Holy Joe
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- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
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Anyone know where the new station is going to be?
By Tracy Alloway
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- London Southend airport, 40 miles east
of the U.K. capital, is counting on the 2012 Olympics, a longer
runway and faster travel to the city's financial district to help
boost traffic 60-fold over the next 20 years.
Southend, now used mostly by leisure flyers and business
jets, aims to attract 2 million scheduled passengers annually by
2027 compared with 32,000 in 2006, Managing Director Alastair
Welch said in an interview.
The airport plans to build a new landing strip, terminal and
control tower in time for the 2012 games. A rail station opening
in 2009 will provide six trains an hour running via the Games site
to the Liverpool Street terminus in London's business district.
``This is an airport that's critically underused,'' Welch
said in the interview on Oct. 16. ``By the 2012 Olympics we'll
have a proper operation in place.''
Southend's strategy is to operate as a niche hub similar to
London City and Southampton airports, Welch said. City, six miles
from the financial district, carried 2.4 million passengers last
year while Southampton, on England's south coast, handled about
1.9 million. Southend is owned by Regional Airports Ltd., owner of
London Biggin Hill airport.
A church 80 meters (262 feet) from the Southend runway has
hampered expansion plans at the airport by preventing the
lengthening of the landing strip. That means the facility, in the
county of Essex, can't handle planes such as the Boeing Co. 737
favored by discount airlines.
Runway Extension
The current runway is 1,600 meters long. A 200-meter
extension would enable longer-range passenger aircraft to land,
allowing vacation flights to destinations such as Tenerife in
the Canary islands and Alicante, Spain, Welch said.
Local government authorities have started consulting on the
extension, and a decision is expected by spring 2009, Welch
said. He said he's ``confident'' the runway can be extended
without damaging the church.
The rail connection to London's financial heart is ``the
hook,'' Welch said. ``It will be a very fast link through to
London, which will compete very favorably with some of the
airports in the area.''
Southend has received expressions of interest for scheduled
passenger flights from carriers including Flybe, which operates
service to Jersey from the airport in the summer, Welch said.
Southend expects closely held Flywatch Air Services to start
flights to France this summer, he said.
Welch, 40, was passenger general manager at London Stansted
airport, a hub for low-cost carriers including Ryanair Holdings
Plc, Europe's biggest. He joined Southend in February.
The airfield was established in 1915 by the Royal Flying
Corps and sold by local government authorities in 1994 to
Regional Airports.
By Tracy Alloway
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- London Southend airport, 40 miles east
of the U.K. capital, is counting on the 2012 Olympics, a longer
runway and faster travel to the city's financial district to help
boost traffic 60-fold over the next 20 years.
Southend, now used mostly by leisure flyers and business
jets, aims to attract 2 million scheduled passengers annually by
2027 compared with 32,000 in 2006, Managing Director Alastair
Welch said in an interview.
The airport plans to build a new landing strip, terminal and
control tower in time for the 2012 games. A rail station opening
in 2009 will provide six trains an hour running via the Games site
to the Liverpool Street terminus in London's business district.
``This is an airport that's critically underused,'' Welch
said in the interview on Oct. 16. ``By the 2012 Olympics we'll
have a proper operation in place.''
Southend's strategy is to operate as a niche hub similar to
London City and Southampton airports, Welch said. City, six miles
from the financial district, carried 2.4 million passengers last
year while Southampton, on England's south coast, handled about
1.9 million. Southend is owned by Regional Airports Ltd., owner of
London Biggin Hill airport.
A church 80 meters (262 feet) from the Southend runway has
hampered expansion plans at the airport by preventing the
lengthening of the landing strip. That means the facility, in the
county of Essex, can't handle planes such as the Boeing Co. 737
favored by discount airlines.
Runway Extension
The current runway is 1,600 meters long. A 200-meter
extension would enable longer-range passenger aircraft to land,
allowing vacation flights to destinations such as Tenerife in
the Canary islands and Alicante, Spain, Welch said.
Local government authorities have started consulting on the
extension, and a decision is expected by spring 2009, Welch
said. He said he's ``confident'' the runway can be extended
without damaging the church.
The rail connection to London's financial heart is ``the
hook,'' Welch said. ``It will be a very fast link through to
London, which will compete very favorably with some of the
airports in the area.''
Southend has received expressions of interest for scheduled
passenger flights from carriers including Flybe, which operates
service to Jersey from the airport in the summer, Welch said.
Southend expects closely held Flywatch Air Services to start
flights to France this summer, he said.
Welch, 40, was passenger general manager at London Stansted
airport, a hub for low-cost carriers including Ryanair Holdings
Plc, Europe's biggest. He joined Southend in February.
The airfield was established in 1915 by the Royal Flying
Corps and sold by local government authorities in 1994 to
Regional Airports.
