Originally Posted by
Pain in the R's
That sound like total rubbish. There are many standard width runways (150ft) that are shorter than Southend. The painful truth is that Southend is marginal for both easyjet and Ryanair. If fog doesn't get passengers in the winter then the summer heat will. Just call it a double wammy. What was the story with the protruding church? I know that affects the runway but I can't remember how.
Granted this is second hand info - was told that due to the specifics of the runway approaches at both SEN and SOU the runways cannot be widened to 45m given their length, similar at LCY. I also find this odd and would like to understand it more.
Perhaps someone more technical can explain why this is (supposedly) the case?