In the next few months London Southend airport will lose its last remaining important airline.
In September last year Easyjet abandoned its base at Southend, while today Ryanair said it would cease operations at the Essex airport from November 1.
Last year Southend lost another major customer in the shape of Flybe when the latter ceased trading.
Easyjet told the BBC that it had taken “the difficult decision” owing to the pandemic which, as we now know one year later, has badly disrupted air travel.
As for Ryanair’s decision Esken, the current operator of Southend, told Independent.i.e that it “is currently in the process of reviewing the impact of such decisions on its forecasts”.
Southend airport was once hailed as a useful reliever for the capital’s other airports.It had spare capacity and was linked to the capital by direct trains from its own station. But that was in pre-Covid days.
With all carriers cutting schedules there are few airline movements at Southend today. This morning I checked the arrivals and departures board and it was blank. I was greeted with the message:
“During this time please check latest flight information via your airline directly as schedules are subject to change.”
