London’s Southend Airport celebrated its first post-pandemic flights from Amsterdam and Faro this week. Each services are complements of easyJet and complete the Essex airport’s summer roster of destinations.
Easy Flying was available for Wednesday’s inaugural service from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Passengers on the departing flight were treated to an excellent performance from The Music Man Project, an Essex-based music education charity for individuals with learning disabilities, while they checked in.
Security on the airport was a breeze, with most customers reaching the airside inside moments. Upon arrival within the departures area, passengers were treated to a live DJ set from ASHBY, quality time with a therapy dog, and complimentary cocktails while awaiting departures.
4 destinations for the summer
Flights from London Southend Airport to Amsterdam will operate as much as 4 times per week throughout summer, departing Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. With the addition of those latest flights, easyJet’s operations at London Southend have increased by 30% in comparison with Summer 2022, with as much as 18 flights per week. Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Country Manager, shared their excitement for the brand new routes to start:
“We’re delighted to be celebrating the launch of our latest route between London Southend and Amsterdam today. The brand new route is about to be popular with business and leisure passengers alike and we’re excited to see the primary flights take off today. The addition of Amsterdam, joining Malaga, Faro and Palma as easyJet destinations from London Southend enables us to offer our customers with a fair wider range of improbable beach and city routes across Europe.
“We remain committed to strengthening our unrivalled short-haul network and providing inexpensive and convenient connections for our customers across the UK, all with great value fares and the nice and cozy welcome that our crew are famous for.”
Photo: Jonathan Hendry | Easy Flying
The inbound flight arrived from Faro several minutes ahead of schedule at 16:04. The Airbus A320 (OE-ITC) proceeded to fly to Amsterdam, back to Southend for the return flight, after which returned to Faro late Wednesday evening.
Who’s flying from Southend?
Passengers within the waiting area had various reasons for selecting this inaugural flight from London Southend to Amsterdam. Local small business champion Laura Jordan selected today’s flight because she had never been to Amsterdam, and Southend Airport was right on her doorstep. Jordan, who runs local people pages, including Love.LeighOnSea was not even aware this was the primary flight and booked it mainly since it was the primary flight that fit her schedule.
Photo: Jonathan Hendry | Easy Flying
Other passengers had booked due to Southend’s status for quick plane-to-train times. London Liverpool Street is just 53 minutes by train, and Stratford could be reached only 43 minutes from the airport’s dedicated train station. Musician Daniel took a coach down together with his partner Sophie from Birmingham to Southend as that they had to make it to Britain’s Got Talent in London as soon as they landed back within the UK.
Local residents are also demanding more flights. Brayden, from Benfleet, had just returned from Turkey and was excited to go on one other city break. He selected Amsterdam because “you possibly can fly from here” and hoped an airline would soon introduce services to Barcelona and Alicante. The airport currently has flights to the Spanish capital of Madrid and debuted a path to the Balearic island of Palma de Mallorca in March.
Amsterdam-bound passenger JP from Rayleigh was excited concerning the latest destinations from his local airport but hoped for more winter seasonal services, especially to European Christmas Markets.
What’s next for London Southend?
Easy Flying spoke exclusively to Southend Airport’s Business Development Director, Nigel Mayes, on the event to debate the airport’s future. Hoping to get some ski flying, Mayes specifically mentioned Geneva, a preferred route for easyJet up to now. Winter sun can also be on the bucket list for Britons trying to get away and international tourists arriving for city breaks. The airport interestingly has a solitary Lapland flight to Rovaniemi scheduled for next winter with Titan Airways.
Along with the East London market, Southend also captures passengers from up the A12 into cities including Chelmsford, Colchester, and Ipswich, from which travel time to Gatwick or Heathrow can reach three hours. In keeping with Mayes, the presence of services also simulates demand:
“We all know that when now we have service like we needed to Dublin, the market grew from this particular catchment area because people travel more ceaselessly.”
London to Dublin is one in every of the busiest city pairs regarding flight connections and was previously ranked because the busiest international link in Europe. There are over 800 flights per week between Dublin and the six airports currently serving London. Southend also receives a major amount of personal and general aviation traffic sure for London during times it doesn’t see business flights. At its peak in 2019, the airport served over two million customers.
What’s next for London’s sixth airport?
easyJet announced this week it should resume its route from London Southend to Paris Charles de Gaulle. The service will operate as much as 4 times per week from October twenty ninth. Flights will depart on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays year-round.
The airport also hopes to have an aircraft based there by the summer of 2024. Having an aircraft based in Southend would increase the variety of options for winter flying and potential destinations, as carriers would not must depend on aircraft from other bases, reminiscent of Paris or Amsterdam, to suit London into their schedules.
Photo: Jonathan Hendry | Easy Flying
The Channel Islands remain a primary unserved destination. A previous link to Jersey served greater than 77,500 passengers on 12 weekly flights with a median load factor of 79.8%. Strasbourg, which holds the formal seat of the European Parliament and several other international institutions, currently has no direct flights from London. Southend’s pre-covid service carried over 90,000 passengers in 2015 and maintained high passenger loads.
France’s Emerald Coast is one other targeted destination and one in every of France’s most trendy seaside resorts and gateway to Normandy’s Mont Sant-Michel. Over half one million passengers flew between the airport and Dinard between 2013 and 2020.