The 2.6 million passengers who used Stansted last month surpassed the level served by the airport in pre-pandemic September 2019.
Throughput was up 10% on the same month last year and ahead of the number of passengers served by the airport in September 2019 by almost 10,000.
The total number of passengers served in the 12-months ending September stood at 27.3 million, an increase of 32.2% on the previous year’s total.
Fellow MAG-owned Manchester airport served 2.8 million passengers – equal to 96% of pre-pandemic levels – and an increase of 12% on September 2022.
East Midlands airport’s September traffic of almost 500,000 passengers was 25% higher than the same month in 2022, equivalent to 84% of pre-Covid traffic.
Across the group, a total of 5.9 million represented 97% of 2019 levels.
Operational performance at Stansted remained strong with 99% of passengers passed through security in 15 minutes or less.
The average queue time was less than four minutes during the main departure peaks of the day, according to the Essex airport.
The top destinations were Spain, Italy and Turkey, while the busiest individual routes were Istanbul, Dublin and Palma.
Managing director Gareth Powell said: “We are proud to provide people with more opportunities to travel in the way that suits their needs – whether that is by serving destinations that other airports don’t, or by offering great value flights at an airport that is easy to get to and easy to get through.
“That is what has underpinned our status as the fastest-recovering London airport, a trend that continued last month.
“Demand for flights remained very high, not only from passengers across our catchment area, but also from overseas visitors looking for affordable and convenient access to the UK, and London in particular.
“Stansted is the second busiest airport for visitors to London thanks to our extensive European route network that provides passengers from many regions across countries such as Spain, Italy and France with unique access to the UK, and avoiding the need to travel to main city airports to then fly to London.
“The great value and choice of destinations available at the airport, plus the reliable and efficient operational experience we offer has proven to be very attractive to passengers and has driven our continued growth across the summer and early autumn seasons.”