Hey rareair,
London Southend would be a good connection indeed.There are defenitely some common interests between both airports.In the sixties/seventies SEN-OST was one of the busiest routes in the world! .That's the glorious past of course .But there must still be some immediate opportunities Maybe the stobart-group should invest in ostend airport aswell.
And if the point-point-traffic alone would not be sufficient,consideration is to be given to fit this sector in a longer stretched routing ,offering non-stop or 1/2 stop "through" flights for city-pairs involved.Should be seen as a "package" to be implemented together.
Examples: Edinburgh-London Southend-Ostend-Geneva
Belfast -London Southend-Ostend-Kopenhagen
Liverpool-London Southend-Ostend-Nice
Dublin-London Southend-Ostend-Hamburg
Manchester-Ostend-Jersey-Manchester & v.v.
Birmingham-Ostend-Milan
Newcastle-Ostend-Vienna
etc..
Which airline could fit this in their schedule? Flybe would be in pole position ,but others such as Eastern Airways (second hub on the continent?) ,aer arran,manx2,...might be interested in a part of the routings.
Sometimes dreams come through... and BTW,the above routings would allow UK Tabac-pax to make a quick dash in the Ostend city-center (4 miles)and be back at the airport before the return-flight is checking in.SEN-pax could maybe make 2 trips a day..
Grtz
