| 1942 | The United States Army constructed Stansted Airport as a bomber base.
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| 1944 | The base played an important part in the Battle or Normandy. By this date, over 600 aircraft were stationed at Stansted.
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| 1947 | When the war ended, the bomber base was no longer needed so it was transferred to the Air Ministry.
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| 1954 | There were expectations of the US Army returning to the base to transfer it and its now extended runway to NATO. However, this did not materialise.
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| 1966 | British Airports Authority (BAA) took the airport.
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| 1969 | The first terminal building was opened. There had been charter flights even before the terminal building was built. The hope was to make Stansted the third major London airport, to relieve Gatwick and Heathrow.
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| 1970 | The new terminal building, only one year old, was extended already.
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| 1978 | The government’s White Paper entitled “Airport Policy” suggested a major expansion of Stansted Airport.
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| 1984 | The government proposed plans to enlarge the terminal facilities and runway to enable the airport to handle 15 million passengers annually.
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| 1986 | Construction for the government’s plan started.
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| 1991 | The government’s plan to enlarge the terminal and runway was completed. The Queen opened the 400 million pound terminal, taxiways and aprons at the airport.
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| 1999 | Phase II permission was granted.
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| 2000 | Expansion begins toward making the airport ready to handle 25 million passengers per year.
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| 2003 | A government White Paper chooses Stansted Airport as the preferred choice for an additional runway, putting Stansted ahead of both Gatwick and Heathrow.
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| 2005 | BAA expresses its desire to increase Stansted’s single runway to expand to up to 35 million passengers per year.
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