Originally Posted by
Pain in the R's
I am just wondering if the Southend fans here can take their rose tinted glasses off for a minute and give their honest views of where Southend is going and whether it has a long term future from a business prospective.
In 2012 I did some work for SEN at the French Connect conference in Paris. The French airport I was actually representing there generously allowed me a day to make airline presentations for SEN. A new brochure featuring the newly completed runway extension was snapped up very quickly by delegates there. However, during one-on-one presentations to different airlines there was interest but little enthusiasm to follow up with serious negotiations to start operating from SEN. At the time there were no serious slot problems at most other LON airports and it wasn't until that situation changed that SEN enjoyed a period of rapid growth.
It's probably true to say that LON airport capacity constraints would be needed for that process to be repeated and that SEN will still be viewed largely as an overspill option and therefore vulnerable to falls in LON passenger numbers for whatever reason. The big question is when, if ever, capacity constraints will again give airlines cause to look at SEN. Another problem seems to be that under the current ownership SEN will not be in a financial position to offer the very generous 'incentives' that were a feature of their policy over the past few years pre-Covid. There can be no doubt that these were very effective in encouraging airlines to start new routes, with SEN hoping that these would prove themselves commercially attractive going forward. And now there is no Stobart Air to get that ball rolling.
Perhaps SEN are already starting to look at a more balanced mix of traffic and revenue sources than previously, when they appeared to be single minded in focusing on the ancillary income that the LoCo airlines could bring them. Operations that didn't fit that model were not encouraged it would seem so the loss of EZY and FR was disastrous for SEN's revenues. Whether enticing FR to SEN was the catalyst for the departure of EZY I don't know but at the time I was rather concerned that it would at least dampen EZY's enthusiasm to grow its SEN operation.
I am not optimistic for the future as things stand but maybe if there really is pent-up passenger demand and 2023 sees major growth in LON passenger numbers then perhaps conditions will be right for a resurgence in SEN's fortunes. That's a big 'if' at the moment though with UK public economic confidence being low, plus conflict in Europe and all the uncertainties that brings with it, it's a big ask for passenger traffic to grow up to, and even beyond, its pre-Covid levels.