Stansted Airport welcomed nearly one million more passengers in the first three months of 2015 over the same period last year as annual passenger numbers at the UK’s fastest growing airport increased by 16.3 per cent.

The airport served over 20.9 million passengers in the 12 months ending March 2015.

During March, the airport saw over 1.67 million passengers pass through the terminal, up 24 per cent on the same month last year and the tenth consecutive month of double digit growth at Stansted.

Andrew Harrison, Stansted managing director, said: “The first three months of 2015 have been an extremely busy and exciting time for Stansted as the airport welcomed nearly one million more passengers during the period than in 2014.

“The total number of passengers using the airport in the last 12 months grew by over 16 per cent to leave us tantalisingly close to the 21 million passengers a year milestone.

“In March, passenger numbers were up by more than 24 per cent over the same month last year.

“This excellent performance has seen Stansted experience double digit growth for ten consecutive months, a fantastic achievement and testament to the strength of our airline partners who have added more routes, increased frequencies to key destinations and seen more people on each flight.

“Growth in domestic traffic has been particularly strong with passenger numbers up 40 per cent over last year due to new Scottish flights from Ryanair plus the arrival of Flybe to serve Newcastle and Isle of Man with a Newquay service joining later this year.”