Disappointing as the October stats may be, I am more worried about the general malaise that appears to be at SEN at the moment. I popped into the airport last Thursday as I was driving by as was surprised at the lack of aircraft and activity. On the 'active' aprons there were only 4 aircraft (2 Easyjets on the main apron, a Binair Metro outside the old terminal and a PA28 type well covered for the weather on the north apron).
Obviously, with ATC Lasham gone, there was nothing around the hangar area. No GA twins or executive aircraft either. In all my 60+ years of enthusiastically following SEN I have never seen the place look so sad.
I feel that without the arrival of another low cost carrier (possibly Wizzair as their A320s become available?) 2 million passengers a year seems a distant dream and even 1 million may be a bit of a struggle at the moment. There are only so many holiday destinations achievable from SEN and most of these seem well covered now (apart from perhaps Malta and Nice) so does future expansion lie East into Europe and not South?
Cheers
Southender