Aer Arran moved to Southend from Luton but have been quietly increasing flights from Luton again in recent months due to demand. But that's my point. How many of those passengers tried Southend before the new terminal and station opened. They tried it and didn't like it so won't be coming back to use the new terminal. The same could happen with the new terminal. If someone has a bad experience they don’t always come back. Surely Southend would have been better with just two based aircraft for the first year with Easyjet operating W patens into Southend to spread the passengers more evenly throughout the day.
Key points that need to be fixed fast.
Why does the terminal close at night? There must be security in the terminal who are being paid so leave the doors open.
Bully the rail company into operating early trains out of London and late trains back into London. Not only would Southend benefit but every station along the route.
Walk before you run. Stobart wants the income from passengers now so let them pile into the terminal. The risk is some of those passengers might not come back. It’s not Stobart’s fault but easyjet should see the existing capacity of the terminal as a challenge and spread the flights out more evenly until next year.
Last edited by LTNman; 8th May 2012 at 06:20.