels dropping to as low as 5% of usual volumes at the height of the pandemic.
It has been extremely difficult for all of us associated with London Stansted to witness our once-thriving terminal nearly deserted on occasions, with many of our other facilities and services completely mothballed in the absence of passengers.
It was equally as devastating to see how quickly air travel returned on the Continent to something much closer to “normal” while the UK remained stuck on the Tarmac, despite the success of our vaccination programme and comparatively low infection rates in the most popular destinations for our passengers.
Prolonged – and in many cases unnecessary – restrictions on travel unquestionably held back our recovery, as passengers found themselves grappling with confusing guidance or requirements, and the associated cost of testing.
However, as restrictions gradually began to ease over the last few months, we saw more and more passengers return to the airport. Across the summer, although volumes remained depressed compared to 2019 levels, Stansted was the second busiest airport in the UK – up from our usual fourth place.
This put us in a relatively good place to build on this small but significant step, and following the latest changes to the Government’s travel restrictions announced last month, we are feeling a new sense of excitement and anticipation as we continue the journey back to how we remember the airport prior to the…