Southend airport hopes it will reach 2 million passengers per year by 2015, up from below 1 million in 2013

Southend Airport is now expecting to carry 2 million passengers by 2015 – five years earlier than originally planned. It had said, only two months earlier, that it would reach 2 million passengers per year by 2020.  Passenger numbers at Southend were 970,000 in 2013 and are predicted to be 1.3 million this year. By contrast, before the arrival of easyJet, there were some 42,000 passengers in 2011.  A £10m extension to the airport terminal was formally opened by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin in February 2014.  The extension marks the end of a £120m revamp by the Stobart Group, which bought the airport in 2008. The growth in numbers of flights has caused a lot more noise for local residents now finding themselves over-flown. The local community group, SAEN, say they will continue to oppose the airport’s expansion plans, due to the noise nuisance – and particularly if the airport tries to alter its operating hours. There is also more road congestion, as the airport is only served by one small road.  

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London Southend Airport sets new passenger target

8.4.2014 (BBC)

Southend Airport
The extension to the terminal building was the final part of a £120m investment project

London Southend Airport in Essex expects to carry two million passengers by 2015 – five years earlier than originally planned.

Passenger numbers were 970,000 in 2013 and are predicted to be 1.3 million this year.

A £10m extension to the airport terminal was formally opened by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

The extension marks the end of a £120m revamp by the Stobart Group, which bought the airport in 2008.

Its original target was to get 2 million passengers passing through by 2020.

New extension to London Southend Airport 
London Southend Airport handled nearly a million passengers in 2013

A bigger departure lounge, more check-in desks, revamped baggage reclaim facilities, a new arrivals area and five more plane stands have been built.

The campaign group Stop Airport Expansion and Noise (SAEN) said it would continue to oppose expansion.

Graham Whitehead, its chairman, said: “There is nothing to stop them increasing passenger numbers during their current allowed daytime hours.

“Our only hope is to persuade the local council to renew the terms of its lease if the airport tries to vary the hours it is allowed to fly.

“The airport is only served by one small road, so traffic problems are going to get worse.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-26929823

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CAA aviation statistics

Terminal Passengers:   

Number of passengers (thousands)
 

UK Airport Statistics: 2012 – annual  (Table 10.3)  Terminal Passengers  2002 – 2012

2013      969,941   (up 57.2% on 2012)
2012      616,974 (up 1353.8% on 2011)
2011       42,000 ( up 1084 % on 2010)  
2010        4,000   (down – 9% on 2009)  
2009       3,948  (down – 91% on 2008)
2008     44,075  (down 10.6% on 2007)
2007     49,000  (up 63% on 2006)
2006     30,000  (up 489% on 2005) **
2005       5,000
2000       3,000
1996       4,000
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London Southend Airport opens new £10m extension

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3 February 2014  (BBC)

A £10m extension to London Southend Airport in Essex is due to open to passengers.

A bigger departure lounge, more check-in desks, revamped baggage reclaim facilities, a new arrivals area and five more plane stands have been built.

The airport said the larger terminal would “ensure high levels of service” as passenger numbers grow.

It also said the project could eventually create about 300 jobs due to more planes being based in Southend.

The first phase of the extension, housing the arrivals areas, opened in June last year.

Retail and catering facilities are also due to be expanded in the future.

The airport was bought by Stobart Group in 2008 and spent £100m on its revamp before it opened in February 2012.

In 2013 the airport handled nearly a million travellers, but has said it hoped to increase passenger numbers to two million a year by 2020.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-26171915

 

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 Some other news about Southend airport recently :

 

Southend Airport: Flybe to start 6 new routes to Northern Europe

25 March 2014

Another airline has announced it is to start flying out of London Southend Airport.  The airport has signed a deal with Flybe to create six new routes to Northern Europe. The destinations will be revealed next month. The deal is expected to bring 60 new jobs and 200,000 extra passengers to the airport.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-26733977

 

Stobart Group sells stake in its truck brand to focus on biomass energy and Southend Airport

March 7, 2014

Stobart Group is to sell a controlling interest in its trucking business to the Isle of Man investment firm DBAY in a £280million deal. Stobart Group will sell a majority stake in Eddie Stobart Logistics to focus on biomass energy and expanding Southend Airport. Stobart will get £195.6million in cash from DBAY, as well as a 49% stake in the new company. William Stobart will head the new business and will own 6% of it. Markets gave the deal the thumbs down, sending shares down 7.75p to 141.75p. The sale includes a complex arrangement under which DBAY can use the Eddie Stobart brand for 4 years without paying. Then it can either buy the brand for use only in transport and logistics for £15million, pay £50million to use the brand however it wishes, or can pay £3million a year to license it. Stobart believes the trucking business has little room for growth and is selling it to focus on fast-growing Southend Airport and get into biomass generation. It believes the airport can increase passengers from 1 million a year to 5 million without much more investment.       Click here to view full story…

 

London Southend Airport opens new £10m extension

13.2.2014 (BBC)

The extension  is due to open to passengers, with a bigger departure lounge, more check-in desks, revamped baggage reclaim facilities, a new arrivals area and five more plane stands have been built.  The airport said the larger terminal would “ensure high levels of service” as passenger numbers grow. The airport claims: “the project could eventually create about 300 jobs due to more planes being based in Southend.”  The first phase of the extension, housing the arrivals areas, opened in June last year.   Retail and catering facilities are also due to be expanded in the future. The airport was bought by Stobart Group in 2008 and spent £100m on its revamp before it opened in February 2012. In 2013 the airport handled nearly a million travellers, but has said it hoped to increase passenger numbers to two million a year by 2020.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-26171915

 

Building a vast new airport on the Isle of Grain would close Southend Airport

January 15, 2014

If a large new airport is built on the Isle of Grain, Kent, as London Mayor Boris Johnson has suggested, a clash of air space would mean Southend Airport – and City Airport in London – would probably need to close, the Airports Commission has warned in its Interim Statement. They said this could reduce the options available to low cost airlines and reduce the overall gains to airport capacity over the London area overall. They said that, in particular, it would be very challenging to manage the airspace with the 3 airports. Due to last-minute lobbying by the Mayor and Daniel Moylan, the Commission agreed to look at the £112 billion Isle of Grain scheme, put forward by Wembley Stadium designer Lord Norman Foster in more detail,in the first half of 2014, before deciding whether it should be included in the final short-list consultation starting in October. Southend airport has been emphasising how much money they have already invested in the airport. Nigel Holdcroft, leader of Southend Council, said: “The development of a major airport on the Isle of Grain would have adverse economic and environmental effects on Southend.”      Click here to view full story…

 

easyJet drops flights to Newquay and Edinburgh from Southend

1.1.2014       easyJet has scrapped flights to Edinburgh and Newquay from Southend. It is also scaling back its trips to Jersey and will now only operate 4 a week. This comes after a decision by easyJet in August to scrap flights to Belfast, on January 5.  The company would not reveal the reasons why but said they will “focus the flying schedule there on the routes with the greatest demand.” The airport said  “This summer they added an additional aircraft to the base and have consistently expanded the number of destinations on offer from Southend. We look forward to continuing and growing this relationship.” Flights to Edinburgh have been running since May, and the last will be in June.  ”About 5% of our passengers flying in and out of Southend in 2013 used the Edinburgh services.” The Newquay route was launched in June 2013 and carried almost 8,000 passengers in the summer.  In October, easyJet’s UK commercial manager, Hugh Aitken, said in an extra flight would be added in August 2014.  Easyjet runs 25 flights to Edinburgh from other London airports.   It has also recently started flying from Southend to Tenerife.  Click here to view full story …..

 

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