Things are happening at Southend

London Southend Airport is really taking off. After years living in the shadows of London’s other airports, the once-popular airport is now on the way back up.

Although for many years it’s been a place to find mouth-wateringly rare aircraft in storage and between owners (which to some extent continues to this day), the airport finally has some scheduled routes to shout about, and a bunch of new infrastructure being built ready for this year’s London Olympic Games. Southend is one of the closest airports to the games, so I expect it will be pretty busy around that period.

Here’s an update on the airport’s growth and plans:

– Runway extension has now been built, with the taxiways all improved and new lighting added. Full runway will be in operation from March.

– Scheduled services to Ireland have started with Aer Arann.

– easyJet begin routes to 9 European destinations from April, with 3 based Airbus A319 aircraft.

– The new control tower and railway station (with fast links to London) have been opened.

– New terminal under construction, to be opened in February. Extended apron and stands almost complete.

– New Holiday Inn under construction at the airport.

I’ll be visiting this year to check out the new facilities and to see what the viewing situation is like with the new roads, runway, hotel and terminal. You may want to schedule a visit to Southend during the Olympics as I think it will get quite busy.

Why not send us a trip report if you use one of the new easyJet routes?