Stansted Airport is one of the busiest of London’s international airports. It serves many destinations both international and domestic. It has so many flights, aircraft, and destinations that it serves over nineteen million passengers a year. This makes the 2010 Icelandic volcano shutdown, a big deal for the airport. Thousands of passengers could not get flights into or out of the airport, so they were stuck in London or elsewhere trying to get to London.

Fortunate for some, the Stansted Airport and volcanic ash situation presented an alternative source of travel. If domestic travel was their goal and then they had numerous ground transportation options available to them. They could get to their final destination. Others who may be relatively close to England could use ferries from coastal location or perhaps using rail to and from France to get to the European continent.

Yet, that still left many stranded because Stansted Airport does host many international airlines. Also, some passengers just opted to wait it out. They had to compete with regularly scheduled passengers who were scheduled to fly the day the airlines were allowed to fly again. Ryanair bases at Stansted Airport and chose to add flights to get everyone repatriated.

Still, even after the April shutdown, an ash cloud again disrupted travel in May. Ryanair cancelled twenty-five flights during that Stansted Airport and volcanic ash problem. Although, those cancellations had more to do with certain destinations rather than Stansted itself. Still, it just highlighted how one airport’s problem can be many airports’ problems.