London Southend Airport
London Southend Airport is an international airport situated on the outskirts of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, approximately from the centre of London. The airport straddles the boundaries between the city of Southend-on-Sea and the Rochford District.
Southend was the UK's third-busiest airport during the 1960s, behind Heathrow and Manchester, before passenger numbers dropped off in the 1970s. Following its purchase by Stobart Group in 2008, a development programme provided a new terminal and control tower, extended the runway, and opened Southend Airport railway station on the Shenfield-Southend line, which provides a connection to Central London via a regular rail service between London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria.
Overview
Description
The airport is located between Southend-on-Sea and Rochford town and city centres, north of Southend, in the county of Essex, east of central London. It has a single 1,856m long asphalt runway on a south-west/north-east axis.The current passenger terminal, built in 2012, has the capacity to serve five to six million passengers per year. The former terminal is operated as of 2025 by the London Southend Jet Centre, a fixed-base operator which provides facilities for the handling of executive aircraft. A four-star Holiday Inn hotel adjacent to the airport entrance, owned by London Southend Airport, opened on 1 October 2012, at that time having the only rooftop restaurant in Essex.
London Southend was voted the best airport in Britain for three consecutive years by consumer group Which? in 2013, 2014 and 2015. It won best London airport for six consecutive years between 2013-2019. In the years the airport did not rank number one it has typically scored well.
The airport was put up for sale by then-current owner Esken in March 2023 following a review of the group's core businesses. In March 2024, the Carlyle Group alongside Cyrrus Capital Partners took ownership of the airport providing up to £32m of new investment.
Operations
London Southend Airport mainly handles scheduled passenger, charter, cargo and business flights, alongside general aviation flying and pilot training. The airport is run by London Southend Airport Co Ltd, which employs around 250 people. During the large 2012 airport expansion, there were over 500 more people working at the airport compared to the same time in 2011.Southend Airport has a Civil Aviation Authority Ordinary Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee.
The airport's location means it has an excellent weather record, and is used by airlines as a diversion alternative when adverse weather or incidents cause other London airports to be closed.
Airline ground handling is provided in-house by London Southend Aviation Services, while the London Southend Jet Centre handles aircraft using their services.
Companies located within the airport boundary employ around 450 workers, with businesses including aircraft maintenance, flying clubs and the airport-owned hotel. Previously British World Airlines had its head office at Viscount House at London Southend Airport.
easyJet began operating services by opening a base at Southend in April 2012 and Irish carrier Aer Lingus Regional began regular flights to Dublin in May, resulting in a rapid increase in airport passenger numbers during 2012, with 721,661 using the airport in that year, 969,912 in 2013 and 1,102,358 in 2014. The following year saw a decline to 900,648 and again to 874,549 in 2016, while 2017 saw passenger numbers increase more than 25% to 1,095,914. In 2011, the airport operator planned to reach passenger numbers of two million per year by 2020. In 2018, the airport saw an increase of nearly 400,000 passengers over the previous year's total, with just over 1.4 million passengers. The airport successfully reached over two million passengers in 2019, its best year to date. Since 2020 and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport declined however is in resurgence as of 2023.
History
Early years
The airfield was established by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. It was the largest flying ground in Essex, with the greatest number of units. In May 1915, the Royal Navy Air Service took over until 4 June 1916, when it became RFC Rochford. It was designated as night fighter station and many sorties were flown against Zeppelin airship raiders, including LZ38 on 31 May 1915. Around 1919, the station closed and reverted to farmland, which it remained as until 1933 when Southend Borough Council bought the land.The site was officially opened as a municipal airport on 18 September 1935 by the Under-Secretary of State for Air, Sir Philip Sassoon, who arrived in his de Havilland Leopard Moth.
In 1939, the Air Ministry requisitioned the airfield and it was known as RAF Rochford during the Second World War as a satellite airfield. It became a base for fighter squadrons comprising Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane as well as Bristol Blenheim aircraft. By 28 October 1940, RAF Rochford had been renamed RAF Southend, no longer being a satellite of Hornchurch, although they still had Fighter Control at the base. A day later, 264 Squadron arrived for night fighter duties equipped with the Boulton Paul Defiant. Many of the 50 pillboxes that were designed to protect the airport from paratrooper landings still survive, as does the underground defence control room, which is near to Southend Flying Club. A further 20 or so pillboxes also remain in the surrounding countryside.
Canewdon, north-east of the airport, was the location of one of the Second World War Chain Home radar stations. The transmitter tower at Canewdon was relocated to the Marconi works at Great Baddow in the 1950s.
Post-war
In the 1950s, three new runways were added, enabling commercial flights for passengers and cargo. Runway 6/24 was extended to in 1960, while the third runway was removed.During the 1960s, Southend became third busiest airport in the UK. In 1967, it served 692,686 passengers; the same year, it had its first fatal crash.
1970s decline
At the end of February 1972, Channel Airways, which had its hub and headquarters at Southend, ceased operations.In the 1970s, the proximity of housing on nearby roads, as well as St Laurence Church on Eastwoodbury Lane less than from the runway prevented expansion. The airport's decline accelerated as jet aircraft were unable to use the runway due to its short length. As flights were withdrawn, engineering and maintenance became a more important part of airport operations.
1993: Regional Airports Ltd
In 1993, after the airport had been losing money for many years, Southend Borough Council sold the lease to the airport to Regional Airports Ltd., operator of Biggin Hill Airport. London Southend Airport Co. Ltd. was formed to operate the airport which was re-branded as "London Southend Airport" with the term "Municipal" dropping from the title. The previous losses were turned into small profits for majority of tenure by RAL.In 2001, a debate centred on the possible relocation of the Grade I listed St Laurence and All Saints Church further away from the side of the main runway. The proposal was dropped after the planning application was rejected by Southend Council in 2003, and a compromise scheme was implemented resulting in the installation of new barriers across Eastwoodbury Lane and requiring slightly shorter licensed runway lengths once safety areas had been added. These changes allowed passenger flights to be restarted, although the runway length still largely curtailed the potential range and payloads for passenger flights, and scheduled airline utilisation was low, until the March 2012 runway extension opened.
Flightline was an airline formed in 1989 headquartered at Southend, where they also had a maintenance/engineering base for their own and third party aircraft. They mainly operated British Aerospace 146 aircraft on ad-hoc charters, and an Avro RJ100 regional jet with which they operated a regular service between Southend and Cologne from 7 June 2006 to 1 December 2008 on behalf of Ford Motor Company as a corporate shuttle. Flightline went into administration on 3 December 2008.
In January 2008, Regional Airports Ltd. put the airport up for sale.
Flybe operated a once weekly summer-only service to Jersey using Dash 8 aircraft, ending in 2011.
2008: Stobart Group
The lease on the airport was bought on 2 December 2008 by the Stobart Group for £21 million, becoming part of the Stobart Air division of the Stobart Group, which also operates Carlisle Airport.Following council consultation with the local population, a planning application to extend the usable runway length by to and upgrade navigational and lighting aids, was submitted to Southend Borough Council 13 October 2009. Planning permission was granted 20 January 2010.
Initially subject to an Article 14 Direction, after due consideration by the Government this was withdrawn 19 March 2010, meaning it would not be subject to a Public Inquiry. A Section 106 agreement was entered into between the airport and local councils.
On 1 June 2010, Stobart Group took a £100 million loan from M & G Investments, partly in order to fund the airport construction. In July 2010, an application for a judicial review of the planning application was filed, which was dismissed on 2 February 2011. On 23 September 2010, the airport received the Airport Achievement Award 2010/11 from the European Regions Airline Association.
A replacement air traffic control tower became operational 21 March 2011, followed by the return of year-round daily passenger services 27 March 2011, when Aer Arann commenced services to Galway and Waterford in Ireland.
EasyJet announced a ten-year agreement with Stobart Group in June 2011, and in April 2012 commenced around 70 flights per week from Southend, using three Airbus A319 aircraft based at the airport, flying to eight European destinations. Easyjet's operation at the airport increased to 16 destinations and in the summer of 2018 they based a fourth aircraft at Southend, an Airbus A320.
A new on-site rail station opened on 18 July 2011. The official opening by Minister for Transport Theresa Villiers MP was on 21 September 2011, and a new road opened on 1 September 2011, replacing Eastwoodbury Lane that lay in the path required for the runway extension.