BA’s Inflight Map Relocates Stansted in a Kent Village
By Simon Calder Travel Editor
The village lies east of the Medway, beyond the chalky escarpment of the North Downs and the ancient Pilgrims’ Way between Winchester and Canterbury. The approach, along Labour-in-Vain Road, descends to Tumblefield Road. On one side is the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, abounding with daffodils. Opposite stands the Black Horse Inn.
Early on an Easter morning in the heart of the garden of England the only sound is birdsong. Yet according to British Airways, this is the location for the UK’s third-busiest airport.
BA is using maps that appear to place Stansted airport 40 miles out of position in a village that shares its name. On the inflight "skymap" that shows passengers their location, the airline has shifted the Essex airport to the far side of the Thames Estuary and this leafy corner of Kent.
A spokesman for Britain’s third-busiest airport said "I’ve just checked and I can definitely confirm that Stansted airport is still in Essex. It hasn’t moved." Stansted is the main base for Ryanair, which now has more passengers than British Airways. But shifting the airport’s apparent position is not a deliberate move to confound passen-gers considering future flights on its Irish rival – it appears to be human error. BA blames outside contractors hired to make the map. "It was the mistake of the independent company that produced the software," said a spokeswoman.
The cartographer appears to have confused the vast Essex airport, which handles 25 million passengers a year, with this tiny Kent village, also called Stansted, which has a population of around 200. The name means "stony place".
The error affects British Airways’ entire Airbus fleet of 67 aircraft, but is not replicated on the pilots’ navigation systems. "We are aware of the problem, and it’s in the process of being fixed," said the BA spokeswoman. This process requires entirely new software to be installed across the fleet.
Confusion between the village in Kent and the Essex airport is nothing new, according to he landlady of the Black Horse Inn, Anne Roberts. "We do frequently have mix-ups here with people looking for the airport," she said. "A coach-load of Germans turned up one night. When they learnt their mistake, they realised they’d missed the flight and came in here and had a good old drink."
The publican rejected the suggestion that Stansted, Kent, should change its name to avoid future confusion."I think they should have called the airport something different – like ‘Essex airport’," she said.
The error will not make British Airways’ troubled relationship with Stansted any easier. The only BA service from the airport, to Manchester, was scrapped after many years of losses.
Although Stansted, Kent, is only a dozen miles from Cliffe – the site considered for an entirely new London airport – it would not be a wise location for a large international airport.
The local topography is aeronautically difficult, with a steep chalk ridge and the BBC’s main radio transmitter for the South-east close by. In addition, transport links are problematic; while Stansted airport gets seven trains an hour, Stansted in Kent is served by only three post buses a day, and none at weekends.
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