London Stansted Airport record total of 24.3 million making Stansted the fourth busiest airport in the United Kingdom. Stansted also is a major freight airport, the third busiest in the UK during 2016, behind London Heathrow and East Midlands Airport, handling in excess of 223,203 tonnes per annum, although freight throughput has declined slightly from its 2005 peak level. Passenger numbers for the year to September 2016 increased by 8.4% to over 24 million for the first time since 2007. The Stansted Airport Transit System connects the terminal to the satellite buildings via a free automated people mover service which runs on dual
London City Airport May 1987, with the first commercial services operating from 26 October 1987. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened London City Airport in November of the same year. In 1988, the first full year of operation, the airport handled 133,000 passengers. The earliest scheduled flights were operated to and from Plymouth, Paris, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. With a runway of only in length, and a slope of the glidepath of 7.5° (for noise abatement reasons), the airport could only be used by a very limited number of aircraft types, principally the Dash 7 and the smaller Dornier Do 228. In 1989 the airport