Southend-3

[LTNman]

The strange thing about Southend is that I can’t find any noise contour maps for the airport. Now why would that be? I suspect a clue comes from the photo as to the reason why.

By law workers including airport workers have to wear ear defenders if noise is above a certain dB level and is recommended at lower levels. Have those back gardens been tested to see what their noise levels are?

Latest article about Southend noise complaints.

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/london-southend-airport-exhausted-residents-4689028


https://i.imgur.com/zlVx8oi.jpg

[AirportPlanner1]

Already reported. As was the suspension of Wizz until mid-Dec along with their LGW service so no particular snub to SEN.

SEN is probably doing better with a shut terminal than LGW running the place for 3-6 flights, LTN for a handful of flights spread through the day and LCY for a couple of props.

[southside bobby]

Not too sure where that report was then...

[southside bobby]

Fair go...didn`t scroll that far back & didn`t need to refresh memory as the post message I see was muddled a wee bit & not taken in then.

Would not have posted with the clearer message though if already aware of course.

[LTNman]

Actually I don’t think safety is Glyn Jones top priority. For that matter I could name a few other CEO’s as well with the same mindset.

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/18895458.southend-airport-ceo-plans-five-day-quarantine-not-viable-families/

Safety for passengers, our employees and the public remains our top priority. So we say cancel quarantine, test before take-off.”

[Stanstedeye]

JOTA Aviation returned to
SEN with their G-JOTR as ENZ219P from MAN at 20.15 on 29-11-20.

[LTNman]

No surprises that the annual Santa flights are cancelled for this year. https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/18903296.southend-airport-santa-flights-grounded-event-cancelled-covid/

[Buster the Bear]

Shannon, do you mean Southend?

[Expressflight]

JOTA Aviation return to SNN with their G-JOTR as ENZ219P from MAN at 20.15 on 29-11-20.

You mean "return to SEN" and not surprising as the JOTA fleet is all still based at SEN. Maybe your post is linked to their announcement that they will open a base at Biggin Hill and 1st December has been rumoured as a possible date for this.

[southside bobby]

JOTA...Not mentioned previously familiar sight `200 `SMLA was retired on 22.10 which only leaves the two RJ`s in pax mode.

Would have surmised that ad hoc pax charters...potential & the Premier League contract would supply adequate work for the fleet.

[JSCL]

The charter market is way too busy with operators at the moment and JOTA is pricing themselves out of the market. There are operators bidding for charter work with football & rugby that you wouldn't normally see doing so and given the fleet downtimes for the usual operators i.e. Aurigny and Eastern, it's just too competitive. I suspect JOTA might be struggling a little bit in the passenger charter market at the moment.

[compton3bravo]

What are you on about Stanstedeye. As far as I am aware Jota have never left Southend. The flight you mentioned was returning empty from Manchester after taking back Manchester United FC after playing at Southampton. May I respectively suggest you take s s little more water with it!

[ericlday]

Noticed TUI did F1 team charters to/from BHX and LTN to SAW for Istanbul GP.

[Expressflight]

JSCL

Apart from the Premier League team charters JOTA don't seem to be doing much on the pax charter front but the freighters are keeping quite busy shuttling around Europe and on the Italian postal service contract.

[oldart]

Without knowing the area, which came first, the airport or the houses? With reference to noise level, I believe it was 95 db or above to wear ear defenders.

[brian_dromey]

Peoples back gardens would not be classified as places of work, not sure what the ear defenders are about. Unless there is a serious suggestion that SEN provide ear defender for people to wear in their own homes/gardens?

SEN has been an airfield since at least 1914, according to the wikipedia page, far predating the 60s houses. It is true that there might have been a lull when they purchased their homes in the 80s/90s.

[Barling Magna]

oldart

Aviation has used the site in some form or another since 1915 when it was an RFC home defence base attempting to combat Zeppelin and Gotha raids.Cecil Lewis wrote in his book Sagittarius Rising: "Rochford was a magnificent aerodrome almost a mile square." Some pleasure flying took place during the 1920s but it wasn't until 1933 that Southend Council purchased the site and it became Southend Municipal Aerodrome. The first scheduled services started to Rochester soon afterwards and the site has been in use as a commercial airport ever since, with a six year break for WW2 when it played an active part in the Battle of Britain. My mother recalled squadrons of Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants rising to meet the Luftwaffe, and Luftwaffe bombers attacking the airfield too. In 1960 Southend was the second busiest airport in the country in terms of aircraft movements and the third busiest in terms of freight handled.

So the aerodrome was there long before the houses were built.

[southside bobby]

"So the aerodrome was there long before the houses were built".

Well yes...the same as most airports then...Should not stop airports nowadays being good neighbours though surely...

[Barling Magna]

Agreed. I didn't say otherwise?

[SKOJB]

There are neighbours and then there are these types of neighbours (from the above photo) that literally live on the taxiway. Rightly or wrongly, must be deafening living there
with plenty of aviation smells also!

[LTNman]

brian_dromey

The point is that if those back gardens were inside of the airport boundary then every worker would be issued with ear defenders. As it is, some of those homes are so close to the runway that it would stop a parallel taxiway being built, which is remarkable.

[DC3 Dave]

I am not downplaying the problem but it is restricted to around a dozen houses at the end of Wells Avenue. The rest of that road is protected from aircraft by hangers and other buildings as well as being a considerably greater distance from taxiway C. It has become a problem because that taxiway was upgraded and brought back into general use a couple of years ago.

Ironically, it only becomes a problem when aircraft are taking off from the preferred direction required by noise abatement procedures. When Wells Avenue suffers, a large area of Westciff and Leigh-on-Sea enjoys peace and quiet.

Personally, I do not see why taxiway C could not be made unavailable for the first and last hour of the day and definitely closed at night.

[Red Four]

Also ironically, those houses were built on part of the airport after the WW1, some well after that. So all were well aware when they were built and moved into that they were adjacent to the aerodrome, even then.

[Expressflight]

. Personally, I do not see why taxiway C could not be made unavailable for the first and last hour of the day and definitely closed at night.

I agree with you on that idea, especially after COVID when there will be less pressure on runway occupancy times. The ASL flights will not be affected as they backtrack the runway from taxiway Delta which is on the opposite side of the runway.

[LTNman]

Red Four

They wouldn’t have expected that the airport would extend its runway outside its then boundary so allowing larger and heavier aircraft to use SEN. Turning the discussion around should SEN have built a runway extension when it is so close to existing houses as the houses were there first. The same point applies to 737 night cargo flights when 737 passenger flights are banned.

[southside bobby]

Have to admire the thinking...two wrongs at SEN do indeed make a right!...Great stuff.

It has probably been asked & answered before so why don`t Stobart buy the properties like any decent airport (especially a London airport) would do or would be compelled to do.

[LTNman]

A noise or earth barrier would help. It would make no difference though once the aircraft was 10ft off the ground. Didn’t the locals reject that option once?

[Expressflight]

Yes I think the people affected did reject an earth bund. Their complaints seem to be directed at the taxiway rather than the flights themselves, in the main anyway. Perhaps they thought the bund would spoil the view.

[SKOJB]

simples, remove taxi C for good and use B with a huge backtrack. Might at least appease the neighbours

[chesna152]

i believe this is already in place. From what I understand the restrictions on taxiway Charlie are quite strict, especially at night. So back to the original point of the airport being a good neighbour, I genuinely think they are attempting to be. However, nothing can get away from the fact that when these people purchased their houses they would have looked from their gardens and seen a taxiway and surprise surprise that’s what they still see now!

[yeo valley]

People that have bought houses there over the years they knew airport was there. If they have a problem with the airport and it sounds like some do. Then why buy a house where they did or sell the house now and move away.Some people only happy when they have something to moan about. Its always people that moved there in recent years,and i expect the airport hashelped them in some way or another.

[SKOJB]

I do find rather amusing the photo of Wizz taxiing by with a plane load of visitors from Bucharest and most likely seeing a chap watering his greenhouse full of tomatoes

[LTNman]

yeo valley

Because the airport is not the same airport it once was as SEN now has a longer runway. I haven’t read that anyone is complaining that the airport is there but how much noisier it had become.

The same argument could be applied to someone buying a house that backs onto a country lane. The road is upgraded to an A road so the traffic and noise on that road then becomes intrusive. Should those affected residents not “moan” because the lane was there first?

[chesna152]

Your point above is valid until you remember Southend was London's third-busiest airport from the 1960s until the end of the 1970s. The primary uses of the airport changing was always a possibility. Does this stop me having sympathy with the people that live there? - of course not. Would it have stopped me buying that house in the first place? - definitely!

[oldart]

Regarding 737 night flights, I seem to remember reading that their noise level had to be 95 db or below, not sure if that's right. If it's above that then maybe earplugs might help people off to sleep. :rolleyes:

[Expressflight]

The same argument could be applied to someone buying a house that backs onto a country lane. The road is upgraded to an A road so the traffic and noise on that road then becomes intrusive. Should those affected residents not “moan” because the lane was there first?

I'm sure that you know the history of SEN far better than you are admitting to. Your analogy is thus way off the mark.

For example in the period between the 1960s and 1990s SEN was very much noisier and the number of night flights was limited(!) to 900 per month. Passenger flights became fewer over that 30 year period but freight grew considerably. In the 1980s/90s there were often around 30 nightly freight movements and SEN was quite a hub for night freight aircraft such as the Electra, all of which used Taxiway Charlie for either departure or arrival. Was it a 'country lane' then?

The modest runway extension has allowed larger aircraft to be used since 2013 but that had no effect on the noise levels in Wells Avenue apart from when Charlie was withdrawn due to having too low a PCN. Only when Charlie was rebuilt and its bends were smoothed out did that noise nuisance return to affect those residents who, understandably had become accustomed to the quieter situation. I don't blame them for complaining; after all it is their right to do so and the airport should, in my view, make reasonable adjustments to mollify them. They did this by holding aircraft further East on Charlie until line up clearance was given, by offering to build an earth bund or other sound-reducing fencing and usage restrictions on Charlie as has been mentioned.

One of the worst affected properties is 123, Wells Avenue. This doesn't seem to have changed hands since 1995 until it was sold in February 2020 for £266,000. It would be interesting to see what price it was placed on the market but I cannot find that information.

[LTNman]

As always you put forward a strong case. I can only remember aircraft similar in size to Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante using Southend at night but as you point out that is not the case. Did people complain back then?

[Expressflight]

Electra, Viscount, Herald, F27, Shorts 330, Bandeirante, Trislander and Piper and Cessna twins made up the nightly mix in those days, plus British World BAC 1-11s and B707s at times. The Electra was noisy (and smoky) while the Viscount intake whine was something to behold but I don't remember much in the way of prominent noise complaints. It was the later runway extension plans that stirred up concerns in that quarter to a much greater extent.

[welkyboy]

When I worked in ATC at EGMC in the 60s the noisiest departure was the BUA DC6s GAPNP/O which used to fly newspapers to Germany at 0245, when they used 24( as it was) and flew low level at climb power over Leigh the telephone was red hot with complaints, the crews used to take bets as to how many complaints we received! and we had morning tea in the Greasy Spoon Ion the proceeds when they returned later in the morning!

[blind pew]

The prefabs were built in prior to 1950 as I was brought up in the one on the corner of Rochford Road and Manners Way. In the early 60s the council estate opposite the old terminal was built. The houses along Eastwoodbury lane pre dated the council houses.
The airport was still known locally as Rochford airport in the 60s.

[LTNman]

Good to see that SEN is still spreading a little Christmas cheer.

https://www.essex-tv.co.uk/southend-airport-is-spreading-christmas-cheer-after-a-challenging-year/

[LTNman]

The airports Business Director is predicting up to 20m passenger by 2040. I assume he knows the physical size of the airport and its location? To handle 18m passengers Luton needed a dual carriageway direct to the terminals front door from the M1 and took 3 three attempts to design a drop off area that could handle the traffic volumes that ended the 1 mile traffic jams despite the dual carriageway. I assume the airport sees most of its passengers arriving by train but many if not most would still arrive by car putting great strain on the local road network.

https://www.anna.aero/2020/12/02/routes-reconnected-london-southend-has-ultra-low-costs-and-no-slots/

“London Southend was expected to keep the top spot for UK growth in 2020, with three million passengers expected,” Luke Hayhoe, Business Development Director at London Southend, told us. The airport’s long-term goal is to have 15 to 20 million passengers annually by 2040.

[davidjohnson6]

Perhaps the internal target for airport management is 10m pax in 2040, but it's the job of anyone working in business development to big up the story a bit...

[SKOJB]

Here we go again and how many times have we heard this rubbish. 20m is quite frankly absurd when considering all the physical limitations of the airport and will only ever be of 2-3m size. Anything larger is just pie in the sky even when being discussed by someone with a job title of Business Development and this continued rhetoric is becoming slightly embarrassing!

[LTNman]

It all depends if they break out of the existing boundary but with the runway dividing the airport in two it does beg the question how they would achieve it. Even 5 million passengers would be challenging.

As a side note this image shows SEN during the pandemic with a large collection of Easyjet aircraft parked up and how close the airport is to housing. Is it even socially acceptable to expand the airport to big numbers due to its location?
https://i.imgur.com/oJIKpsq.png

[davidjohnson6]

What's to stop the airport holding company from gradually buying up and then renting out all the homes in the few residential streets (Wells Ave, Eastwoodbury Lane, etc) to the immediate south of the apron as well as the retail units next to the terminal, over the next 10-20 years as they gradually come up for sale and then, maybe in 2030, demolishing the houses + retail units and expanding the airport's footprint ?
Impose a hefty drop-off fee to discourage cars and claim to be a green airport because 80% of pax travel to/from the airport by train

Ok - I'm being a bit flippant here, but you get the idea... 10m pax in 2040 is not impossible

[FRatSTN]

Southend is totally inadequate for 20m passengers - Simple.

Runway, taxiway, apron, terminal, car parks, surface access you name it, physically not possible, even 6-8 million would be a huge challenge. Ok so you could exand, but how, and where more to the point!? The airport is boxed in on all sides by residential and industrial estates. To achieve this at Southend, you're just as well to lay another runway down 50 miles due west for the noise impact and number of residents you'd displace.

It's claims like this that makes me seriously question the crediability of Stobart to ensure SEN does have a future full of realistic prospects: an overspill to LGW and LHR, which to some extent is all STN and LTN are, except SEN were able to deliver the additional peak capacity which even STN and LTN couldn't. Plus how do they intend to embark on such expansion when their airlines are paying next to nothing?

[SKOJB]

davidjohnson6

your not the airports BD Director are you?

[Expressflight]

LTNman

Just the same old from Glyn Jones really but extended to a date further out. I really did laugh out loud when I first read the story.

[LTNman]

Unachievable claims undermines the SEN message and frightens even more residents who are taken in. This will lead to even more opposition for any future modest planning applications seen as a small part of a big plan.

[DC3 Dave]

2019 was an outstanding year for SEN, but this year has taught us that dreams can all too easily wither on the vine and die. The airport needs to work hard, make smart decisions and enjoy their share of good fortune to rebuild from what looks like - at best - fewer than 1 million pax in 2021.

With regard to the residents living close to the airport they have concerns and rights but we are in danger here of going over the top. Their properties are not blighted. Their properties sell at prices consistent with others in the area in so far as I can tell. Given the choice, I would much prefer to live there than next to a busy junction on an A road with lorries thundering past every minute of every hour day and night.

[LTNman]

A hundred steps from the terminal to the railway station would impede expansion with so little room between the two. A selling point would become a hindrance.

[southside bobby]

LCY have published their delayed Master Plan today which projects max use of their own r/w for 11m pax & 151,000 flights pa.

This maybe an impediment to pax volumes for SEN being on LCY`s doorstep together perhaps with airspace division between the two.

STN begins the public inquiry into raising capacity to 43.5m next month which will provide plenty of capacity for Essex & Southend Borough residents too.

Just for the here & now however wondering if SEN has WZZ up its sleeve or v v given Stobarts probable desperation & WZZ with plenty of the upcoming airbus fleet to allocate & eager for a deal too witness CWL & DSA.

The RYR "gamechanger" order will not have any positive influence on SEN in the short/medium/long term of course.

[Planespeaking]

So other than that it's good news all the way!!

[LTNman]

If London City have a master plan for 11m on their postage stamp airport It becomes harder to dismiss SEN ambitions. Seeing the likes of Wizz, Ryanair and Easyjet could never operate from City the airport might as well be on the moon regarding the low cost carriers.

[southside bobby]

Good news for RYR/STN/LCY/WZZ/DSA/CWL so far at least yes.

Did mention sleeves & WZZ though & additionally here perhaps RYR/SEN as MOL is keenly being sought out & seeking out" progressive" airports (which we all appreciate SEN is) to base fleet for the method of putting back traffic.

You know very well LCY has completely different operating strictures & structures...Do not appear to have seen the argument in planning cases that because an airport the size of a "postage stamp" can handle 11m pa then an airport the size of a football pitch in comparison eg STN should handle 100`s of millions.

LCY is not a planning precedent but unique in the world apart from Porter`s island base in Toronto.

[LTNman]

MOL definition of a progressive airport is an airport that pays Ryanair to operate there rather than the other way around. Wouldn’t surprise me if one day they would want a cut of the drop off and car parking fees.

[southside bobby]

That`s why "progressive" was in "....."

[DC3 Dave]

Noticed this post from Breathe on the Edinburgh-4 thread together with a link predicting a Wizz base at SEN.

https://www.anna.aero/2020/12/02/routes-reconnected-wizz-air-ceo-13-new-bases-and-260-new-routes-since-pandemic-started/

Personally, I can’t see it in the foreseeable but I have been wrong many times before!

Any thoughts?

[AirportPlanner1]

Since Wizz signed up the ‘celeb’ and EZY closed the base a Wizz base has for me become more a ‘when’ than an ‘if’ irrespective of what happens at LGW.

[Buster the Bear]

Wizz base? Well that depends upon the level of subsidies from Stobart. Plenty of willing airports around Europe all dangling Euro to lure.

[pabely]

A base, wizzair would want last arrivals of the day past midnight, could SEN accommodate?

[mariofly12]

Wizz base at SEN, really? But they have been cutting down their network instead of expanding and left SEN with just one route to OTP..What would make them change course and (re-)start expanding? Would a fully loaded A321neo be able to take off from such a short runway? Or just the A320Ns?

[LTNman]

When does the airport reopen and when it does where to and how often?

[SWBKCB]

mariofly12

The discussion is more about Wizz UK expanding into the traditional bucket and spade market rather than Wizz proper and their normal East European routes

[southender]

And there are plenty of “bucket and spade” customers who would prefer to fly from SEN than face the vagaries of the motorways to get to LGW, STN or LTN.

[tophat27dt]

I am pretty sure Stobarts are negotiating already for Wizzair to replace some of old EZY routes. They certainly won't just sit and watch the passengers fly out of Gatwick instead!

[davidjohnson6]

If Wizz are going to be flying between Southend and Mediterranean beaches, what advantage will they have over Easyjet's earlier base ?

Flying a W route from (eg) Warsaw to SEN, then Malaga, return to SEN and back to Warsaw is probably at the very edge of what a Poland based crew can do in a single day - with a non-trivial risk of running out of hours in peak summer when delays inevitably appear

Could Wizz viably use crews based in Eastern Europe on low salaries flying W routes for a SEN focus airport ? Or would they need to base aircraft and crew (either local residents or use hotac) in SEN ? If Wizz make SEN a 1 or 2 aircraft base, how does it make a decent amount of profit when Easyjet with a far stronger brand in the UK struggled ?

I'm hoping this is not going to rely on Wizz paying zero fees for 3 years at SEN...

[SWBKCB]

The original post was about WIzz UK setting up a base at SEN similar to CWL and DSA. The advantage Wizz has over EZY is a lower cost base. How much do you think EZY was paying SEN?

[Expressflight]

davidjohnson6

I think you are making a rather sweeping assumption saying that the easyJet base at SEN was one at which they "struggled". Did they also "struggle" at STN and therefore had to close the base for that reason? I've seen no evidence of that being true at either and they steadily expanded their SEN base up until this year.

I doubt that Wizz would operate a W pattern through SEN from an Eastern European base if they planned to serve Mediterranean destinations. Far better to open a base, maybe seasonal, with one or two aircraft as they do not seem averse to the former elsewhere, e.g. CWL. I wouldn't though take an anna.aero editorial piece as reliable evidence that it will happen and in all honesty I think it unlikely.

[davidjohnson6]

I imagine Easyjet made profit at SEN in 2019, but that the profit margin or return on equity was rather lower than (eg) Gatwick. Did Easyjet cover their cost of equity capital at SEN ? Who know...
When times turned tough, it's the weaker bases that are usually cut

I imagine Easyjet was likely paying rather low fees at SEN compared to LGW While Stobart could offer a much lower cost base to Wizz than Easyjet, I'm not clear how much lower Stobart can go on airport fees, given that they were struggling to find the cash to pay a dividend to shareholders

I know that others on here know far more about Easyjet at SEN than I do. I mean no disrespect to them, but I do genuinely wonder how all the money flowed and will flow at SEN - I ask awkward questions out of core interest in the topic. The person who asks no questions on a subject often has no interest in the subject...

[LTNman]

Doesn’t help when the airport is restricted to a 17 hours a day operation for passenger flights (6:30- 23.30 with limits between 23:00 and 23:30) when the same aircraft can fly cargo 24 hours a day with quota limits. At Luton the first Wizz wave departs from 5:50 and returns into the early hours to the annoyance to the locals. That could make a difference of one extra return flight.

Anyway all of this is speculation as no one has a clue what will happen. No one had a clue when Easyjet said they were coming, The same applied to Ryanair and the same will apply to Wizz although they appeared on wish lists just because they were low cost carriers.

[southside bobby]

At the time the Wizz "red eyes" established at LTN were the only method of creating extra slot capacity at a constrained airport.

With Wizz anxious & willing to build LGW that creativeness will no longer be needed at LTN probably.

Wizz have also stated recently too that LTN has infrastructure & planning constraints..."so we want to grow elsewhere in London".

That reference in the context was almost certainly LGW...however.

[LTNman]

Southend are more than welcome to a selection of Luton’s flights. During normal times they would not even be missed and would reduce airside overcrowding.

[DC3 Dave]

Great opportunity for anyone who would like a close up of the runway at SEN. There is a catch. You have to dress as a reindeer.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/londonsouthendairport

[LTNman]

BA have announced they will be using Southampton for 11 new destinations to utilise spare weekend capacity. No doubt they would have looked at Southend and maybe even had talks with Southend management. Is it the case that as Ryanair now has a base at Southend BA could see themselves being pushed out of successful routes so they are playing safe with Southampton meaning Southend has lost out due to the Ryanair factor?

[BA318]

I doubt it. These flights have been moved around a fair bit. They’ve tried MAN, STN, BHX, BRS and even operating a route from DUB. SOU probably offered a decent deal, and it’s a fairly wealthy area still connected to London. They are pretty much once weekly flights seating 98 passengers so more likely they can go for a smaller airport and avoid any competition at all.

[pabely]

Does Southend have any stored Airbuses any more, I noted two more off to MAN today?

[gizmo71]

According to FR24, there's just one A319 left there. Until I looked for that I didn't realise one of Titan's new A321 freighters (assuming the conversion has already been done) is there too.

[pabely]

That's what I thought, thanks for checking perhaps the end of cheap parking fees at SEN for EZY!?

[Barling Magna]

Frees up the stands for any diversions, I suppose.

[pabely]

Hardly going to be an influx of LCY flights on a foggy morning currently, thought guaranteed income is better at the moment?

[Expressflight]

Does Southend have any stored Airbuses any more, I noted two more off to MAN today?

The last one left today for LGW.

[pabely]

Fingers crossed they return come better times.

[SKOJB]

Cannot see them returning any time soon unfortunately!

[asdf1234]

The airport will be courting all those potential customers they previously ostracised so that EZY and FR could monopolise the runway. Good luck!

[Buster the Bear]

Desperation? Why should I, as British tax payer, fork out to test passengers at Southend! Outrageous suggestion!

https://www.cityam.com/khan-pushes-for-pre-flight-covid-tests-and-airport-boss-wants-taxpayers-to-foot-bill/

[Barling Magna]

Calm down Buster. Shouldn't you be hibernating?

[LTNman]

Glyn Jones seeks taxpayers money so people can go on holiday during a pandemic from Southend. Nice one, has Covid affected his brain? Apart from the moral aspect of going on holiday during a pandemic when the virus is now 70% more transmissible he wants me to pay for the testing.

[SWBKCB]

He's actually talking about when restrictions are lifted. A co-ordinated approach with common rules seems sensible. Also, no mention of holidays.Glyn Jones, the chief executive of London Southend, said that it was important for there to be consistent rules across the continent to give passengers confidence to fly. He said: “London Southend Airport will call on government to provide a state funded ‘test before take-off’ standardised process once the lock down has ended in order to get Britain moving again.

[LTNman]

Thanks for correcting me and much appreciated but even once the lockdown is over it is not for the state and me to pay for testing so people can travel abroad.

[DC3 Dave]

Fly out to help out.

[BA318]

LTNman

I wouldn’t say it’s that simple. Inevitably the Gov will end up needing to help airlines and airports. At least with something like this there would be a direct help to passengers and encourage them to fly whereas removing tax for example will just see airlines pocket the money and give to their shareholders.

Lots of European countries have offered free testing at airports or on arrival.

[chesna152]

How refreshing to read a measured response to a proposed idea, opposed to reactionary statements which miss the point. Saying ‘my tax shouldn’t pay for someone to go on holiday’ makes me think you should put down the Daily Mail and think more about the wider issue of an industry that is on its knees yet hundreds of thousands still rely upon it to pay the bills. Like it or not it is likely the government will have a role in its revival the real question is in what form that takes.

[asdf1234]

Word has it that the car parks at SEN are being used to store colossal amounts of pallets. Anyone verify this?

[DC3 Dave]

Not sure about pallets but I see the airport has picked up a handy chunk of funding to develop the freight side of operations.

https://www.adsadvance.co.uk/southend-airport-awarded-port-infrastructure-funding.html

[Expressflight]

asdf1234

Yes there are many thousands of blue CHEP UK wooden pallets stacked in Long Stay 2 car park.

[southside bobby]

An "Enzo"/Jota RJ recently departed STN on a positioning flight to Biggin Hill !

[AirportPlanner1]

Stobart Group is rebranding to Esken between now and 2023.

[Expressflight]

southside bobby

That's right ENZ operations have moved to Biggin Hill, with all five active aircraft to be based there. I think the maintenance facility may remain at SEN but I'm not certain at this stage. I'm sure they've received a warm reception from the Biggin management, which will be a breath of fresh air for them.

[compton3bravo]

I still think you will be seeing the two JOTA passenger aircraft when they position in the early hours after a late night premier league football team charter.

[southside bobby]

Unsure of the logic there...that would entail two positioners...Major airport to SEN then to BQH...

The Enzo that positioned STN-BQH yesterday had arrived at STN the evening before & night stopped...

[roaminglondon]

What's the story with MRO's at Southend? Is there any heavy maintenance left? ( With ATC & Inflite gone )

[LTNman]

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/19033381.southend-airport-saw-thousands-passengers-pandemic/

[Interested Passenger]

what's happened to the Milan & Madrid Amazon flights? My aged mother lives just off the the Rochford end of the runway and likes following 'her' aircraft. With Amazon being so busy it's strange the flights have stopped.

[Buster the Bear]

roaminglondon

Someone is maintaining the Jota 146/RJ fleet at Southend.

[mmeteesside]

Interested Passenger

A lot of the UK network hasn’t restarted after Christmas, unsure why. Just the Leipzig flight from Southend still running, no BCN, FCO, MAD or MXP. Only 4 from EMA instead of the more usual 10 or 11?

[tws123]

Seems like a number of Ryanair routes are cut this year. None of the following are currently on sale:

Bilbao
Bergerac
Girona
Marseille
Vilnius

[STN Ramp Rat]

mmeteesside

I believe its BREXIT related; Amazon are not moving as much into and out of the UK as they were when the paperwork was easier

[davidjohnson6]

Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Southend_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations
Ryanair - 10 routes - Alicante, Bergamo, Brest, Bucharest, Corfu, Dublin, Faro, Malaga, Palma, Reus
Wideroe - 2 routes - Bergen, Kristiansand
Wizz - 1 route - Bucharest

Total - 12 routes

[LTNman]

Thanks, as I lost touch. Would this now be a two aircraft operation for Ryanair?

[SKOJB]

Warwick Brady taking over at Swissport as CEO!

[Buster the Bear]

https://news.sky.com/story/southend-airport-owners-chief-brady-quits-to-run-swissport-12212795

[ajamieson]

It would take a genius to make Swissport worse, and lo and behold here comes Warwick Brady...

[asdf1234]

I won't jump on the bandwagon here. Warwick Brady was asked to head up an airport project that required a belief in restrained airport capacity, especially in the London market. To support the airport the company was willing to sell multiple assets to fund airport losses purely to bring the airport to the attention of the leisure market.

Most people believe that the London Market was (pre-covid) capacity constrained. With asset sales income Warwick Brady had time and space to put the airport on the map and he did. The handling side of the business was also showing promising signs of growth. So he did deliver what was expected of him.

Collectively the Board made errors that Brady cannot be held responsible for. The inducements to EZY (and latterly FR) were over generous.

Could Brady have produced a business plan that was more inclusive to the aviation industry outside of LCCs? Yes, and I say he should have done. Where was the MRO business, the GA and the cargo? But he was brought in to prosecute a plan that wasn't his.

[davidjohnson6]

If the plan proposed by the board had worked well, would the CEO have declined all credit (including bonuses or other financial rewards) and told everyone he hadn't agreed with it in the first place but had just been doing as he was told ?
All seems a bit "privatise profits, socialise losses" to me....

[Expressflight]

asdf1234

I think that's a good summary although I would perhaps query the last sentence.

Brady always sounded convincingly enthusiastic about 'the plan' over the years so maybe it's just that the landscape has changed so much now. I always believed the Stobart stance was too one-eyed in chasing LoCo operators at the expense of everything else and that a more balanced portfolio of operations would have proven more shock resistant. Quite where they go from here is, of course, the conundrum.

[Buster the Bear]

I believe Wizz will feature during Winter 21/22.

https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-winter-schedule/

[tws123]

Update:

Bilbao resumes 31 October 2021 (1x weekly, Sundays)

Wizz Air - Bucharest on sale until end of March 2022 (3x weekly, Mon, Wed, Fri)

[roaminglondon]

asdf1234

The business jet market has had huge growth within the UK, I'm surprised the Stobart Jet Centre has done so poorly. The lack of MRO business, it would seem the airport were very focussed on certain airlines, not looking at the bigger picture.

[DC3 Dave]

All too often views are being posted that suggest that Covid19 should have been spotted in advance and decisions made accordingly.

Fact is that at the 2019 peak, easyJet, Ryanair and Flybe (franchise) had bases at SEN. Air Malta and Loganair had at least been willing for a period and others like Flyone and Wideroe were happy to join London’s fastest growing (%) airport.

Now I get an uneasy feeling about EZY. I get the impression that Brady wanted them to sign up to paying their way after their 10 year honeymoon. If they didn’t (in my view) it was suggested that Ryanair would move in and grab most of the best part of the best part of a million pax that the orange airline served.

To Brady and the board SEN had become a numbers game. They all believed they had it in the bag. 2.5 million pax rapidly growing to 4 million + triggering off a feeding frenzy that would end up with a buyer who would see the opportunity for profit rather than questioning why profit had proved so illusive so far.

But they were so close.

Now, well they should have thought of themselves as the owners of a handily located small regional airport. Is that the collective wisdom?

[davidjohnson6]

DC3 - you make a good point, and I will stick my hand up as someone who was too optimistic about SEN's prospects in 2019 and who, quite frankly, got it wrong

However, Warwick Brady as CEO was not simply an administrator following the instructions of the board without his having capacity to influence his masters. He was the CEO and as such cannot take the "Plan gone wrong ? Nothing to do with me" approach. Had it all gone well, I'm pretty sure the CEO would have claimed a lot of public credit. If the board wants rid of him, then so be it - but otherwise he should be sticking around trying to come up with a new plan and stabilise SEN/Stobart's finances again. My impression is perhaps of a CEO who maybe washes his hands of issues when problems appear, walks away from disaster, and leaves it to others to solve - a clear example of what good leaders do not do

[Expressflight]

DC3 Dave

I haven't seen any posts here suggesting that "Covid19 should have been spotted in advance". I did say that "a more balanced portfolio of operations would have proven more shock resistant" and I stand by that.

The facts of the Stobart annual reports over recent years show that increasing passengers numbers were being generated at the expense of profitability and, as your reasonable hypothesis regarding easyJet suggests, that would prove a difficult spiral from which to escape. The idea of establishing routes under Stobart Air/Flybe branding to the point where other operators might take them on as stand alone, profitable routes had merit and worked to some degree and certainly raised SEN's profile within the industry. It was probably a mistake to have the Stobart Jet Centre operating as an independent FBO rather than under an internationally known brand but Stobart did like to keep everything in-house. The loss of ATC Lasham and Inflite robbed them of MRO activity and they rebranded the former's hangar as Stobart Jet Centre accommodation.

The SEN management cannot be blamed for not anticipating the sudden, dramatically freeing up of capacity at the other LON airports due to Covid - of course not - but that reality does expose SEN to an uncomfortable few years ahead.

As you say, the sale of SEN with the shine still on very nearly came about but as Harold MacMillan said when asked about the most difficult problems he had faced as Prime Minister: "Events, dear boy, events".

[DC3 Dave]

Expressflight

No criticism of your views intended, or anyone else’s.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the past Esken are going to think long and hard about the way forward when people start to fly again.

[LTNman]

So what is SEN roll in the big picture for London's airports, as it doesn't seem to have one now? It was doing great as the overflow airport for London as it was slot free with no constants as long as the runway could handle the aircraft. Now it seems to be aimless with no direction or vision but then if there is no demand their options are limited. Flyone seems to be off despite facing direct competition from Wizz so the question needs to be asked why has Southend lost its appeal? Is it just to do with other airports having capacity or is their now an underlying problem?

[SKOJB]

LTNman

think you have very quickly answered your own question!

[davidjohnson6]

Perhaps not a huge surprise, but Wideroe have delayed resumption of service - Bergen now restarts on 3 May, while Kristiansand restarts on 2 July
Wizzair to Bucharest restart is now delayed to 26 April

[N707ZS]

Why did JOTA move out after so many years.

[AirportPlanner1]

davidjohnson6

As the ‘roadmap’ tentatively restarts foreign travel in August and not even UK holidays until June sadly all these dates look unlikely, as does any schedule from anywhere. On the vaccine front both Norway and Romania are ahead of the EU average however so one would hope they could benefit from being in an earlier round of permission.

[STN Ramp Rat]

Where are you getting your information? None of the big news agencies are reporting June and August yet.

[AirportPlanner1]

Its from the Times on Twitter via Sacha Lord who is Andy Burnham’s hospitality adviser. I have no doubt as to its credibility because almost all previous announcements have been leaked in similar ways

[davidjohnson6]

Could I very respectfully suggest diverting discussion of unlocking of the UK to somewhere other than just the Southend thread ? This is a topic of major importance to the UK and aviation - it deserves a much wider audience than just those interested in Southend

[Barling Magna]

Well here's a snippet of purely parochial news.......yesterday saw the first landing of an A320 at SEN for a while as a Eurowings example lands to become the first repaint job for the new Satys Air Livery hangar on the North Side.

[Expressflight]

N707ZS

Neither JOTA nor SEN have commented on that subject as far as I know.

There have been rumours of JOTA being less than happy with aspects such as reluctance to grant them night slots and the requirement to despatch all their departures from terminal stands, be they revenue or simply positioning flights. I doubt that the reasons for the move will ever appear in the public domain but it looks to me that SEN didn't try very hard to retain their business.

[LTNman]

AirportPlanner1

Neither country has much to shout about. Load factors for Romania are at 92% at Luton with less flights so there is still demand. Luton seems to taking taking SEN passengers which is unfortunate.

https://i.imgur.com/JxQnbUb.jpg

[Buster the Bear]

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/former-bmi-owner-in-talks-to-acquire-stobart-air-40121228.html

[tws123]

It would appear that Ryanair are set to resume their Vilnius route from 2 November 2021 at 3x weekly (Tues, Thur, Sat). Flights currently loaded for November on their website, nothing on their app yet.

[AirportPlanner1]

Losing a route to Heathrow is a rite of passage if you want to be a proper London airport

[davidjohnson6]

Can Southend hang onto Kristiansand if the big money for Wideroe has gone west ?

[SKOJB]

Doubt it, SEN once major selling point of feeding London’s over capacity is now biting hard and recovery may take longer than many of the regionals

[AirportPlanner1]

As long as SAS and other partners need slots filled at Heathrow every route possible run by their affiliates will go that way, unfortunately. So yes when the time comes I expect Kristiansand will go too, if it operates this year at all.

However I think you are looking at the route slightly incorrectly. KRS was the only Wideroe route to London, which as we know was to have transferred to SEN from STN and operated daily. Traffic will be overwhelmingly inbound so the London terminus doesn’t matter that much. BGO only came about quite late in the day last year as a result of Norwegain’s woes. Wideroe had slots at LGW and LCY so the 2x weekly SEN route was something of a bonus probably for the UK leisure market.

So, BGO as a route is only the “big money” in the sense it’s somewhere people in the UK have heard of. I would suggest their longevity connecting BGO to London will come down to how long it is before it’s re-served by a larger airline on bigger aircraft. The core route for Wideroe was KRS, they are predominantly a regional airline and have very few routes outside of Norway. However when the world recovers enough for LHR slots to be relinquished is anyone’s guess and a problem for all other London airports.

[southside bobby]

Another confirmed loss for SEN is of course the Loganair LDY service..Funding is now in place for a new 2 year deal with STN as the London terminal contract commence 1.4.21

[Barling Magna]

No doubt they will sort this out in time but at the moment flying into LHR rather than SEN makes for a long journey if this talk of seven hour queues at Border Control is true.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56344287

[LTNman]

Story missed from 2 weeks ago



Airport plan to hit 12m passengers every year

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/19107358.airport-plan-hit-12m-passengers-every-year/

[LTNman]

Just an increase of 632,000 passengers per year which is very reasonable but how they could achieve that number due to the size of the airports footprint and location is debatable, as stated many times here.

[Buster the Bear]

Ryanair adding 2 weekly Greek destinations. Cannot remember the other, but Corfu was one.

Original press release was incorrect, just an additional Corfu.Corfu – Southend

3 (+1)

[southside bobby]

To clarify...From July SEN gains one extra Summer Corfu rotation for a total of 3pw.

No new routes to Greece from SEN ....there are 3 new RYR Greek destinations announced but these are from STN.

[southside bobby]

CEO in the media...
SEN talks with "dozens" of airlines for 2022! & "no doubt" over the future of Southend Airport.

[pabely]

Isn't that his job, if not he might as well walk now. A big difference between approached and has been approaching..

[HZ123]

Dozens of airlines! I think not.

[Buster the Bear]

CEO in the media...
SEN talks with "dozens" of airlines for 2022! & "no doubt" over the future of Southend Airport.

Words to comfort shareholders.

[LTNman]

A Google search headline from 2013. Does the last bit look familiar? I am thinking they have gone to their press release archive and dug out an old one.
https://i.imgur.com/4Ys0Zhw.jpg

[Barling Magna]

Did SEN even reach a dozen airlines successfully? Services have been provided by easyJet, Ryanair, flyBE, Loganair, Volotea, Wideroe, Skywork, Adria, OLT, Air Malta, FlyOne.......it only totals a dozen if we include Stobart Air. Or did Aer Lingus run a service under their own flag?

I've probably missed one or two of the airlines that operated for a few weeks. On top of that there are all the cargo outfits of course including JOTA, BinAir, Flightline, ASL etc.

They will need to do better with their next round of talks to dozens of airlines I think......

[AirLCY]

Probably are talking to dozens, how many of those actually commence operations is another thing - they’ve only got FR and WF this year by the look of it

[davidjohnson6]

What does "talking to" mean ? Given Google and LinkedIn, it should be quite possible to find the name of a person involved in route planning at AirNZ's head office. Armed with a name, I can phone the office and switchboard will put me through. Have I now spoken to AirNZ about opening a route to Southend ?

Yes, I'm being flippant, but how many airlines are really engaging in a meaningful dialogue of more than 10 minutes with SEN about new routes ?

[AirLCY]

Probably a few - but highly unlikely for this year, I guess it depends on what happens to the slot situation for S22 in the rest of London

[LTNman]

They only need one or two airlines. Pick any two out of the following airlines:
easyjet, Wizz and or Ryanair

Seeing two of the list are flying from Southend and the third did I would suggest it all depends how much SEN is prepared to discount.

[AirportPlanner1]

You can take it with the pinch of salt it deserves but “dozens” is probably fair for someone in that position. I mean, realistic talks would be much narrower and successful ones narrower still, but I could list probably 30 airlines that ‘could’ fly from SEN*.

Here’s some examples that are outside the box, not particularly likely but not beyond complete fantasy either: BA Citiflyer weekend operation, Eastern to Newquay, Transavia to Amsterdam, Loganair to Newquay, Vueling to Barcelona, Volotea to somewhere like Genoa or Catania, return of Blue Islands, return of Air Malta. That’s 8 already

*Subject to Covid, slot constraints elsewhere, routes dropped by others across London, Brexit

[Expressflight]

To be honest these days I try to resist commenting on these various statements from SEN management as their optimism seems wildly over the top whether it be pax numbers or airline interest in starting SEN operations.

It may well be that when SEN canvassed a large number of airlines recently there were perhaps a dozen or more who responded with a one-liner on the lines of "Thanks for your interest and we'll bear that in mind as our recovery plans evolve over the coming months/years." but that could hardly be described as being in talks with them. Maybe three or four might enter initial 'talks' but not 'dozens' surely?. Still, Glyn Jones' press release has certainly stimulated interest on PPRuNe and any publicity is no doubt welcome. The current availability of slots at several of the LON airports as a result of COVID seems to be the biggest obstacle to SEN rebuilding its passenger numbers in the short term.

Incidentally, ASL operated three LEI-SEN-LEI rotations yesterday rather than the usual two. I don't know if that will continue.

[TartinTon]

Airports talk to airlines all the time. No news there. Unless they have done their homework and produced a robust business plan for the carrier it will probably just pass as a coffee break chat.

[LTNman]

Stobart has lost a test case and will have to pay compensation for aircraft noise.
The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has ordered London Southend Airport to pay compensation for the diminished value of homes hit by its noise.

https://www.endsreport.com/article/1710766/southend-airport-compensate-homeowners-noise

[N707ZS]

Thus a gaggle of lawyers made a packet out of it.

[southside bobby]

...Possibly but as a result of Stobart being bad neighbours.

[LTNman]

Full report here with list of addresses and compensation.

https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/uk/cases/UKUT/LC/2021/8.html

[Buster the Bear]

https://news.sky.com/story/vulture-fund-swoops-for-stake-in-southend-airport-owner-esken-12255695

[AndrewH52]

Bit of a non-story if you actually look beyond the headlines? Ten properties covered by the action of which nine have been awarded compensation averaging £10k for loss in value?

[LTNman]

They were test cases so this will open the gates for more payments. The class action was on behalf of 190 residential homes but no doubt if anyone in a given road or area gets a payment then that will also allow their neighbours to also claim.

[southside bobby]

The test case certainly adding to Stobart woes & proving the disregard of residential areas & residents in an unprofessional manner as previously highlighted.

The vulture fund buying into Stobart may also prove to be very interesting & quite predicable.

[SKOJB]

Claims surely coming from those properties backing on to the airport where residents can almost serve the drinks trolley!

[LTNman]

I had a look at the locations of some of the properties. There was a spread of locations including addresses in Rochford, Westcliff on Sea, Southend on Sea and Leigh on Sea. I am thinking maybe big money?

[southender]

Surely, payments would only be settled on the sale of the affected property. Who can say what the value of a house may be in say 20 years time if not sold until then. This may turn out to be a long drawn out saga where only the lawyers profit.

[southender]

Meanwhile, the vulture circles the lame duck.

[DC3 Dave]

The airport has been ordered to remove the thousands of pallets stored in one of its car parks as this is a breach of planning permission.

Still, not too much of a blow as they will need those parking spaces back soon.

[fjencl]

Fresh hope for Carlisle Airport flights | The Mail (nwemail.co.uk) (https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/19151289.fresh-hope-carlisle-airport-flights/)

[Dorking]

The locals commenting on that article didn`t seem to think so.

[tws123]

Doesn't look like Wideroe's route to Kristiansand is launching anytime soon. The only flights available at the moment are now via Bergen to Heathrow.

[LTNman]

Atmosphere Airlines. Maybe should be called Fantasy Airlines?

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/19298138.atmosphere-airline-ready-replace-easyjet-southend-airport/

[The Nutts Mutts]

Oh dear...

I wonder if the management at Southend knew anything about this article before it was published- I doubt it somehow.

[SKOJB]

How the mighty has fallen from only 18/24 months ago when SEN was the golden child!

[LTNman]

Their website is a stunner.

Changing the subject are there any passenger flights at the moment from the airport?

[pabely]

First one, RYR, due 28/5.

[_aax1]

LTNman

Embarrassing the echo even covered this story by the fantasist Jason. Surely Southend should call out this out as fake

[Barling Magna]

In February SEN returned to a position it last held in 1959, with the second highest number of aircraft movements in the London area:

Heathrow 8,166
Southend 7,520
Stansted 2,493
Luton 1,739
Biggin Hill 870
Gatwick 744
City 124

All down to the general aviation movements of course. An achievement nonetheless.

[DC3 Dave]

An opportunity to grow back better over the next few years perhaps.

[LTNman]

No doubt SEN had plans to get rid of general aviation. Maybe they have seen the light.

[pabely]

Perhaps the list should have included Elstree, Denham & Oxford!

[Barling Magna]

Oxford had 4018 movements. No figures for Elstree or Denham, or Stapleford for that matter........

[Buster the Bear]

Remarkable achievement for Jason Unsworth. From Primark shop floor to running an international airline in 6 years!

Time I launched Buster Bair!

[bycrewlgw]

it was the ‘two former check in agents’ quote on their website that got me. That really makes you qualified. Now I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being a check in agent (I have in the past) but that doesn’t qualify me to run an airline. Surely he should have highlighted more relevant experience (if he actually has any) whether professional or self-taught?

[Hot 'n' High]

bycrewlgw, I'm sure you've seen this (https://www.pprune.org/spectators-balcony-spotters-corner/605693-atmosphere-intercontinental-airlines-uk-what.html) but just in case. By all accounts, even his career as a Check-in agent was not quite, erm, stellar as an ex-colleague observed here (https://www.pprune.org/10468270-post334.html). What is even more worrying is what the Press print about this guy. If they print such stuff, what other "fake news" is trotted out by the Press as legit? Yep, I know, "much of it!" is probably a fair answer! Some refer to this as the "Information Age" - maybe "Disinformation Age" is more appropropriate! Ah well............ :ugh:

[TartinTon]

Unsworth is just a fantasist. He's been launching this "airline" for about 4 years now as well as "saving Jet Airways". He's a legend in his own mind only and shouldn't be encouraged as it will only end up in people thinking he can give them a job when he is utterly clueless.

[pamann]

if Unsworth is still wanting to resurrect Jet Airways, I think I’ll have a go with British Caledonian 👍🏻

[Hot 'n' High]

TartinTon

Absolutely! Clowns such as the "Harwich and Manningtree Standard" (and others), who seem not to care what they print just as long as Advertising revenues flow in, don't help matters. At least by keeping a thread alive on the clown means that any normal Aviation person will at least G@@gle him before setting off for Interviews or, worse, parting company with money. As for needing encouragement, he is a truly self-sustaining phenomena!

Anyway, back to a Thread on Southend! Happy memories as it was the start point for my CPL GFT - once we'd realised the Examiner was not coming to Cranfield for the Test but was expecting to see me at Southend! Cue high-speed flight to SEN before the Test. Even avoided infringing STN on the way! :ok: Happy days sadly long gone!!! Cheers!

[LTNman]

Seems that Southend is closed for diversions with London City diversions ending up at Gatwick and Luton yesterday.

[tophat27dt]

​​​​​​Which flights are you referring to or were they only private flights?
Southend terminal is only open to scheduled flights until end of June.

[BA318]

30% for £120million.

[Expressflight]

Presumably you're referring to the "strategic financial partner" (supposedly Carlyle according to Sky) that Eksen are negotiating with and that they hope to be able to announce results of, along with their full year results at the end of June. I certainly haven't seen any figures this time around - I recall some numbers were suggested on the sale of a percentage of SEN some 18 months ago but a lot has happened since then.

Maybe you have some inside knowledge on the deal other than a short item on Sky social media.

[BA318]

No further info than what Sky report. (Excuse the typo in the original post 130 should have been 120).

[SWBKCB]

Flight now running the same story.

[Expressflight]

Stock Exchange notice now issued, in light of the Press speculation, that the deal with Carlyle is in the final stages of agreement but not yet signed. If signed and agreed by the Esken Shareholders it would put £100million of additional liquidity into Esken.

[asdf1234]

The failure to sell Stobart Air has left Esken with a cash hole £86m deep that needs to be filled. In addition to this, the existing lenders are not prepared to advance more of the previously agreed facility as there is no visibility on a decent repayment proposal. Hence the need to raise funds elsewhere, and the penalty is to give away a third of the business in return for the loan. Not a good day for Esken shareholders who are seeing their holdings diluted in favour of a funder.

[southside bobby]

Succinct summation above = Esken increasingly running out of airway?

[asdf1234]

Yes. Trouble is that the money men are getting their hands on increasingly bigger slices of a huge, flat, flood free piece of land with direct access to the A127 at one end, and direct access to London via a rail link at the other end. If Esken can't make the land work as an airport, the lenders will turn it into 20,000 houses very quickly. And before anyone jumps in and tells me that the council own the land, yes they do, I acknowledge that. And 20,000 Council tax bills pays more than the lease rental that Esken pay. We're witnessing the demise of an airport sadly.

[HZ123]

asdf; I have advocated for many years that houses will be the ultimate outcome. Manston is a fore runner of this demise and that also will end up as houses. Sadly looking back at a decade or more of SEN operations I cannot see that despite posting the odd profitable annual statements any real monies have ever been made. I doubt that even the loans for the present Terminal, Tower and taxiways have been payed off! In respect of GA there are a number of existing fields to service their needs.

[davidjohnson6]

I recall a few years ago UK Govt policy was no net increase in the number if runways in SE England. Does this policy still stand ? Wondering if this would ease the path to LHR R3

[DC3 Dave]

After checking FR24 I can confirm the airport is currently having to deal with unprecedented numbers of vultures circulating overhead.

If short haul returns to normal levels over the next couple of years then you would expect a well run forward thinking regional airport to start to recover.

To me the real question is not the old chestnut about 20,000 houses, it is whether there is a serious player out there to take on the challenge and put Esken out of their misery.

[southside bobby]

Checking the tracker sites certainly confirms no commercial or gainful air activity within the SEN area the present time.

The "vultures" holding are of Stobarts/Esken own design & manufacture.

The Pandemic has hastened on those roostings.

All that was not attached & fixed down within the Stobart Boardroom has long been disposed of to enable SEN even in the "good" times.

Esken now last resort is to slice up holdings in the very airport itself to keep afloat.

Carlyle Group perhaps the ultimate "owner" of SEN are not noted for airport ownership but certainly for Real Estate Investment.

All UK airports & the industry has yet to face the Government green agenda & airport policy coming down the tracks & some non strategic airports may perish so to consolidate around important hubs.

Princess Nut Nut et al rule okay.

[tws123]

Wizz Air flights to Bucharest now appear to resume on Friday, 1 October 2021 at 3x weekly.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays:
OPT (19:55) - SEN (21:15)
SEN (21:45) - OTP (02:40)

[LTNman]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-9741153/Southend-Airport-owner-Esken-verge-agreeing-deal-Carlyle.html


Hopes pick up for Southend Airport as owner Esken says deal with private equity firm Carlyle is close

[SKOJB]

It states ‘an early return to strong demand’ for the airport. That I would suggest is a long way off and spare capacity will be taken at the 5 other London airports first!

[SWBKCB]

London Southend airport operator Esken has signed an investment agreement with a Carlyle Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund vehicle on the terms of a proposed £125 million loan, convertible to a stake of nearly 30% in the airport.

It believes the London airport market will recover over the next two to three years, and capacity constraints will again become an issue for airlines.

https://www.flightglobal.com/air-transport/esken-signs-crucial-loan-agreement-for-london-southend-airport/144439.article

[SKOJB]

sounded rather terminal and this funding was required to secure its future operation!

[DC3 Dave]

But maybe from the madness something beautiful will grow

In a brave new world
With just a handful of planes
We'll start - we'll start all over again...

[Barling Magna]

SKOJB

No surprise given the collapse in passenger traffic, but of course SEN isn't alone in this. How many airports have sufficient cash reserves to see them through over a year of negligible numbers through their terminals? Cardiff, Southampton, Exeter, Leeds/Bradford, Prestwick and LCY have all seen less than 20% of their normal traffic.

[LTNman]

Night flights

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/19424358.southend-airport-plan-use-quieter-plans-night-flights/

[Buster the Bear]

Warwick Brady looks like his future at First Group could well be over after a shareholder revolt. I’ll not post any links, but Google will certainly assist.

[LTNman]

Southend still won’t show a live arrivals and departure board on its website instead telling people to contact the airline. Not very helpful.

[SKOJB]

Hardly worth it is it?

[LTNman]

So how many flights a day do they now have? Is it a case of not showing live boards to hide Southend's embarrassment?

[DC3 Dave]

Dear Lord LTNman

I believe you have other sources that would answer your question.

I am sure you are aware there are 4/5 departures on the best days. Maybe improving to 7 or 8 by the end of the month.

The good news is I am pretty sure SEN will lose less money than any other London airport in 2021.

[LTNman]

What sources? The natural place to look is the live departure board for accuracy and for whatever reason SEN has turned theirs off. Airports need deep pockets at the moment so Southend losing less money is no endorsement of future recovery or returning to profit. If the SEN plan is to wait again for other airports to fill up they might have a long wait.

Events have unfortunately conspired against Southend. Maybe more so than other London Airports so it pains me to say I think Southend’s recovery will be the slowest out of the 6 London Airports to get back to where it was even though they need the least number of flights.

[davidjohnson6]

LTNman - I am sure you have heard of flightradar24.com and are capable of looking at it, should you want to see arrivals and departures at Southend
That said, even when it was at its quietest, Teesside airport still put arrivals and departures on their website - embarassingly quiet, but it was still published

[SWBKCB]

Gosh - you'd almost think that airports are meant to provide a service to its customers, most of which won't be familiar with FR24 (which also frequently shows 'planned' flights as well as those that actualy operate).

Having tried to sell Carlisle and divested its 'investment' in Teesside so they could concentrate on fortress "build it and they will come" Southend, expecting them to provide such basics doesn't seem too excessive - how much can it cost?

[BA318]

I doubt that many people care. Nearly everyone I know - even my 80 year old grandparents check Flightradar24 before coming to collect us. I can’t remember the last time I visited an airport website to check arrivals and I’m sure that’s the case for a lot of people.

I also doubt it is to avoid embarrassment. It’s data that is easy to find if anyone wanted to make a point. At some points during the past year even Heathrow has had tiny numbers of flights. I flew out of T2 last year at the height of lockdown 1 and there were about 8 flights on the board for the whole day.

[SWBKCB]

Why bother with a website? Save a few bob, all the infos available elsewhere...

[AirportPlanner1]

Stansted’s app hasn’t worked in weeks and that’s a much more useful means of monitoring a flight than a website. I’m pleased for LTNman the unavailability of a departures board for an airport they won’t be using is the biggest worry in their life.

[LTNman]

Maybe SEN should point visitors to Flightradar24 then if it is too much effort or too costly to have that information on their own website. Anyway I have taken davidjohnson6 suggestion and looked at Flightradar 24 website. There was 4 departures yesterday, 6 departures today and 4 tomorrow. Seems the airport has 100% recovered.

[pabely]

Just a note of what RYR are doing in Ireland screwing down airports even more with smaller margins, with reliance on a single operator (I know Wizz are due to return in Oct but time will tell) makes Southend weak in getting any reduced loss or profit.

[tws123]

Ryanair are ending SEN operations from beginning of Winter 2021. So pretty much no traffic at all soon.

[pabely]

Just saw that article, thank you and goodnight SEN, or a tactic?

[CabinCrewe]

They really do mess airports about. Don’t get too comfortable NCL…

[SWBKCB]

RYR are a far smaller proportion of NCL's traffic, and the 2 a/c RYR base will maybe fill the gap left by EZY...

Can't understand Esken's approach - they have really put all their eggs in one basket. On the surface, they seem to have just given up their position at MME which was bringing in £600k a year to concentrate on SEN.

[Albert Hall]

I don't think they've "given up" their position at MME, I'm led to believe the relationship was pretty much broken and an agreed exit was preferable to a legal case!

This does indeed leave SEN in a highly precarious position, unless mothballing the terminal means that the losses would actually be lower than keeping it open with a low volume of flights?

Oh, wait a minute though - doesn't Esken also have a lot of lease commitments for some ATR72s?

[LTNman]

It can’t get much more bleaker than this. What future has SEN got now?

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/19498025.ryanair-close-base-southend-airport/

[davidjohnson6]

So when will Wizz cut their route to Bucharest ?

[LTNman]

Meanwhile only yesterday https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/london-southend-airport-boss-calls-5745523

Seems Glyn Jones was the last to know

”London Southend Airport has seen passenger numbers increase in recent weeks and this is projected to continue”

[pabely]

davidjohnson6

Doubt it will restart now, just not economic keeping Terminal open for a handful of WZZ flights per week in October.

[LTNman]

I doubt it was economical with Ryanair. Blackpool was only saved by stopping all passenger flights, demolishing the terminal and becoming a GA airfield with limited fire cover.

[davidjohnson6]

Do Ryanair fly anywhere from Southend with aircraft which are based elsewhere, possibly involving a W pattern ?

[Buster the Bear]

A few cargo flights and W patterns will not pay the bills.

[davidjohnson6]

I agree W flights won't pay the bills. However is anyone ablevto clarify if Ryanair are just closing most routes (ie involving aircraft based at SEN) with maybe 1 or 2 routes remaining beyond 31 October.... or are Ryanair closing ALL routes at SEN ?

[mikkie4]

Bet the anti airport brigade are rubbing their hands together with glee with this news

[AirportPlanner1]

Simple fact is it will be a bleak winter anyway. Even if things don’t turn out anywhere near as bad as suggested in terms of the virus there will be killer lack of confidence in bookings generally and business travel will be dead until 2022 or later. Someone said perhaps flippantly SEN will have the smallest loss of any London airport, there’s probably a lot of truth in that. Impact on staff aside, this could be a blessing. No flights and a mothballed terminal is surely better than few flights with hardly anyone on them.

As for the future, who knows. Perhaps FR will come back next year perhaps in similar manner to Bournemouth with a seasonal base. Perhaps yesterday’s confidence was because something else is in the pipeline, a Wizz base for instance. Perhaps this really is a sad end for pax operations for some time.

[davidjohnson6]

Dublin still on sale 4x weekly during the winter. Whether it will still be on sale for the winter in 2 weeks time is a separate question

[LTNman]

The truth is that Southend’s business model is in tatters, as it was based on all other London airports being full so airlines like easyjet, Wizz, Ryanair and others had to come to Southend. The great reset is taking place where London no longer needs 6 airports and the airlines have made that clear.

There has to be doubts about Wizz and its existing routes and whether Southend wants to keep the terminal open for a couple of flights a week including providing fire cover. Closing the terminal would be easy to save money but the difficult bit would be to reopen it again in the future without a commitment for a substantial presence from an airline but commitments and contracts mean little as Ryanair's 5 year commitment to base 3 aircraft at Southend ended with a press statement..

[Expressflight]

I think that's a pretty accurate summary of the situation.

Interesting that you've heard their business model is in 'taters' - I suppose you could grow a fair acreage on the airport site. I bet they won't be marketed as Murphys though. Excuse my black humour.

[LTNman]

Just shows how perilous aviation has always been. Next February the new terminal will have been open 10 years when Aer Annan operated its Waterford service through the new terminal after Stobart bought the airline and moved the service from Luton.

https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2012/03/friends-of-the-earth-welcomes-announcement-of-climate-change-committee-members/

On that day the airport handled 10 passengers off that first flight. 10 years later, despite an investment of more than £100m, the airport faces the distinct prospect of handling no passengers on that anniversary. I don’t think Stobart could have done anymore. They had the vision to not only build a new terminal, aprons, control tower and runway extension but also a new railway station to whisk passengers to and from London. It just didn’t work out and all due to a virus no one had heard of just 2 years ago that started on the other side of the world.

[davidjohnson6]

Apologies for the slight thread drift from planes to trains... but will the rail station continue to remain open with trains stopping, after 31 October 2021 ?
Without scheduled flight, the number of train passengers will presumably decline significantly... but the laws around train service are different to air service. Perhaps a 1x weekly Parliamentary train at 5am on a Tuesday ?

[LTNman]

Seem to remember the extra 4:30 departure from Liverpool St for those early morning departures. Must be a ghost train even now.

[DC3 Dave]

It could stay open. Use one of the car parks for station users at whatever a competitive daily / weekly rate is. Remember that Esken retain around 90% of the ticket sales.