Southend Airport

[OldBlueLady]

Not 3 flights a day as was, presumably?

No, 4 times a week from what I read!

 

[Mad Cyril]

Amsterdam added from May 24th

That should attract some high quality travellers to the airport.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

That should attract some high quality travellers to the airport.

Or just high

 

[blueblueblue]

It will take years to get Southend Airport back to Pre pandemic numbers. Such a shame because it was on the up.

 

[North Banker]

Southend had a good business case when the big airports were more or less at capacity, so slots were almost impossible to come by for airlines, especially new ones, and passengers were looking for somewhere less stressful to fly from. Expanding airlines thought they might as well give it a shot, and it largely worked, but it was always going to be the first place they cut back if they needed to consolidate.

The best hope for the airport is that passenger numbers generally grow to where they were before, and again there is demand for an additional, easier London airport. Local demand will sustain a few routes, but not much.

The demise of Flybe (at least, in its original iteration, which crucially had flights operated by Stobart as a franchisee effectively giving Southend an 'in house' airline) during the pandemic might actually be the biggest loss. They weren't by any means the biggest airline at the airport, but they were a reliable presence at the start/whenever the going got tough, and Stobart cleverly used them to take risks and pioneer new routes, demonstrate that they're viable, and then allow Easyjet/Ryanair to take them up on a more commercial basis.

Now things are more uncertain than ever and all the airport can do is beg the big airlines to come to Southend on a pinky promise that routes will be viable. They'll probably buy it for Amsterdam, because it used to sustain flights 3x daily, but getting the other routes back might take time...

 

[North Banker]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

Horses for courses I think.Our younger daughter (29) is happy to come over to London from Paris (where she's based) on the Eurostar and then on to SOS.Coming from Barna my wife and I will fly over to London,stay overnight and then get the train down to SOS.I miss not being able to fly over to or at least back from SOS though.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

Went to Lille just before Christmas by Eurostar and it was a fab experience

 

[Yer Blues]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

Are there deals to be had? Every time I look at doing this, its significantly more expensive than jumping on a plane.

 

[North Banker]

Are there deals to be had? Every time I look at doing this, its significantly more expensive than jumping on a plane.

Day to day not really, which is pretty crap. You just have to try and book as far in advance as you can. But every now and then they do a flash sale for a few days where it can be a fair bit cheaper - I know some people who have family on the continent who wait until these come around and pretty much book their travel for the year. I've never managed to make use of one, they always seem to come at unhelpful times, like the last one which was just before Christmas. I'm sure that's by design of course.

Otherwise if you're doing a long/multi-stage trip in Europe then an Interrail pass can sometimes work out cheaper, especially for those of us oop north because it includes outbound and inbound travel within the UK for free which is a good deal these days...

 

[Mad Cyril]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

I did a ski trip via Eurostar and the SNCF high speed train.

The changeover in Paris was a mad dash but apart from that it was a great trip and the food on the French trains was pretty decent.

The

 

[kaymac]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

Though you still have the time of travel from home to London and back to add to your 4 hours.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Are there deals to be had? Every time I look at doing this, its significantly more expensive than jumping on a plane.

You can do it for about £80 return at the moment if you’re flexible on times and dates.

 

[Holy Joe]

Though you still have the time of travel from home to London and back to add to your 4 hours.

And arguably you don't just hop on a train - I think you're advised to arrive 1 and half hours before train departs (30 mins for 1st class)

 

[londonblue]

And arguably you don't just hop on a train - I think you're advised to arrive 1 and half hours before train departs (30 mins for 1st class)

Indeed, and when it goes wrong it can be a nightmare. We went to Lille a few years back and the trains were completely screwed. It took us about 2 hours to get through passport control and were then stranded on the platform for another 2 hours with virtually no access to food or water.

 

[RHB]

This thread is about Southend Airport so can we please keep it on topic, thanks.

 

[Whispering Bob]

For what it's worth, my partner and I started travelling abroad by train on a whim last year and haven't looked back (until the last few weeks/months when everything started falling apart). Eurostar are now running four trains/day to Amsterdam, supposedly soon increasing to five, and looks to be slowly taking over the London-Amsterdam market in the way it already has London-Paris and London-Brussels.

Not hard to see why. It takes just under 4 hours, but you can hop straight on a train in central London and hop off in central Amsterdam. No hour-long train/drive/taxi to the airport either side, no horrendous queues, security checks are much more relaxed and much quicker, and the trains are a darn sight more pleasant than a Ryanair flight. Even when flying goes well it's stressful, you get treated like cattle and you spend most of your time waiting in queues or getting to and from airports rather than with a book or a laptop out.

I love Southend Airport but I'd happily let it crumble to the ground in exchange for the Eurostar becoming a lot more affordable. But for as long as it continues to cost an arm and a leg, it would be nice to have the option of more flights...

My last company was Dutch and we used to fly to Amsterdam all the time. Was pleased to hear that all business travel there now has to be via Eurostar.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Booking now available for 3 flights a week to Paris, Charles De Gaulle.
Flights start October?