It is due to Romania introducing a 14 day quarantine on the UK. The UK already had a 14 day quarantine on Romania, which did not put the Romanians off from traveling but their one on us has focused their minds.

Wizz have introduced a new quarantine buster service that started yesterday using an A321 to Liverpool from Moldova, as a way for Romanians to get around the quarantine rules. Their Luton Moldova services are now very popular with the Romanian community as Romanians are classed as being in transit by Moldova.

Moldova is another country on our quarantine list but once again it is not putting anyone off from travelling.

Wideroe
 

Schedules for Kristiansand and Bergen have been updated. Both routes will operate at 2x weekly each through to October 2021. Bergen still resumes on 5 March 2021; Kristiansand on 2 April 2021.

Still makes me laugh when people talk about Stobart group and trucking, the only trucks that Stobart own/operate are the trucks for the Energy side of the group and they are based in tilbury next to the power station that they serve so stobart will not be operating trucks from sen at all.

Are FlyOne planning on returning to Southend or are they gone ? Their website shows Gatwick as their only UK airport

Must be moving over to LGW then. SEN was showing in the system this morning but with nothing bookable.

FlyOne should have been more ambitious and tried their hand at Heathrow - Blue Air seem to be quitting LTN for it at least for this winter and Summer ‘21. Although with Moldova well covered from LTN and STN it perhaps makes geographic sense to try LGW.

Just shows though how brutal Summer ‘21 will be, it’s a minor miracle Wideroe are still planning on coming.

Airlines now have choices and airports now sit in a pecking order.

No really.. specialist subject the bleedin' obvious...and I guess SEN is at the bottom in your opinion LTNman!

Well, there's always Lydd, Shoreham or Oxford if you think Southend is a bit too busy and urban for you...

Seems to be your opinion Mr Bad Attitude.

Pecking order maybe but SEN had a place pre-90s and can continue to tick along with whatever comes in the next year or two even if that is just Ryanair or Wizz flying a few routes to the Med. No one expected Blue Air and Eastern Airways to be on Heathrow’s roster this year.

I do wonder if SEN will be back down to 0 flights next week with Lockdown 2, or whether we’ll be in the position where we can do nothing here but can jet off for a few days of sun in Spain

When Stobart, desperate for liquidity during March 2020, tried to sell 25% of Southend, when the valuation of the airport was £700-800m, I wonder what a 25% stake would cost now?

That is dangerous talk here but I doubt that will happen. People will continue to ignore government advice, which will just prolong the agony.

Not dangerous talk at all. Many of us are realists as well as being SEN supporters and the reality is that SEN will find things very difficult over the next year or two at least. If most holidays destinations are opened up sometime in 2021 there will be a strong demand within SEN's natural catchment and I don't see why RYR shouldn't choose to capture that demand by continuing its presence at SEN. Beyond that there may not be too much airline activity in evidence in my view.

Agreed - the other big factor for the London market is what happens with slots at LHR/LGW next summer

LHR is the one to watch. While some might move to LGW such as FlyOne Gatwick stand to lose far more than LTN/SEN/STN. Westjet, China Airlines, Ukraine, Rwandair all seeking to move in whole or part. There’s nothing more left at Southend really for anyone else to take. It’s hard to see what could move to LGW at the expense of another London airport in great volume.

In the case of Wideroe which would be predominantly inbound I’d suggest LGW wouldn’t be of too much interest although LCY certainly would be appealing.

Remember RYR are closing up shop at their home turf bases of OCK & SNN, so any long term commitment to SEN would be doubtful. Nobody knows how this will pan out, I would have thought once things start moving again propery it will be STN focus and if Max's arrive costs will be lower using these, I don't believe the Max can operate from SEN so longer term if the rumoured top up order is made, this will accelerate the removal of 737s.
Maybe why they are keeping EZY sweet with very cheap parking?

So why does Heathrow now have spare slots while Gatwick slots are still held by the airlines who won’t release them?

Wizz have publicly stated their frustration at not being able to get the slots they want at LGW

Ryanair are suspending services not pulling out. They make threats like they did over Brexit and then they change their mind when no one takes any notice.