Empty space
The terminal expansion has been open for a while - flew in and out this weekend, admittedly on lightly loaded ATR 72s at times when the terminal was fairly quiet. I kept thinking that on the upper floor after security, the ground floor near the departure gates, and in the baggage claim area, there seem to be large amounts of floorspace that are either unused or significantly underused.
I know that people reading this post will be more interested, when at an airport, in flying than shopping, but retail units can contribute to an airport's profitability and thus future long term prospects, e.g. capacity to minimise charges to airlines with other income source like retail units income, car parking, etc, particularly at a non-hub airport with modest passenger numbers like Southend.
Please don't think however that I'm a shopping freak - I loathe what's happened to the post-security area at Stansted with a compulsory lengthy walk through the duty free shop, but I do want Southend where possible to be commercially succesful and robust to the fleeting whims of airlines.
Is there any plan to try to flog some more square feet in the terminal to retailers ? For the time being at least, seems like a bit of wasted commercial opportunity.