Ok. Thank you Stobart. You’ve ploughed in unbelievable sums of money and given us an airport beyond the dreams of anyone familiar with what existed 10 years ago.
You didn’t try and tart up the old terminal you built a new one. Then extended it. You saw a major commuter rail line to London at the perimeter and built a station opposite the terminal, a minute’s walk to the London bound platform from the arrivals exit.
You, of course, found a way of extending the runway - ok not to an ideal 2,000 metres, but to 1,856 + extensions.
In in more recent times you’ve managed to repair and upgrade all taxiways from the terminal to the runway (don’t scoff, one was not in use and one was in a poor state) built a de-icing platform away from the apron, and let’s not forget the runway, resurfaced and grooved just over a year ago at the cost of millions.
Green? How many other airports generate around a third of their own energy costs? Some investment required to build the solar farm to achieve that.
Car Parks. Sorted in advance of being needed.
Bizzjets. Facility provided. If not a great success another investment.
Amazon. Well done.
Inside the terminal. Show me an airport of comparable size that could give you more.
You even provided a hangar for the Vulcan that sat forlorn in the open for far too long.
But now you are in trouble. Covid19 is not your fault but the Flybe / Virgin Connect business certainly is - no matter that you try to blame it on the pandemic.
So you have this great little airport. And given there’s no shortage of investors willing to feed on others distress, sooner or later you may succumb and SEN will find itself under new management.
Perhaps given all the money spent and possibly written off a new owner would focus on building a successful regional airport rather than the ridiculous talk of 10 then 20 million pax p.a.