Southend: Airport Expands To Boost Passengers

30 January 2014, 00:00

Southend Airport says its new £10 million extension to its terminal could lead to five million passengers using it each year.

Heart has been given a sneak peak inside a month before it opens to travellers. 

It includes a larger departure lounge, which is four times bigger than the previous one, as well as a greater variety of places to eat and shop. 

It is the second phase of work to be carried out at the airport, with the first seeing the terminal becoming operational in February 2012. 

Operations Director, David Lister, says it is a major development: "There's a lot of choices for travelling in London and the south east and by knowing they're going to get a high level of service consistently and they've got a little bit of variety in terms of what they can do, it is an important choice for passengers." 

In 2012 more than 600,000 passengers used Southend Airport, and that number rose to just under a million last year. 

Mr Lister says this new work could see passenger numbers rise even further in the future: "The capacity of the facility is obviously greater than at phase one with four times the departure lounge space. 

"If we increase all the associated facilities along with that, it has the potential to be processing four to five million passengers a year". 

The departure lounge is set to become operational next month, while the new shops, and retaurant and bar area will open in the summer. 

Mr Lister added, when everything is fully open, it is not just the passengers that will benefit: "The development of phase two of the terminal building, we believe, will generate somewhere in the order of 300 new jobs.

"That includes people working directly for the airport, people working for the retail shops, and people working for the airlines, so there's that increased employment. 

"We're also bringing people into the area as well so there's that wider economic benefit of the businesses associated with the airport."