Sometimes businesses can fail despite doing nothing wrong. In 2019 everything was rosy for Southend, the airport was expanding fast and the talk was about grand plans for the future. Since then, we have had a pandemic, a war, inflation, that is out of control, and a pending long recession. So who saw that lot coming in 2019?
The airports business model has collapsed with no plan B so it needs to go into survival mode. Mothball the terminal, reduce the fire cover, shut the airport overnight, cut staff numbers and focus on the core businesses that have kept the airport ticking over for a generation.
In a few years time it might be time to try again but this time the infrastructure will be in place.