UPDATE: Regular flights from Southend to Ireland on the way
Monday October 11 2010 - Last Updated at 17:21
Regular passenger flights from Southend to Ireland will soon become a reality, with up to 300,000 passengers a year benefitting from the new service.
The Stobart Group, which owns London Southend Airport has signed a deal to save low-cost Irish airline Aer Arann. The company was put into administration earlier this year, but is expected to come out of it thanks – in part – to the Stobart investment – worth £2.2m over five years.
Andrew Tinkler, the chief executive of Stobart Group, said the agreement would guarantee business and volume for Southend Airport and allow the group to press on with its development plans.
Passenger flights could start as early as next March – destinations have not yet been announced, but Aer Arran will definitely fly to a number of Irish cities, including Galway.
The tie-up would also “further develop the Stobart business and brand in Ireland” and would provide “future opportunities for the growing demand for airfreight from customers.”
London Southend Airport Managing Director Alastair Welch told longpier.com:
“Stobart Group has agreed terms for a five year operating agreement with Aer Arann to use London Southend Airport for flights starting March 2011, with volumes expected to grow to 300,000 passengers annually.
“As part of the overall investment agreement with others, Stobart
Group will invest €2.5 million to incentivise and market Aer Arann’s operation from London Southend Airport. The offer remains conditional on certain terms being satisfied, including Aer Arann successfully exiting Examinership. The company and their Examiner will be working to eliminate these conditions and it is hoped that the company could exit Examinership before the end of the month.
“This marks the first of what I believe will be a number of airline announcements over the coming year as we continue to develop the airport for the future. Aer Arann have a fleet of ATR aircraft which work fine on our current runway distances for flights of up to around 90 minutes.
“Much of our work to date has focused on the major capital developments – rail station, new control tower, new passenger terminal and the runway extension. With this announcement we see the start of the roll out of the next phase of our development – that is the ramp up of our passenger and aircraft handling capability.”
But Denis Walker from the main campaign group against expansion of Southend Airport SAEN (Stop Airport Extension Now) has told longpier.com:
“This contract represents Stobart’s Plan B as pending legal action makes their runway extension less likely. It’s apparent that, being in administration, Aer Arann are in a very weak position, while Stobart are desperate for an airline to use their airport.
Southend Airport hasn’t seen 300,000 passengers a year since its heyday in the 1960s before Stansted was fully operational. Given the limitation of a 90 minute flight radius imposed by the current runway length, nearly all the destinations potentially served by the airport could be reached conveniently by Eurostar and SailRail without disrupting the sleep, work and education of the people of Leigh. ”
Construction projects required to make London Southend Airport a fully-functioning regional airport by 2012 are all on target to meet their completion dates. The new London Southend Airport Railway station
will be completed later this summer and the new Control Tower will be fully operational from February 2011.
Road works required to enable the diversion of Eastwoodbury Lane will begin in autumn, and plans for the new terminal building are also beginning to take shape. Planning permission for a 126-bedroom hotel on land adjacent to the Harp House Roundabout has been granted permission by Southend Council.
London Southend Airport is predicting passenger growth to 2 million passengers per year by 2020. By extending the runway, the airport will be able to attract airlines operating commercial passenger services to a wide range of business and holiday destinations that cannot currently be served by the airport.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? GOOD OR BAD FOR THE AREA? LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS BELOW…
This is fantastic news for the Airport, the area and Are Arran. Lets hope the final details can be completed successfully.
It will undoubtedly bring much needed extra employment to people in the Southend area, but I’m worried about road links to the airport from an already highly congested A127!
very good news for those us if who want job creation in Southend.
The airport, catering for two million passengers in 2020, would see a traffic generation at peak times at similar levels as those seen by medium sized supermarkets during peak shopping times. The A127 currently carries over 50,000 vehicles per day. Passengers and staff at the airport will represent a very small proportion of traffic on the road network (typically less than 5%).
Taken from http://www.flysouthend2012.com
Peak times for airports are typically outside rush hour times for the roads.
This sounds like rally good news for Southend Airport, finally this might be the start of some decent services running out of our local airport. What is the point in having an airport that you cannot fly from, lets have some more routes please… France? Spain? Germany?
Darren
Very good news for job creation in Southend at long long last the airport is comming back to life.
At last someone with a pair of you know whats! Its a shame that the council arnt as brave to invest in what was a PUBLIC owned airport.
The sooner the town is back on the map the better but the only way that this can happen is if local people use the airport, I there are no flights to where we want to go we must lobby the airline to provide them
Onwards and upwards for a Greater Southend!
And it makes me even happier, because I just know that somewhere the Ninja Ant is pulling out whatever hair he has left.
Progress is being made, real progress. And the airport is a large part of this.
Thankfully Denis Walker and his small Ltd company group is clutching at straws again and doe’s not know what he is talking about. One minute they are saying they are only against the extension, next they are against the ‘bloody’ tower, then they focus on the station and say they would prefer more buses on the road to Rochford than a new station? Yet they say they aren’t against the Airport itself??
As stated in the many articles, this opportunity represents an ideal situation to raise the company profile in Ireland whilst providing an opportunity for an airline in need of help to benefit from Southends existing, but vastly improving Airport close to London.. Jobs protected at the Airline, jobs created at Southend whilst raising the profile of the Airport… Clever business, but not Plan B.
Looking forward to more employment opportunities in the near future for the area…. Something SAEN appear to be against.
Onwards and upwards!
Sadly the two major protest groups in Southend both seem to have an anti-improvement & anti-job creation view, no matter what changes are proposed that will improve the facilitys in Southend and create jobs in Southend they protest aginst it.
Fly from Southend Airport, I can’t wait. I have family in Scotland lets hope they fly up there. I bet some of the people against the expansion still fly off on thier holidays from other airports without thoughts about flying low or at night over other peoples homes.