London Southend Airport appoints new CEO
London Southend Airport has appointed John Upton as new CEO, effective next month.
He brings an impressive track record of growing consumer-facing businesses, and delivering customer service.
Most recently, as CEO of No1 Lounges, he led the £40m international airport lounge business.
Prior to No1 Lounges, John worked as Managing Director of Leon, the fast growing naturally fast food chain, and was a member of the senior team during 13 years at McDonald’s UK.
Lewis Girdwood, Executive Director – Aviation said, “We are delighted to welcome John. He is a highly experienced with over 25 years’ commercial and operational experience.”
John Upton replaces Glyn Jones, who Jones will stay on for a short period to ensure a smooth transition.
London Southend Airport has been working with airlines that are currently struggling to add additional flights at established London airports.
Unlike those airports, London Southend Airport has available slots and the capacity to welcome additional flights.
It welcomed a Blue Air flight to Bucharest last week as its campaign to support airlines continues to gather pace.
It also welcomed flights from Sky Express to Athens and Wideroe to Bergen in late July.
“We are in the fortunate position to be able to offer airlines capacity to meet passenger demand at a time of significant stress at other London airports,” said Nigel Mayes, Business Development Director at London Southend Airport.
“We have been delighted with the response from airlines and have had an increasing number of enquires for both this Summer and next.”
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