Stansted Airport is one of the largest airports to service Greater London and is the third busiest in the United Kingdom. Annually the airport averages close to twenty-five million passengers. Stansted operates both domestic and international flights and has currently got an expansion project under-way which will see the improvement of facilities and a greater amount of floor space to cut down on crowding. At present the airport is a single multi-level terminal structure (excluding the cargo terminal and charter hangars), with the check-in and arrivals based on the bottom floor. Stansted is popular with holidaymakers looking for a cheap vacation as many of the airlines that operate out of Stansted are low-cost airlines that use the airport as a hub; as such there are a huge assortment of destinations catered to. Ryan Air and EasyJet are the main airlines in operation from the airport, though XL Airways, Thomson Fly and Thomas Cook all offer charter flights.
Stansted Airport offers a number of car hire facilities, all based on the entry-level floor of the terminal. Europcar, Hertz, Avis and Budget have desks at this location. Because the United Kingdom is best explored by car it is certainly advisable that you make use of the car hire option - within easy reach of Stansted, for instance, is Cambridge (the famous university town), Colchester and Ipswich, as well as London itself. If you are planning to head into London from Stansted the airport is helpfully situated on the M11 motorway - follow it south and you will soon be in London (head north for Cambridge).