STANSTED Airport is marking the 30th anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen officially opening the iconic terminal building.

On March 15, 1991, the first flights began to operate from the 'new airport'.

The major milestone comes as the airport faces one of its biggest challenges, the coronavirus pandemic.

Managing director Steve Griffiths said the airport faces a "crisis like never before".

Before the pandemic, the airport would welcome around 28 million passengers a year flying to almost 200 destinations.

However, in the last 12 months the number of passengers passing through its doors are now similar to levels last seen in 1994.

Mr Griffiths said: "Passenger numbers are almost back at the same levels as when we first opened, but we know there is demand from the millions of travellers who start and end their journeys through our doors each year.

"That is why it is more important than ever that the Government’s Global Travel Taskforce acts quickly to establish a framework for the restart of international travel in May.

“Stansted has helped create so many fantastic memories for our passengers and our highly valued colleagues over the years, 70 of whom have been with us since we welcomed the Queen all those years ago.

“We can’t wait to welcome back our passengers to begin the next 30 years of Stansted’s story, and we are confident the airport has a very bright and successful future once people are able to start planning for their well-deserved summer getaways.”

The modern Stansted was created by the development of a new £400 million terminal and world class airfield infrastructure in 1991that transformed the original airfield that began life as a World War II USAAF base.

Since that date, nearly 460 million passengers have passed through the Lord Foster designed building on 3.95 million flights.