I also believe that with the limited space on everything at SEN, 3 million would be a figure in order to continue winning praise from its passengers and keeping them as regular clientel. 5 million might work if there was a big increase in long-term parking facilities on-site, but the flight schedules would have to be spread out through out the hours of operation. At this time, and probably for 2018, there are big gaps between movements. But we all know that businesses can get greedy, too big, with poor customer service and end up nothing more than shepherds trying to herd the angry crowds in the fastest possible time to increase the profits.

sb

If you can point me to where LTNman has been "castigated" in recent exchanges I should be most interested. As far as I can read everyone has agreed with him, as have I.

Expressflight...Fair point but redemption if that is all you query.
tophat27dt...What wonderful descriptive powers you command "trying to herd the angry crowds"..Now you are a seasoned traveller would you care to place your good self within that wonderful picture too?.If not than I would suggest you delete the remark or apologise to that endearing travelling public..
BTW they/we are able to travel more because LCC`s based on high intensity ops make it more readily available to the "herds" to quote you with your educated parlance.

SS I thought your post #180 was hard hitting but assiduously fair. But fair you are most certainly not with your criticism of tophat27dt As someone who has on many occasions in the last few years benefited from the travel opportunities made possible by LCC's I require no apology from anyone who believes that affordable fares and a civilised airport experience are equally desirable.

DC3 Dave...My post was based on the premise that tophat27dt is a seasoned traveller,erudite & educated...his observations may or may not be correct but that evidently is his view,so no problem.
Where he lets himself down is the wording "trying to herd the angry crowds" it is descriptive nonsense & generally derogatory @ least in terms of the way many of us travel nowadays....do you see yourself included in that description?.When did you last witness an angry crowd?..
If you have as you say taken advantage of an LCC perhaps as a spin from it`s origin @ LTN then excellent,it actually works,rejoice..
The original poster should at the very least apologise to himself for the hyperbole & with the other part of the post it also portrays more muddle at least with a business view (analysis).
I`m now half waiting for the reply from somewhere asking if I have never encountered euphemism`s regarding the wording but we got the context & where it was aimed..

Succinctly & in summation to end,it does appear some here are turning SEN`s comparatively underused terminal space into an art form & semi religion.
Just the way it appears thru some of the spin evident at the present time.

If someone told me in 1999 when Luton's new terminal opened that they could squeeze 15.6 million passengers through it I would have said it was not physically possible. Well they have as it is called sweating the asset.

Remove seating, ignore queue lengths, add a multistory or two, and put stands that are a long bus ride away and you will be surprised at what can be achieved.

I have no idea what Southend's weakest link is that will ultimately set its true capacity but I doubt it will be the terminal. Maybe it will be the backtrack?

Welcome to Hell and Luton Airport's departure lounge. Remember sweating the asset and what a 10 million passenger Southend could look like.
https://i.imgur.com/bKDUdDz.jpg

Haha. That is a great pic.. looks like a wetherspoons on one pound a pint of Guinness night

If Southend gets that busy, which I doubt .. then er just don't go there.

The airfield is a strip squeezed into a residential area. Restricted a/c movement noise control is a massive constraint. I like the place but it just isn't gonna work as a bigger airfield.

Here's an interesting development in the aerospace industry world which could have an impact on SEN:

Bombardier to partner Airbus on C-Series jets - BBC News

This surely makes the C-series a more viable option for airlines, and it can operate from SEN's limited strip without any issues - also quieter than other types.

I see VLM are up and running again with Antwerp - LCY from the end of the month. Does anyone have any update on VLM Slovenia? In particular the MBX - SEN service that was apparently to commence ASAP after the appropriate AOC was obtained.

Remember EZY looked at the C-series but walked away, I wonder why. With them committed to the A321 & 320 perhaps the C-series might become more attractive under Airbus as a 319 replacement for smaller hubs to build new routes?

In my opinion, C-series will be a success from LCY. The SEN catchment I believe will be seriously limited by the impact of development at both LCY (high frequency business) and STN (low frequency LCC)

I do believe that SEN has a c1m market but it will not sustain anything above those levels for long.

The vision of the airport is in conflict with itself. The very reason why a select 'few' choose to fly from SEN from the London area is because it's quiet - therefore the very nature of SEN as an attractive airport must be for it to remain quiet!

Swiss are on the record as saying their CS is costing 25% less to operate than the RJ100’s they replaced. Fleetwide, that’s a lot of money and will filter down to bottom line profits on the routes they operate it on. Passengers love it too. They spent years shoe-horning their laptops into the glove box sized overhead bins and then noisily bumbling around the sky at 29,000 ft then landing to discover their colleagues who departing after them on BA waiting in arrivals. I’m sure more personal space, a bigger toilet with a proper flush rather than the old “pot and flap” help too!

The aircraft is a great fit for SEN in my view. Maybe Stobart should buy some?

Flybe Summer 2018 Schedule
 

Flybe's Summer flights up to 9th September 2018 will go on sale in two days time. It will be interesting to see what Stobart Air will be offering for that period assuming they are also released on that date.

Easy 2018
 

Will be interesting to see the Flybe summer 2018 timetable. Does anyone have any idea when easy will tell us the plans for this 4th A320 aircraft from July next year ?

A new route for Summer 2018 will be ANR operated 4 x weekly by Stobart Air. There will be 15 Stobart Air/Flybe routes in total from SEN next Summer according to a SEN post on their f/bk page. "Up to 230 flights a week - a huge 80% increase from this year" it says. Details will presumably appear tomorrow when the Flybe timetable is released.

If that is true Expressflight and I do not doubt your information, I just find it silly with VLM operating the route of London City just down the road. I would suggest it is difficult enough to make a profit on the route with one operator but two is just stupid. Surely there are better options than that.

There are 14 routes already on sale for next summer. Unless they are doing significant increase in the amount of flights to these destinations, it will be interesting to see what changes there will be