Stansted owner BAA saw record numbers pass through its airports last year.
The company's seven airports handled 140.1 million travellers in 2004 - a 6.9 per cent increase on the year before, figures from the company showed.
Southampton saw the biggest percentage increase, with numbers rising by 25.7 per cent to 1.53 million.
Stansted's numbers were up by 11.7 per cent, pushing it through the 20 million a year mark.
BAA's other London-area airports also reported increased passenger figures, with Gatwick rising by five per cent to nearly 31.4 million and Heathrow rising by 6.2 per cent to 67.1 million.
The record numbers were achieved despite a fall in European charter traffic of 6.5 per cent compared with 2003. This was more than made up for by a 9.3 per cent rise in the number of passengers on European scheduled services.
All other sectors reported increases for 2004, with domestic passenger numbers up 4.5 per cent compared with 2003; traffic to Ireland up 1.9 per cent; North Atlantic traffic up 7.7 per cent and other long-haul traffic increasing by 14.2 per cent.
In 2004, air traffic movements increased by 3.8 per cent to 1.21 million while the amount of cargo carried rose 7.7 per cent to 1.8 million tonnes.
Published Thursday January 20, 2005
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