As part of an exclusive series, Newsquest has gone behind the scenes at Stansted Airport, meeting some of the people who help keep the county’s busiest airport moving.
THE BOSS spearheading the ambitious billion-pound expansion of Stansted Airport has spoken to Newsquest about the progress of the project.
Marlon Osborne, 42, of Ockendon, is the business change and readiness director at the airport and is overseeing the five-year project to grow, upgrade and extend the airport.
Imagery from the £1.1billion plans were announced in October last year and the centrepiece of the project includes expanding Stansted’s airport terminal to create a bright spacious environment.
It will feature more seating areas, new shops, bars, and restaurants.
The ambitious project also includes making the security hall bigger and activating 17 new security lanes in total, building an onsite solar farm, new terminal and gate area seating, terminal toilet refurbishments, and an airfield taxiway upgrade.
A new domestic arrivals building was opened by Kemi Badenoch in July as part of the transformation.
There are also revamps to check-in desks and the track transit system which takes passengers to the satellite buildings for departure will be removed and replaced with a skylink system which is a walkway with travellators.
More plans are in the pipeline as part of the project to increase the airport’s capacity from 30million to 43million passengers per year.
Mr Osborne said: “We’re right on track with where we expected to be at this stage of the five-year programme. Like any major project, there are challenges along the way, but the work completed so far has laid the foundations for the exciting developments to come.
“Opening the new domestic arrivals building has given us the space to press ahead with upgrading the security hall and lanes.
"We’ve also been able to start relocating equipment to prepare the ground for the new skylinks, which will eventually replace the current track transit system.
"We’re now working closely with our contractors to finalise the delivery schedule.
"Before we move forward, we’ll be consulting with all the teams across the airport to make sure the work is planned in a way that minimises disruption to passengers and staff.”
Daniel Burford, 47, head of stakeholder communications, is responsible for communicating with the different airport businesses – airlines, retailers, agents.
He explained the track transit system that transfer passengers from the terminal to gates one to 39, will be removed so the terminal extension can take its place.
Mr Burford said: “The project will see the terminal extended by three new bays to the north, creating a much larger and brighter space for passengers.
"To make room for this, we’ll be retiring the existing track transit system.”
“In its place, passengers will use new skylink walkways with travellators, which will provide a smoother, more reliable journey to and from the gates.
"This change is key to creating the extra capacity we need as we grow from 30 to 43 million passengers a year.”
- Our next instalment in the series will be available in next Friday's paper.
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