Latest news with #StanstedExpress
BBC News
09-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Greater Anglia to be nationalised, says rail operator
Greater Anglia is set to be nationalised later this year, the rail operator has company, which runs trains across the East of England and into London, said it would be brought under public ownership on 12 said train services, timetables and station facilities would be unaffected by the transition, and employees' roles would all transfer Beable, the company's managing director, said the firm would "remain focused" on delivering its services. The Department for Transport has been approached for comment. Greater Anglia runs trains throughout Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, including the Stansted Express airport Beable said: "I am very proud of what we have achieved here in East Anglia over the past 13 years, significantly improving standards, investing in a complete fleet of new trains and working closely with the local community." Follow East of England news on X, Instagram and Facebook: BBC Beds, Herts & Bucks, BBC Cambridgeshire, BBC Essex, BBC Norfolk, BBC Northamptonshire or BBC Suffolk.
Time Business News
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time Business News
London Stansted Airport Celebrates Record-Breaking Winter Season with Continued Growth
London Stansted Airport has reported its busiest winter on record, underscoring its growing role as a vital travel hub in the UK. The airport welcomed 2.31 million passengers in March 2025 alone—an impressive 7.5% increase compared to March 2024. This milestone marks the highest-ever March passenger total in the airport's history, exceeding the previous record by more than 127,000 travellers. Over the 12 months leading up to March 2025, Stansted served 29.89 million passengers, a 4.8% year-on-year rise. Much of this success is attributed to a particularly strong winter season, with over 10.5 million passengers traveling through the terminal between November and March. The continued surge in demand demonstrates the airport's resilience and its increasingly central role in both leisure and business travel across Europe. Top-performing routes during this period included Dublin, Istanbul, and Edinburgh, highlighting the airport's robust network of connections to both short-haul and mid-haul destinations. Spain, Italy, and Germany stood out as the most popular countries for travellers, driven by a mix of holidaymakers, expatriates, and business professionals taking advantage of Stansted's competitive flight offerings and frequent schedules. Operational performance has also been a standout success. Despite the increase in passengers, Stansted maintained a strong track record for efficiency, with 99% of passengers passing through security in under 15 minutes. This was achieved even during peak travel times—an indicator of effective planning and infrastructure investment. Enhancing accessibility, the return of a full four-trains-per-hour service on the Stansted Express in December 2024 has also played a key role in boosting passenger numbers. Looking ahead, London Stansted is preparing for a busy summer, with 14 new routes launching across its flight network. These include exciting new destinations such as Casablanca in Morocco, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Linz in Austria. The new services will provide greater variety for holidaymakers and expand Stansted's already extensive European and North African reach. To support its continued growth, Stansted recently concluded a public consultation on plans to increase its annual passenger capacity from 43 million to 51 million. Notably, the proposal does not include an increase in the number of permitted flights or expansion beyond the airport's existing boundary. Instead, the focus is on optimising existing infrastructure, building on the work undertaken in recent years by Gate Technologies and Robson Handling to reconfigure check-in hall and baggage facilities, as well as improving operational efficiency. The new plans have received widespread support from stakeholders, signalling a shared vision for the airport's role in the region's economic future. This record-breaking performance at Stansted is part of a broader trend seen across the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted, and East Midlands airports. MAG recently reported handling 61.3 million passengers across all three airports for the financial year ending March 2024—surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The group posted an operating profit of £240.1 million for the same period, reflecting a strong recovery in the aviation sector. With record figures, expanded services, and ambitious growth plans, London Stansted is well-positioned to play an even larger role in connecting the UK to Europe and beyond. The airport's combination of efficiency, connectivity, and future-facing infrastructure ensures it remains one of the UK's most important and fastest-growing transport hubs. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Yahoo
London travel news LIVE: Liverpool Street trains disrupted after 'person hit by train'
Trains travelling to and from London Liverpool Street this morning face delays due to an emergency incident on the tracks. According to National Rail, Greater Anglia routes in the direction of Cambridge might be delayed by up to 30 minutes or cancelled as emergency responders attend the scene. London Overground routes between London Liverpool Street and Cheshunt have also been impacted, and cancellations are being reported on the Stansted Express as well. Greater Anglia is reporting that this is 'due to a person hit by a train.' Elsewhere commuters relying on the Piccadilly line face severe delays on Thursday morning due to a faulty track. According to TfL, staff are fixing a fault with the track at Cockfosters that is currently impacting the rest of the line. For now, there is a good service on all other lines, and commuters are reminded that their tickets can be accepted on the Elizabeth Line, Great Northern, South Western Railway, Weaver Line and local bus services. We'll keep you updated on all the big travel news throughout the day. Samaritans is available on 116 123 or at 07:25 , Tamara Davison According to True Tube Status, there is currently a 13-minute gap on Eastbound Piccadilly Line services, and a 12 minute gap on trains heading Westbound. This comes as teams work to fix a faulty track near Cockfosters that is causing delays across the line. 07:10 , Tamara Davison We've got more on this morning's crash on the M1 Northbound. According to INRIX, the impacted vehicles have now been moved to the shoulder, and traffic is slowly moving past again. Expect some delays after J4 A41 near Edgware and Harrow. 06:54 , Tamara Davison Good morning and welcome to today's travel news across London. Heading toward rush hour today, there is major travel disruption being reported on the London Underground's Piccadilly Line. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates on London's underground, trains, buses, and roads.
The Independent
01-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Could the idea of a second runway at Stansted take off?
Q We've heard new runway plans for Heathrow and Gatwick airports this week. I live near Stansted and am interested, both as a local and a user, whether talk of a second runway is now dead in the water. Chris B A I feel I have been covering the debate about airport expansion in southeast England almost since the dawn of time, and have surveyed all the possible locations for new runways. Stansted airport, northeast of London, is the third biggest serving the capital after Heathrow and Gatwick. In terms of resilience and smooth operations, the Essex airport could certainly use a second runway. Its sister airport, Manchester, handles roughly the same number of passengers – 30 million annually – and has two runways. Manchester Airports Group owns both facilities, and knows the advantages of having extra capacity. But it has no intention in the next decade or two to begin the long, expensive and uncertain process involved in seeking permission to build a second runway at Stansted. Like other single-runway airports in southeast England, though, Stansted plans to increase flights and passengers to extract more productivity from its precious strip of asphalt. In September 2024 the airport announced an upgrade that includes extending the main terminal, improving one of the two slightly odd satellites and making the taxiways more efficient. In addition, surface access should improve with upgrades on the road link from the M11 motorway and the Stansted Express rail service from central London. All of this is intended to boost annual passenger numbers by as much as 70 per cent by the early 2040s to 51 million. For comparison, Gatwick currently files about 45 million passengers a year. So Stansted will certainly be busier, and the hope is that there would be much more choice beyond the current range of European destinations (and proportionally less reliance on the dominant airline, Ryanair). From a passenger perspective, you can expect more choice and competition. Q Our daughter is working in Kobe, Japan, for five months. We want to go out and see her for about 10 days in late April. Can you recommend where to visit in wider Japan? We will be flying from Manchester airport. Gary R A Ten days is just long enough to make the most of a slice of Japan. As long as you don't try to squeeze too much in, you are guaranteed a fun and fascinating visit. I shall start with flights. Fly outbound to Kansai – the amazing island airport, very close to Kobe. But buy open-jaw tickets, travelling inbound from Tokyo (choose the capital's handy Haneda airport rather than distant Narita if you possibly can). To keep the journey time as short as possible, and the cost down, consider a Chinese airline. Carriers from the People's Republic fly over Russia between the UK and east Asia, sharply reducing the flight time compared with Western airlines. Kobe is an excellent introduction to Japan: a medium-sized port city, with plenty of interest. It is also conveniently close to the imperial marvels of Kyoto and the smaller and even prettier Nara. You will be there at the end of the cherry blossom season, and hopefully the trees will still be putting on a show. Next stop, by the hyperefficient bullet train or a cheaper coach: Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, a great location to appreciate the volcanic landscape. A high-speed narrow-gauge train will then whisk you to Tokyo, where you could easily spend a further 10 days without seeing everything. My highlights in a city where simply wandering is a constant joy: Shinjuku, the highest-rise quarter, a study in human hyperactivity. The Imperial Palace East Gardens, a study in order. And the retro, 1960s science-fiction monorail out to Haneda airport – a fitting way to end your journey. Q I read about the Australian couple who had to sit next to a deceased fellow passenger for hours on a flight to Qatar. Do airlines have protocols for this sort of tragic situation? Name supplied A This sad event took place on a scheduled Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne to Doha, a journey of about 14 hours. The couple, Mitchell Ring and Jennifer Colin, were en route to a holiday in Italy when a woman collapsed in the aisle after going to the restroom. Accounts say that the cabin crew performed professionally and courageously in trying to revive the passenger, which is in line with the advice of the International Air Transport Association (Iata). Cabin crew are required to continue CPR until turbulence or other flight-safety issues intervene; or until the aircraft has landed and care is transferred to emergency medical services; or they are too exhausted to continue; or – as in this case, the person is presumed dead. If there is an onboard death, the first concern is naturally with the dignity of the deceased and the care of anyone travelling with them. The key issue is how best to deal with the person. They are generally seated, with the seat belt fastened, away from other passengers, and covered with a blanket. On a full flight, it is a particularly difficult situation; the Iata advice is: 'If the aircraft is full, put the person back into his/her own seat, or at the crew's discretion, into another area not obstructing an aisle or exit.' In this case, it appears that seats were available, and if so it is surprising that the couple were not both moved. Why didn't the aircraft divert? Well, diversions for medical emergencies happen fairly frequently, often with positive results. But in the case of a confirmed onboard death, standard practice is to continue with the flight. While that might seem uncaring, the alternative at the stage of the Qatar Airways journey when the woman passed away would be to divert to an airport in southern India – probably Kochi or Mumbai. That would have caused massive logistical problems for the airline and its passengers, few of whom would have permission to enter India, and yet all of whom would be stuck because the crew would have run 'out of hours'. Q Has all the money and time spent on the upgraded security scanners at UK airports achieved anything? Chris McM A Most airline passengers find the worst part of any journey is the airport security check on departure – in particular, the meagre limit on LAGs (liquids, aerosols and gels) in cabin baggage, as well as the obligation to extract electronics such as laptops and tablets. The liquids rules were introduced hastily worldwide in 2006 as 'a temporary measure' to protect against explosives being assembled on board planes. Despite repeated promises to lift them, they remain in place. After a series of extended deadlines, all the major UK airports were supposed to have fancy new scanners in place by June 2024 that allowed up to two litres of liquids and for devices to remain in place. They use computed tomography – the same technology as medical scanners – to analyse the molecular structure of the contents of a passenger's bag. Some airports complied with the deadline but the big four UK hubs – Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted – were running behind. All of which proved irrelevant because progress in aviation security actually went into reverse. Last midsummer, the Department for Transport ordered airports with the new equipment to restore the old 100ml limit on LAGs. This was described at the time as a 'temporary move' to 'enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems'. The new equipment appears to be misidentifying many innocuous items in passengers' baggage as posing a threat. The reintroduction of the old rules mean that the new scanners can pass bags that would otherwise be rejected. The aim is to speed up the process and reduce queues. In practice, the tens of millions of pounds spent on new equipment has made life slightly easier: bags of toiletries and laptops generally do not need to be extracted when your possessions go through one of the new scanners. But in aviation security, 'temporary' can be a long, long time.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Greater Anglia wins top award for third time in six years
Greater Anglia has been crowned Train Operator of the Year for the third time in six years. The rail company picked up the accolade at the Rail Business Awards 2025, having previously won in 2020 and 2021, and finishing as runners-up in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The judges praised the company's service, saying: "Greater Anglia has consistently delivered a robust and reliable service for its users over the past year." The company has been the most punctual operator in the UK since April 2023, with a 94.1 per cent performance rate. Martin Beable, managing director at Greater Anglia, said: "Everyone at Greater Anglia is very proud to have won the Train Operator of the Year award for the third time in six years. "Right across our company, colleagues are passionate about doing their best for the customers and communities we serve." Greater Anglia also picked up the Marketing and Communications Excellence award for its Stansted Express marketing campaign. The rail company has also replaced its entire fleet with more comfortable trains featuring Wi-Fi, plug points, air conditioning, and improved accessibility.
