Incidentally....

When they covered this story last night on BBC London news they said that plans were underway to turn Southend Airport into the 'next Heathrow'. Why do reporters always have to go for such stupid comparisons???

Airport plans 1m passenger growth

Airport managers want to see flights attracting 1m passengers a year
Southend Airport could attract more than 1m passengers and 1,000 new jobs over the next 10 years, a master plan has revealed.

Destinations could include Edinburgh, Dublin, Barcelona, Rome and Alicante.

By 2015, Southend could be handling as many as 40 passenger flights a day in 75-80 seater planes according to a draft plan presented for consultation.

Low-cost carrier Flybe is due to start services to Jersey out of Southend next month and plans for a new terminal and rail station have already been approved.

The government has already said it would support expansion at Southend subject to relevant environmental considerations.

Airport director Bruce Campbell said: "We are not talking about 'open-ended' growth or becoming another Stansted.

"The airport is willing to operate under strict environmental controls and abide by an agreed overall operating limit."

Makes sense, the area is already heavily populated, so theres good transport links and little in the way of possible environmental damage to be done. Thats a lot of people who have a right to complain about extra noise though...

This is also a bit like Southampton now trying to also make itself into a "London" airport.

Neat, where's Southend Airport?

http://www.southendairport.net/_borders/LSAbanner.gif


http://www.southendairport.net/images/transp1.jpg

Might be useful for travelers from/to Essex and maybe northern Kent, but if they seriously intend this as a link to London, then it must be some sort of late April's Fools joke.

I seriously don't understand how any reasonable person can look at Stansted, Gatwick and Luton "Express" timetables and prices and still consider those airports to be useful to get into London. Unless you're a student with plenty of time, there are only two airports serving London - Heathrow and City.

Ditto Capzilla. Gatwick, Luton and Stansted are completely unconnected with London. Southend even more so - the locals should make sure passengers stay in the area and boost the economy of Essex.

This is also a bit like Southampton now trying to also make itself into a "London" airport.

Southend is a 45min drive from central London, Southampton is nearly 2 hours.

Luton is only about 10 miles closer than Southend from Central London, Gatwick is not that much closer either.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/southenddistance.jpg

Transport to Southend is pretty good too. If it was to expand to such a point it could become fairly major you could expand the District Line to Southend as it was in the 30s and then there is Crossrail which would provide a link to Shenfield which is on the NXEA Metro line to Southend Victoria.

In addition Southend is on the metro services from Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street which are, admitidly, overcrowded but could potentially be upgraded.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/Untitled-2.jpg

Also there is another point that it is fairly ripe for expansion as an airport, it is located right next to the railway line but also on the outskirts of the town. There is a fairly large area of green space which is to the north of the airport but this is surrounded by small commuter villages. In the north-west there is another big area but I think this is mostly low-lying marshland which would be good for an airport.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/Untitled-3-1.jpg

Might be useful for travelers from/to Essex and maybe northern Kent, but if they seriously intend this as a link to London, then it must be some sort of late April's Fools joke.

I seriously don't understand how any reasonable person can look at Stansted, Gatwick and Luton "Express" timetables and prices and still consider those airports to be useful to get into London. Unless you're a student with plenty of time, there are only two airports serving London - Heathrow and City.

'Express' services are only going to be as frequent/fast as the track allows.

I believe each of the dedicated services to the airports are often run in the 'gaps' in normal services and it is often cheaper to catch the other services to the airports especially to Gatwick and Luton.

I feel it would be cheaper to run them as part of the regular services, for example many Southern Train Services call at Gatwick as the norm on the Brighton Express service. As well as on First Capital Connect services call at both Gatwick and Luton Parkway, but the issue as with most rail services if one train breaks down then the rest of the services are delayed, which is one of the reasons I would support a dedicated air-rail link to all major airports to airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester

The Brighton to Victoria service doesn't call at Gatwick except during rush hour, it's fast all the way to East Croydon.

The only problem with the Gatwick and Stansted expresses is that neither line has been suitably upgraded for decades - not upgraded specifically for the expresses either, but not upgraded to cope with the requirements of any of the services.

Gatwick needs platforms and station approaches completely remodelling - arriving Gatwick Express services block all 4 lines at Earlswood just because. They could remodel it so that it only uses one line - it seems this is on the agenda looking at the busines plan for the route on NR's website.

Similar issues with Standsted Express. In the appropriate business plan from NR there are intentions to quad track parts of the lea valley line to improve capacity, and bore another tunnel at the entrance to Standsted - currently only single track.

The Heathrow Express works because the necessary infrastructure to support the service was put in place, hence it's success.

Might be useful for travelers from/to Essex and maybe northern Kent, but if they seriously intend this as a link to London, then it must be some sort of late April's Fools joke.

I seriously don't understand how any reasonable person can look at Stansted, Gatwick and Luton "Express" timetables and prices and still consider those airports to be useful to get into London. Unless you're a student with plenty of time, there are only two airports serving London - Heathrow and City.

Of cause they are London airports. Gatwick is only 30minutes by train from central London and I just checked the frequency for this time of the day and there is a train every 5minutes! How is that not a London airport?

Stansted is further out, but still just a little over 45minutes to central London with a train every 15minutes.

Luton I'm not sure about though.

Those times are comparable to many other cities around the world.

Slight problem with parking planes at this airport ;O) Check near the main terminal, bottom/right.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/Untitled-3-1.jpg

There are a number of (mostly positive) factors that could impact on the growth of Southend Airport.

There is speculation that the owners of London City are interested because they may face ongoing or tighter capacity constraints in Docklands - particularly if Ken Livingstone is re-elected. Southend would also be useful in capturng a share of the growing market in Very Light Jets - VLJ's that will not be allowed to land at Heathrow, Stansted, Luton or Gatwick because of congestion (arising from "Open Skies Agreement " traffic growth and the inherent air vortex risks of mixing large and small aircraft). A second tier of new general aviation airports at Farnborough, Biggin Hill (refurbished by the receipt of the proceeds from Southend) and now possibly Southend is expected to increase aircraft movements.
For Flybe, Southend represents an opportunity to access the hard to crack South East.
Access to the airport could also at some stage be influenced bi improved sub regional raillinks. The 2002 London Ipswich Multi Modal Study suggested linking the LTSR Shoeburynes to Fenchurch Street Line and Great Eastern Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria via a new rail link from Benfleet, just east of the airport, to Wickford , just north east of the airport. This together with a proposed North South link at Mountnessing Junction at Shenfield would widen the subregional catchment area to include North Essex and South Suffolk. Multi modal studies appear to gathering dust in the deserts of the DfT having been the flavour of the month a couple of years ago but the recently announced intention to estrablish a Regional Infrastructure Fund for the East of England may provide the kick off funding required. On balance - Southend Airport is good puntfor prospective buyers as long they don't let the bidding process go to their heads and pay unrealistic P/E multiples.

Luton is v.convenient for Central London. 5mins shuttle bus from airport to Luton Parkway train station and then only 40mins or so to St Pancras on regular First Capital Connect trains. If you get on a mainline train, you can get into St Pancras in 20mins

Things really progressing on this now it seems, new control tower and station nearly complete - Aer Arann flights to Ireland and GLM to Groningen beginning this year. Interesting...

Southend Airport has always maintained a close interchange between air and railway services.

http://www.southendrspb.co.uk/airport/airport3.jpg

^^ LOL!

^^haha quality!

Photos of the new development so far available at the FB pro-airport page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=266260267492

The Brighton to Victoria service doesn't call at Gatwick except during rush hour, it's fast al...

I've been on this website for too long. :bash:

Slight problem with parking planes at this airport ;O) Check near the main terminal, bottom/right.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/Untitled-3-1.jpg

That's not the main terminal. That's a retail park. :D

Slight problem with parking planes at this airport ;O) Check near the main terminal, bottom/right.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/Untitled-3-1.jpg

That is where they leave a lot of the planes that are due to go in to the hangars on the South side of the airport. Although saying that, if you go past now you can see the new terminal building starting to take shape not far from there.

The current terminal building lies on the south side too and has had a few recent upgrades, although I expect the bulk of passenger traffic to go via the new one.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x209/gingerblokey3/Untitled-3-1.jpg

Oooh - is that a Vulcan I can see? It used to be my favourite plane when I was a nipper - there used to be one at East Midlands. Of course now I'm a grown up, I don't get excited by planes, trains and the like. :ohno:

Oooh - is that a Vulcan I can see? It used to be my favourite plane when I was a nipper - there used to be one at East Midlands. Of course now I'm a grown up, I don't get excited by planes, trains and the like. :ohno:

Well spotted - it is indeed a Vulcan! http://www.avrovulcan.com/

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/01/british-airports-now-beaming-holographic-security-agents-video/

British airports now beaming holographic security agents (video)

Southend Airport has always maintained a close interchange between air and railway services.

http://www.southendrspb.co.uk/airport/airport3.jpg

Great picture - where did you dig this up from?

I traced it on Google a couple of years ago. Presumably it was originally released into the wild by the local newspaper.

Subject to someone knowing better:
If I were to be nurdy, notice the tiny insulators on the gantries - this was when the Southend line was electrified at 6.25 kV after the war, because there was not enough money to rebuild bridges and so on, to give enough clearance for 25 kV. Eventually insulator technology improved and it was converted.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/16/easyjet-start-flying-southend-airport

Low-fare airline easyJet is to begin operating from a new UK airport and will carry around 800,000 passengers in the first 12 months from its new base, it was announced today.

The budget carrier is to start flights at Southend airport in Essex from April 2012, where a multimillion pound terminal will open this autumn.

Under a 10-year partnership with the airport's owners, Stobart Group, easyJet will operate 70 flights a week to a number of European destinations including Barcelona, Ibiza and Faro in Portugal.

Around 150 easyJet staff will work at the airport, which will be the carrier's 11th UK base. EasyJet will be operating three Airbus A319 planes and tickets will go on sale at the end of next month

Looks like they will be joining Air Arran that already fly to Ireland and FlyBe who are doing the channel island flights in the summer and are supposedly to the rest of Europe when the terminal and runway extensions are done.

5 mins in the car certainly beats the trek to Gatwick every time!

Pictures from JetPhotos.net (http://jetphotos.net/index.php)

Author: Daniel Nicholson (http://jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=2611)

August 20, 2011:

http://images2.jetphotos.net/img/4/1/2/1/34221_1314305121.jpg

compare to September 17, 2009:

http://images2.jetphotos.net/img/1/7/6/9/98694_1253316967.jpg

Its gained a control tower and a lot more parking but far fewer planes based there?

First easyjet flights went out today. Terminal phase 2 should make a big difference when they get permission to build.

Southend Airport has always maintained a close interchange between air and railway services.

http://www.southendrspb.co.uk/airport/airport3.jpg

Quite a suitable location for EMAS? :lol: Alternatively bury the railway to avoid incursions.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineered_materials_arrestor_system

New hotel opened on 1st October, some pictures here: http://hisouthend.com/image-gallery-of-southend-airport-hotel

A 'Holiday Inn', it is I believe owned by Stobart Group, who also own the lease on the airport.

Passenger numbers so far to end of August are 382,000, which is somewhat up on recent years (and probably higher than they have ever been - even in it's heyday - when extrapolated forward for the whole year), but not a threat to Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick.
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data_prov/201208/August_2012_Provisional_Airport_Statistics.pdf

Nice to see some progress on airports in the London area.

Has anything come of aircraft noise in the area? The airport be even more hemmed in that Heathrow! Houses are much closer to the actual runway.

Has anything come of aircraft noise in the area?Still rumbling away in the background, with people jumping on the compo bandwagon as if they were not aware there has been an airport there since before WW2 - as this article shows: http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/southend/10044730.Hundreds_of_homeowners_seeking_compensation_from_Southend_Airport/

1/2 a million pax to the end of October, hardly massive by London standards, and yet a credible total from a standing start this year - probably the busiest it has ever been (including the late sixties).http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data_prov/201210/October_2012_Provisional_Airport_Statistics.pdf

Good to see this airport doing so well now, absolutely thriving and has already created quite a few local jobs. My parents use it loads now as they live in Southend, so convenient compared to Stansted or Gatwick :)

Preparatory works on the extension to the terminal have already been started by Kier, metalwork expected to go up in the New Year.
http://www.southendairport.com/news/latest-news/work-on-london-southend-airport-terminal-extension-about-to-get-underway/
Winter service to Geneva started yesterday, should be popular with the skiers.

A partial answer perhaps for 'poshbakerloo's question in this interesting aside about the noise/effect on house prices story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20850856

I'm sure that the increase quoted is a well generalised figure for Southend, and that there could still well be a highly localised effect on property prices where the property is particularly exposed through close proximity to the airport and its near flight paths.

I would take that story headline with a large dose of salt.... The most complete record of property prices, compiled by the Land Registry for England & Wales, shows that prices in Southend rose by only 2.4% in the year to October.

However it doesn't look like the modest airport expansion has done any harm to house prices. A couple of extra flights a day is not going to make life under the flightpath unbearable.

This sort of publicity seems to point to the fact that the new airport is working and working well. Lets hope that the service levels can keep high as it expands and becomes busier:

http://corporate.easyjet.com/media/latest-news/news-year-2013/10-01-2013-en.aspx?sc_lang=en