Southend Airport announces plans for new business flights as earnings rise
The boss of Southend Airport’s parent company has said he will be ‘extremely surprised and disappointed’ if at least one additional airline doesn’t launch flights from the London airfield next year.
Glyn Jones, CEO of Stobart Aviation, said he is talking to ‘two or three’ airlines every day to attract new business to the airport, which saw passenger numbers rise 25% year on year to 610,495 in the six months to the end of August.
In addition to leisure routes, Jones is hoping to pull in airlines offering flights to Europe’s business centres. "At 19%, our level of repeat business is quite high, so if we can deliver on leisure routes I am absolutely sure we can deliver on business routes, so we are looking at city pairs such as Paris," he said.
Stobart Aviation’s earning rose £5.2 million in the six months to the end of August to £6.2 million, although Jones said 80% of the increase was due to the inclusion of its airline Stobart Air and its aircraft leasing company.
The Group has confirmed a fourth easyJet aircraft will be based at Southend from summer 2018, adding approximately 270,000 passengers per annum.
Stobart Group is also investing in the launch of 11 new routes with Flybe in order to attract more customers from the catchment area of 6.4 million people based within one hour’s travel of our airport.
The Flybe franchise with Stobart Air will add a fourth aircraft from this winter and a fifth aircraft from next summer, adding approximately 250,000 passengers a year.
At the same time, Jones said Stobart was ‘very close’ to the end of a project to develop Carlisle Lake District Airport, with commercial operations expected to begin in 2018.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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