Stansted Airport history: Gates 11-24?

[Wandering Pom]

I was going over old journey records, and discovered, to my surprise, that until at least mid-1997, the Stansted people-mover operated to only one satellite building, containing gates 11-24 - rather than the current gates 1-19 and gates 20-39. There must have been a gate renumbering/extension project between June 1997 and June 1999 - but can anyone remember which of the two current satellite buildings was used for gates 11-24 before the renumbering?

 

[Cloud Strife]

I'm not 100% about this, but:

I believe that Sat 1 was originally for international flights, with Sat 2 being for domestic and CTA flights. The transit system was used to take passengers to the international satellite 1, while with Sat 2, departing and arriving passengers would mingle freely. I'm not sure if Sat 2 was actually extended, or if the old gates were simply reconfigured for dual use.

I think the original intention was that Sat 2 would be the domestic satellite, while 1, 3 and 4 would be for international travel. That's why Sat 2 was constructed with the walkway to the main terminal, while the others were intended to be connected to the transit system. The reconfiguration of Sat 3 to have a walkway instead of the transit system was a result of Ryanair's expansion in the terminal, rather than being part of the original plan.

Thinking about it now: when did Sat 3 open? Is it possible that the gates were renumbered in connection with it either being under construction or opening?

edit: I've done a bit more digging, and I think I've figured out what was going on there.

Essentially, gates 11-24 correspond to the current Sat 1. The domestic gates would have been numbered 1-10 in Sat 2, using the 'temporary' solution of having arrivals and departures on the same floor. What was originally intended was that passengers would depart from the top floor of Sat 2 for domestic departures and arrive on the middle floor. This top floor still exists, although it's empty and was never brought into use: if you look at the satellite today, it's the area behind the 'green glass'. The domestic departures/arrivals area only ever used half of Sat 2, so it's possible that not all of the gates were in use at this time.

When Stansted grew, it seems that BAA then decided to put international departures in the other half of Sat 2 and to transform some of the gates to dual domestic/international use so it probably made sense to renumber the gates at this time along with the transit system now running to Sat 2. I'm hazarding a guess here, but this was probably carried out between June 97-99 to provide more capacity, as the APV building was opened in 2000.

Second edit: It does seem strange that the transit system wasn't running to Sat 2 at the time you mention. My best guess is that Sat 1 for international and Sat 2 for domestic was enough to handle demand in the years after the new terminal opened, and it was only in 1998 that passenger numbers really started to explode there.

 

[Wandering Pom]

I'm not 100% about this, but:

I believe that Sat 1 was originally for international flights, with Sat 2 being for domestic and CTA flights. The transit system was used to take passengers to the international satellite 1, while with Sat 2, departing and arriving passengers would mingle freely. I'm not sure if Sat 2 was actually extended, or if the old gates were simply reconfigured for dual use.

Many thanks for this, including the later updates. That set-up certainly makes sense; it also tallies with the nagging feeling I have of travelling on the transit to Gates 11-24 in the 1994-97 period, and seeing the transit tunnel continuing further without anything using it.

 

[BananaRepublic]

I might be able to shed some light on this.
I was familiar with the original plan for the Stansted terminal, it’s originally planned 4 satellites and the transit system, having had a detailed briefing and tour of the site in the final stages of construction and fitting out.
As part of that visit, I travelled on the transit system before it saw live passenger use.
I also passed through there a couple of times, as a passenger, in the first year of operation.

The original plan was for 4 identical satellites, all served by the transit system, running on a horse shoe shaped route.
Sat 1 & 2 were built at the same time as the terminal building, along with the transit system, with a plan to build Sat 3 & 4 and extend the transit system to serve them, in later years when traffic levels increased.

During construction, it was realised that there would be a need to provide separate facilities for domestic passengers. Surprisingly, something that had been thought unnecessary in the design phase.

Bear in mind that this was before the Low Cost revolution had barely started and the likes of EasyJet did not yet exist.
Stansted was intended to be almost exclusively served by package tour flights, to take pressure of Gatwick, which at the time was experiencing a large expansion of international scheduled flights.
There was no expectation of requiring facilities for domestic or CTA flights.

Subsequently the link bridge from the main terminal building to Sat 2 was installed at a late stage, either just before opening, or shortly afterwards.
This link bridge was not part of the original design.

The terminal opened with the original Sat 1 & 2.
Development and expansion since those early days have taken a different path to that of the original concept and design.
You will note that Sat 3, added many years later, is of a different, budget design and not as a replica of the first two satellites.

The terminal building was designed to allow expansion, by removing the curtain walling at either end and adding extra bays to lengthen the same structural design by up to double the original size.
Although this design facility was utilised to expand the terminal in the late “noughties”, construction of the Radisson Blu Hotel slap bang on the land original earmarked for terminal expansion, has effectively capped any further extension.


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[Cloud Strife]

Many thanks for this, including the later updates. That set-up certainly makes sense; it also tallies with the nagging feeling I have of travelling on the transit to Gates 11-24 in the 1994-97 period, and seeing the transit tunnel continuing further without anything using it.

Thank you for asking the question as well, as I didn't know that Sat 2 wasn't fully in use at that time. I thought that both Sat 1 and 2 had opened in full, so it was a surprise to discover that it wasn't the case.

edit: I've discovered that Sat 2 opened in full in 1998, with the delivery of four new CX-100 cars for the transit system and the opening of the two stations in Sat 2. So, this reconciles with your own memories, and confirms that Sat 1 was used for international flights while Sat 2 was used for domestic flights up until 1998. An "expansion" is mentioned in 1998, which must surely be the opening of the international part of Sat 2.

This link bridge was not part of the original design.

Thank you very much for the fascinating insight into Sat 2! It certainly explains a lot about why the domestic arrivals setup seems like an afterthought, and why the CTA arrivals system previously required showing a boarding pass to bypass immigration before they switched to having them enter the building after passport control. I've found a picture during construction that shows the corridor to the domestic gates already in place, but it's clear that it's been bolted on and not part of the original design. I believe that the original design also meant to have departures on the left side of the building and arrivals on the right side, so the 'bolted on' UK arrivals corridor simply doesn't make any sense without it being an oversight.

I suppose the few domestic flights didn't make it worth separating departing and arriving domestic passengers, and it was enough to have the (current) arrangement of a staff member directing arrivals towards baggage reclaim.