SOUTHEND - 2
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Congratulations
Seriously well done to all involved. It is a great coup for SEN but it also shows a little initiative & faith in UK regional airports on easyJet's part which i am really glad to see.
I hope that they now consider BOH as another airport with potential for 2012...not just for the one off short term Olympics benefit - close proximity to Weymouth where sailing competition will be, but because of it's similarity to SEN in terms of risk v potential.
I hope that they now consider BOH as another airport with potential for 2012...not just for the one off short term Olympics benefit - close proximity to Weymouth where sailing competition will be, but because of it's similarity to SEN in terms of risk v potential.
I agree that the prospect of Skytrain DC-10s getting off the runway would be interesting !
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Fly Southend Airport
Fly Southend Airport - Looks a bit pathetic now
Support the airport: Home - Fly Southend Airport
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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Actually the Skytrain service was to be forced to use STN ... I think the acceptance to operate from/to LGW had something to do with FAL taking the British government to court!
Last edited by Phileas Fogg; 17th Jun 2011 at 21:13.
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More good news:-
More good news for Southend Airport (From Echo)
Just a few nimbys to dispose of now.
More good news for Southend Airport (From Echo)
Just a few nimbys to dispose of now.
Freddie was also familiar with Stansted from his past, as his flights in the 1950s which were beyond the limited Southend runway, such as military charters to Asia, operated from there.
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WHBM,
Correct, Skytrain commenced out of LGW and, unless a diversion, never used STN.
Quite amusing because SEN's runway can't even take a wide body, such as an A300, unless a ferry flight and even then only by special dispensation.
And, please, it was 'Sir Freddie' ..... He who taught me to drive Rolls Royce 'FAL 1' around the, then narrow, LGW perimeter road one less than sober nightshift.
P.S. How many engines does a DC10 have?
Correct, Skytrain commenced out of LGW and, unless a diversion, never used STN.
Quite amusing because SEN's runway can't even take a wide body, such as an A300, unless a ferry flight and even then only by special dispensation.
And, please, it was 'Sir Freddie' ..... He who taught me to drive Rolls Royce 'FAL 1' around the, then narrow, LGW perimeter road one less than sober nightshift.
P.S. How many engines does a DC10 have?
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And at one time CircusAir EMA had a pic on their office wall of 3 x DC-10's on the EMA tarmac, in those days a shorter EMA runway yet, one day due to a lighter load, a direct EMA/JFK DC10 Skytrain.
And then there was a time when, on another or few drunken nightshift(s), I'd pick him up in Jaguar 'FLY 1' and, in his way, he'd give me a gentlemanly rollockong for not fully releasing the handbrake before driving.
For those that didn't know him ...he was a star, one of life's characters ...
Put it this way, how often might one expect to see their knighted MD staggering in to the office, with a likewise staggering Barry Sheene in tandem, tripping over the carpet whilst practicing Chinese for an up and coming HKG route application hearing?
And then there was a time when, on another or few drunken nightshift(s), I'd pick him up in Jaguar 'FLY 1' and, in his way, he'd give me a gentlemanly rollockong for not fully releasing the handbrake before driving.
For those that didn't know him ...he was a star, one of life's characters ...
Put it this way, how often might one expect to see their knighted MD staggering in to the office, with a likewise staggering Barry Sheene in tandem, tripping over the carpet whilst practicing Chinese for an up and coming HKG route application hearing?
Join Date: Nov 2006
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SEN and EZY
I would echo others comments and a job well done. I had heard the rumours some months ago but would never have beleived it until it was actually announced.
Far too much time has been spent looking backwards, in 1967 this and in 1967 that. At last Southend airport is looking to the future. Stobart are laying the the basic building blocks for an essentially new airport and it will be a very different experience to what it was years ago. The job now is to continue with the upgrade. So now they will be looking at the RFFS service, the knackered old fuel farm and fuel delivery, a decent cleaning company, catering, maybe new handling agent. It will be interesting to see what concessions and suppliers appear on the scene and how quickly things develop
As for easyjet they have a very powerful marketing machine. I feel sure that they will be pushing SEN as the Olympic arrival point on every billboard at every location they operate at. They have 8 full months to market and sell tickets. The key is to maximise, perfect and show what can be done for the future beyond the Olympics. It will not be a bed of roses all the way. There will be some trial and error with routes. Hopefully the likes of Flybe will snap up any that just don't come up with the numbers for an A319. Southend will find its place in the market and is set to become one of the biggest aviation growth stories of the decade. One to nearly a hundred scheduled departures a week in less than two years is going to make some people pretty envious.
So congratulations to all my old friends working there. Wish I could join the party
Far too much time has been spent looking backwards, in 1967 this and in 1967 that. At last Southend airport is looking to the future. Stobart are laying the the basic building blocks for an essentially new airport and it will be a very different experience to what it was years ago. The job now is to continue with the upgrade. So now they will be looking at the RFFS service, the knackered old fuel farm and fuel delivery, a decent cleaning company, catering, maybe new handling agent. It will be interesting to see what concessions and suppliers appear on the scene and how quickly things develop
As for easyjet they have a very powerful marketing machine. I feel sure that they will be pushing SEN as the Olympic arrival point on every billboard at every location they operate at. They have 8 full months to market and sell tickets. The key is to maximise, perfect and show what can be done for the future beyond the Olympics. It will not be a bed of roses all the way. There will be some trial and error with routes. Hopefully the likes of Flybe will snap up any that just don't come up with the numbers for an A319. Southend will find its place in the market and is set to become one of the biggest aviation growth stories of the decade. One to nearly a hundred scheduled departures a week in less than two years is going to make some people pretty envious.
So congratulations to all my old friends working there. Wish I could join the party
Join Date: Oct 2006
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The olympics
I do not want to be a killjoy but come on the Olympics is only on for TWO WEEKS and I cannot seeing it being the b and end all for all airports including Southend, Luton, Stansted etc. with some events not even being held in the London area. A lot of the seats at the Olympic Stadium are reserved for corporate etc. so they will be arriving first class into Heathrow, Gatwick on in their executive aircraft at Luton, Farnborough, Biggin, Stansted etc.
I am not having a go at Southend good luck to them (personally I think they will need all the luck that is going) but get real people it will take more than two weeks in the middle of next year to get Southend up to anything like the expected passenger numbers. Plus the problem of no early morning trains - that will have to be sorted out pronto.
I am not having a go at Southend good luck to them (personally I think they will need all the luck that is going) but get real people it will take more than two weeks in the middle of next year to get Southend up to anything like the expected passenger numbers. Plus the problem of no early morning trains - that will have to be sorted out pronto.
I just love posts that begin "I don't want to be a killjoy but....."; you can almost smell the grapes souring in the background.
Easyjet's announcement has very little to do with the Olympics, except that event provides an excellent marketing 'hook', and has much more to do with offering a more pleasant alternative to STN and LTN, both of which can hardly be called a pleasurable passenger experience. All this talk of the STN Express taking 46 minutes and SEN being 53 minutes from Liverpool Street - oh my goodness what an appalling disadvantage that 7 minutes will prove to be be! No doubt the lack of trains very early and late in the day can be tackled in due course. The fact is that you will be able to get from aircraft to station platform in under 15 minutes or be driving out of the car park in the same time - that fact was one of the reasons that Ford's switch from STN to SEN was so successful from their point of view - is what will appeal to people. Much of the traffic will be inbound on the routes operated by the 'second level' airlines such as RE and A N Other and, again, the passenger experience will be much better than STN and LTN can offer. A few people in recent months sniffed at the 'fact' that SEN would not be able to offer anything in the way of onward connections, well that idea is starting to ring a little hollow as well now.
Those of us who have actually been working over the past couple of years with airports and airlines who were prime candidates to become SEN customers soon realised that we were onto something big and that is now starting to become public knowledge. Toxic Thrust's phrase "Southend ..... is set to become one the biggest aviation growth stories of the decade." isn't far off the mark.
Easyjet's announcement has very little to do with the Olympics, except that event provides an excellent marketing 'hook', and has much more to do with offering a more pleasant alternative to STN and LTN, both of which can hardly be called a pleasurable passenger experience. All this talk of the STN Express taking 46 minutes and SEN being 53 minutes from Liverpool Street - oh my goodness what an appalling disadvantage that 7 minutes will prove to be be! No doubt the lack of trains very early and late in the day can be tackled in due course. The fact is that you will be able to get from aircraft to station platform in under 15 minutes or be driving out of the car park in the same time - that fact was one of the reasons that Ford's switch from STN to SEN was so successful from their point of view - is what will appeal to people. Much of the traffic will be inbound on the routes operated by the 'second level' airlines such as RE and A N Other and, again, the passenger experience will be much better than STN and LTN can offer. A few people in recent months sniffed at the 'fact' that SEN would not be able to offer anything in the way of onward connections, well that idea is starting to ring a little hollow as well now.
Those of us who have actually been working over the past couple of years with airports and airlines who were prime candidates to become SEN customers soon realised that we were onto something big and that is now starting to become public knowledge. Toxic Thrust's phrase "Southend ..... is set to become one the biggest aviation growth stories of the decade." isn't far off the mark.
Join Date: Nov 2006
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It's over to Easyjet now and they market the new services. Easyjet certainly is the right airline. Though I must say am surprised that Easyjet have set up a new base at an airport that is how can I say 'not tried and tested', though I think that it will do well.
The key will be in the way that Southend is marketed, in a way that emphasises its ease of use, quick transfer times to London centre and overall pricing. Easyjet's marketing of the place may help Aer Arann to get its routes better established in terms of putting Southend firmly on the map.
As regards the transfer of routes from STN I would guess that routes that are duplicated with Ryanair would be high on the list of priorities. However, If BFS gets a routes as is rumoured, I hope it is not a replacement of the STN route as this is a successful route and carried as many as 28k per month and would offer WW a leg up on the Belfast STN market, not sure EZY would want that either!!
Good luck to the new venture.
EI-BUD
The key will be in the way that Southend is marketed, in a way that emphasises its ease of use, quick transfer times to London centre and overall pricing. Easyjet's marketing of the place may help Aer Arann to get its routes better established in terms of putting Southend firmly on the map.
As regards the transfer of routes from STN I would guess that routes that are duplicated with Ryanair would be high on the list of priorities. However, If BFS gets a routes as is rumoured, I hope it is not a replacement of the STN route as this is a successful route and carried as many as 28k per month and would offer WW a leg up on the Belfast STN market, not sure EZY would want that either!!
Good luck to the new venture.
EI-BUD
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Southend has another rail advantage over STN, and it's nothing to do with being 7 minutes further from London. The Stansted Express has one of the stinkiest mark-ups of any airport rail link (Heathrow Express excluded). Southend Airport railway station is £10-£12 jouney from London, and isn't on its own dead-end spur (so it would be difficult for the rail operator to price it higher than adjacent stations).
Good luck SEN; I doubt very much all ten of those routes will survive beyond a year, but others will.
Good luck SEN; I doubt very much all ten of those routes will survive beyond a year, but others will.
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Southend has another rail advantage over STN, and it's nothing to do with being 7 minutes further from London. The Stansted Express has one of the stinkiest mark-ups of any airport rail link (Heathrow Express excluded). Southend Airport railway station is £10-£12 jouney from London, and isn't on its own dead-end spur (so it would be difficult for the rail operator to price it higher than adjacent stations).
FR numbers on eg STN DUB have fallen drastically over the last few years from a peak of about 13 daily services down to around 7, there are lots of reasons why this has happened but I would suggest poor availability of trains on weekends turns some customers off using Stansted.
I do hope that this is not the case for Southend!!
EI-BUD
Join Date: Aug 2005
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But don't forget Southend does have two railway lines from London. A bus or 10 minute taxi ride will get you to the C2C line which can get you into london in just over 45 minutes (from e.g. Chalkwell or Leigh), so if there are train problems, you can always use the other line (they always accept each other's tickets too if the other has problems). I get the C2C line to London Fenchurch St every day for work and it's much nicer (and cheaper) than the NXEA service into Liverpool St.
There's a chance the train prices will fall on the NXEA line from SEN to London too as NXEA have lost the franchise so whoever takes over will have to compete with the cheaper, faster and air-conditioned C2C line.
The aircoach from Southend to Stansted is now £21 and Ryanair flights are creeping up so I now go STN to DUB much less often than I did a couple years back. If there's a SEN to DUB for under £100 return I'll be on that all the time! I've been using the rail and sail for £33 each way but that takes all day
Cheers,
Steve
There's a chance the train prices will fall on the NXEA line from SEN to London too as NXEA have lost the franchise so whoever takes over will have to compete with the cheaper, faster and air-conditioned C2C line.
The aircoach from Southend to Stansted is now £21 and Ryanair flights are creeping up so I now go STN to DUB much less often than I did a couple years back. If there's a SEN to DUB for under £100 return I'll be on that all the time! I've been using the rail and sail for £33 each way but that takes all day
Cheers,
Steve
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Sorry Expressflight but I must totally disagree with you. It is not about ''a pleasurable experience'' it is about making money. Just you watch if easy or any other airline are not succeeding they will pull the services (I am sure that they have written that into the contract with Stobart).
Also I prefer a nice Rioja thank you and not that French plonk!
Cheers.
Also I prefer a nice Rioja thank you and not that French plonk!
Cheers.
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Having emigrated from Southend in the mid-seventies, I'm not sure of the current situation, BUT
Southend has (d) TWO main-lines into London. Both were fast and reliable, though jam-packed in rush-hour.....one of the reasons I moved "oop north" to enjoy a less populous area.
Never remember meeting sir Freddie but Father was a good friend of "budgie" Jack Laker ,who once chauffeured us to Clacton to Southend and back in his Daimler Majestic Major. lovely family and didn't deserve the dirty tricks campaign that scuppered Skytrain.
Southend has (d) TWO main-lines into London. Both were fast and reliable, though jam-packed in rush-hour.....one of the reasons I moved "oop north" to enjoy a less populous area.
Never remember meeting sir Freddie but Father was a good friend of "budgie" Jack Laker ,who once chauffeured us to Clacton to Southend and back in his Daimler Majestic Major. lovely family and didn't deserve the dirty tricks campaign that scuppered Skytrain.
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Not sure what the occasion is but there's two Spitfires and a Lancaster in at SEN currently.
Not even heard the Spitfires but the Lancaster kindly flew low level over my garden on the downwind leg. Naturally, I had no photographic equipment to hand!
Not even heard the Spitfires but the Lancaster kindly flew low level over my garden on the downwind leg. Naturally, I had no photographic equipment to hand!