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London Southend Airport
4. Terminal Extension
4. Terminal Extension
Main airport web-site link: http://www.southendairport.com
Return to front Airport Introduction page
Return to front Airport Introduction page
The airport anticipates the extension will eventually create 300 new, local jobs – additional operational and service roles such as passenger service, security, retail, catering, baggage handling, engineering and maintenance, plus airline crew with the gradual increase in Southend based aircraft.
This Stage 2 extension is to ensure the high standards of service which passengers are currently enjoying are not compromised as passenger numbers grow towards 2 million per year by 2020.
We asked the Airport Business Development Manager, Jonathan Raynor, about this 2 million target:
This Stage 2 extension is to ensure the high standards of service which passengers are currently enjoying are not compromised as passenger numbers grow towards 2 million per year by 2020.
We asked the Airport Business Development Manager, Jonathan Raynor, about this 2 million target:
Rochford Life: Is this 2 million target based on what you think you can get in here, or on some other defined criteria?
Jonathan: There is no planning permission that restricts it but what we have identified is that given the market conditions around here, given the runway restriction that we have, the space that we have for parking aircraft, two million is a very reasonable and credible target to aim for and where it goes beyond 2020, that remains to be seen. What is quite nice is that we are starting to be taken into consideration by the government now in terms of aviation capacity in the London area.
RL: Indicators suggest you may hit it before that, don’t they?
Jon: Possibly. What we have seen so far is that we have had exponential growth in the first year, and it is easy to grow from nothing; we went from no easyjet aircraft to three easyjet aircraft based here, and obviously Aer Lingus have an aircraft based here. Next year we have an additional one easyjet aircraft, so the growth has slowed and you have to give the market time to warm up and gain critical mass. We have critical mass now but if we were to continue growing at those sorts of percentages and that sort of rate, it’s almost too fast and the market wouldn’t cope with that, so we have to grow much more steadily now towards that two million.
Jonathan: There is no planning permission that restricts it but what we have identified is that given the market conditions around here, given the runway restriction that we have, the space that we have for parking aircraft, two million is a very reasonable and credible target to aim for and where it goes beyond 2020, that remains to be seen. What is quite nice is that we are starting to be taken into consideration by the government now in terms of aviation capacity in the London area.
RL: Indicators suggest you may hit it before that, don’t they?
Jon: Possibly. What we have seen so far is that we have had exponential growth in the first year, and it is easy to grow from nothing; we went from no easyjet aircraft to three easyjet aircraft based here, and obviously Aer Lingus have an aircraft based here. Next year we have an additional one easyjet aircraft, so the growth has slowed and you have to give the market time to warm up and gain critical mass. We have critical mass now but if we were to continue growing at those sorts of percentages and that sort of rate, it’s almost too fast and the market wouldn’t cope with that, so we have to grow much more steadily now towards that two million.
Jonathan being interviewed outside the Control Tower, by BBC Essex breakfast show presenter, Ray Clark.
Did you hear them?
Did you hear them?
RL: Does that 2 million target fit within the existing permitted hours, or do you anticipate having to extend those hours to include more night flying?
Jon: Passenger traffic is not very tolerant of night-time flying so in the Summer at some of the big charter airports in the country you may get an Ibeza flight coming in at 2.30 in the morning. In the Summer that market will tolerate that for a cheaper flight, but the sort of market that we’re aiming at which is a mixture of leisure and business, they don’t want to be operating outside 6.30 to 11.00 anyway, so keeping things within that boundary works for us, so even when we’re at 2 million there will be spare capacity in terms of runway and that sort of thing through the day so we would never need to go beyond that, and that is part of the planning agreement so we cannot go beyond that anyway.
RL: And the new extension is to help cater for the increased numbers?
Jon: Yes, with the additional increase in number of aircraft based here, we realised that the first place we are going to feel the squeeze is in Arrivals. At the moment we can only just fit a flight into our Immigration area so with a fourth aircraft based here we really need a provision to take at least two flights in the immigration hall. That will open this May
Jon: Passenger traffic is not very tolerant of night-
RL: And the new extension is to help cater for the increased numbers?
Jon: Yes, with the additional increase in number of aircraft based here, we realised that the first place we are going to feel the squeeze is in Arrivals. At the moment we can only just fit a flight into our Immigration area so with a fourth aircraft based here we really need a provision to take at least two flights in the immigration hall. That will open this May
The small extension you can see on the end of the extension is the new baggage handling facility which will take baggage on conveyor belt into the main area. The middle area is more complicated because it will include more cafes and restaurants and a larger security area with associated equipment and that is being developed over the Summer and should be ready by next year. So Arrivals critically by this Summer to accommodate that fourth aircraft and then the rest in the course of the following nine months or so.
RL: Sorry to keep on about your two million target, but will this facility need to be extended yet again at some time in the future to carry that number, or is this it? And will you need other carriers to get that target?
Jon: No, this is it. The baggage handling at this end is it as far as the footprint of the building is concerned and that will handle the two million to the same level of service. What we know from easyjet is that they have accelerated their growth plans basically because, as a recent news bulletin indicated, we have been at the top of easyjet’s customer questionnaire scores for airport experience, pretty much since they have started operating here and we want to make sure we keep that going. That’s why we’re getting an additional aircraft this Summer, that’s why we’re getting more city destinations. As to carriers we will definitely need additional airlines. We have a ten year partnership with easyjet, they are going to be our anchor airline and they have put us on the map in a big way but they understand we need other carriers as well. There are certain things they can’t do or wouldn’t be interested in doing. As far as going much further afield in terms of destinations, our runway is of a certain length and once you start increasing size of aircraft or fuel payload, you go beyond the capabilities of this particular runway, so there are some limitations.
RL: Sorry to keep on about your two million target, but will this facility need to be extended yet again at some time in the future to carry that number, or is this it? And will you need other carriers to get that target?
Jon: No, this is it. The baggage handling at this end is it as far as the footprint of the building is concerned and that will handle the two million to the same level of service. What we know from easyjet is that they have accelerated their growth plans basically because, as a recent news bulletin indicated, we have been at the top of easyjet’s customer questionnaire scores for airport experience, pretty much since they have started operating here and we want to make sure we keep that going. That’s why we’re getting an additional aircraft this Summer, that’s why we’re getting more city destinations. As to carriers we will definitely need additional airlines. We have a ten year partnership with easyjet, they are going to be our anchor airline and they have put us on the map in a big way but they understand we need other carriers as well. There are certain things they can’t do or wouldn’t be interested in doing. As far as going much further afield in terms of destinations, our runway is of a certain length and once you start increasing size of aircraft or fuel payload, you go beyond the capabilities of this particular runway, so there are some limitations.
The new terminal extension means the station walkway access will appear more central.
In a recent bulletin, Airport Managing Director Alastair Welch said “We want to make sure that we continue to deliver a very special level of customer service for our passengers in Southend and this extension ensures that we will continue to deliver those high standards as the airport grows. The extension is taking shape and the work is on track to hit our target of an extended Arrivals area by the time the 4th easyJet aircraft arrives in June to make its new home in Southend and flights to Berlin, Krakow and Newquay get underway.”
London Southend Airport currently has departures each week to Amsterdam, Alicante, Barcelona, Belfast, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Jersey, Malaga, Mallorca and Venice from London Southend Airport with easyJet – flights to Edinburgh starts in May, with flights to Berlin, Krakow and Jersey starting in June 2013. Aer Lingus has three daily return services between London Southend and Dublin, where travellers are able to take advantage of transatlantic connections to New York, Boston, Chicago and Orlando.
