National Express suffers as fewer fly from Stansted

Fears for the state of the UK aviation industry deepened after National Express warned that fewer people are travelling to Stansted, hitherto London’s fastest growing airport.

In a trading update today, National Express warned twice of the effect that Stansted is having on its business: of a “softening of demand” on its Stansted Express train service out of Liverpool Street and of “lower footfall” on coach services to the Essex airport.



The news from National Express will set the alarm bells ringing for investors in easyJet and Ryanair, the two budget airlines responsible for Stansted’s huge success in recent years.

Stansted routinely grew passenger numbers at 25% per annum to the point where it now handles 23 million passengers a year. However, the recession in the aviation industry has already led to a 4.3% fall in passenger numbers at the airport in the first quarter of 2008.

Evening Standard