Originally Posted by
pabely
Is Ealing Broadway or Stratford a core market for SEN?
I still can't see it pulling pax from LCY, STN, LHR or LTN unless you have an Essex postcode.
Any incentive to get airlines in is going to need almost zero cost to the operator.
I do hope the new owners have very deep long term pockets, I do not see things going on a big upwards trend at the moment.
According to recent LSA marketing material SEN has a catchment of 8m people and 60% of passengers come from London (I assume they mean Greater London). They certainly include Stratford as being in their catchment area. Surely though, the thing about catchment areas is that they overlap one another. STN attracts people from the LTN catchment area and vice versa for example. When I lived in Southend I flew from SEN, LGW, LCY, LHR, STN, LTN and even SOU. It depended on the options that were available from each that suited me best for a particular journey. Since I've moved to Norfolk I've used NWI, STN, SEN and LCY but I travel much less than I used to. The trick for airports is to attract airlines/routes that will have the greatest appeal to the greatest number of people.
In 2019 SEN processed 2.1m passengers. On the majority of the routes served there were alternatives at competing LON airports so people weren't using SEN grudgingly. I don't think the problem is getting people to use SEN, it's getting airlines to commit to running those routes in these times of perhaps fewer slot restrictions elsewhere and maybe the financial muscle of Carlyle will help them achieve that.