Airport guide · the group organiser’s briefing
London Stansted Airport
STN · EGSS · Stansted Mountfitchet
The group organiser’s briefing for London Stansted Airport — meeting points, real costs, and the coach pick-up detail no one else writes down.
Stansted is Essex's gateway and one of London's busiest low-cost bases — nearly 30 million passengers a year through a single Norman Foster terminal, with everything you need arranged around it. This is the group organiser's briefing: where an arriving party gathers, what dropping off actually costs since the 2026 price rise, and — the part most guides skip — exactly how a charter coach drops off free and pays to pick up at the coach station opposite the terminal. Every figure below shows the date we last checked it against the source.
Collecting a group by coach
Stansted keeps this refreshingly simple: there is no coach permit scheme. Charter coaches use the bus & coach station directly opposite the terminal — a two-minute walk from arrivals. Dropping a group off is free (bays 4–9, up to 20 minutes). Picking one up costs £17 including VAT per departure on the day, or you can buy a book of pre-paid vouchers; operators paying on the day report to the coach station management office by bays 29–39. Between jobs, coaches hold in the layover area at the back of the station rather than circling.
| Terminal | Coach stand | Meet your group |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | Drop-off bays 4–9; pick-up bays 32–39 (bay 29 for wheelchair-lift access) | Arrivals hall, then the bus & coach station opposite the terminal entrance |
“Our drivers drop your group in the free coach bays right outside the terminal, then hold in the layover area at the back of the coach station and pull onto a pick-up bay only once your party has cleared arrivals — so no one waits on a stand where a coach can stay no more than 20 minutes.”— Airport Coaches · first-person operational note
Terminals
Terminals & meeting points
Terminal (single passenger terminal)
Parking
Parking & drop-off
| Option | Type | Serves | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express Set Down (barrierless drop-off) | drop off | T1 | free option |
| Mid Stay car park (free drop-off + shuttle) | drop off | T1 | free option |
| Short Stay car park | short | T1 | book online |
| Long Stay car park | long | T1 | book online |
| Bus & coach station (charter/group coaches) | coach | T1 | — |
Live at the airport
Arrivals & departures
Live flight information
For minute-by-minute arrivals and departures, London Stansted Airport’s own boards are authoritative — and we monitor your specific inbound flight on every group booking, adjusting the pick-up automatically if it moves.
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We run group coach and minibus transfers at London Stansted Airport — every inbound flight tracked, your party met and away without the wait.
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