NEW airlines and destinations could be coming to Southend Airport after record profits and passenger numbers.

Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of Stobart Air, who own the airport, said there was “interest” from other airlines about starting flights from Southend in Stobart’s latest financial report.

The airport is enjoying a boom time, with more than a million passengers now using the terminal and financial results showing revenue up to £23.6million between the end of February 2014 to the end of February this year.

The airport is already a base for easyJet, Flybe, Skywork Airlines, with Adria Airlines starting flights to Maribor, in Slovenia, next month.

Outlining the company’s financial results, Mr Tinkler hinted more were on the way.

He said: “We are seeing interest from a number of large European operators who consider London Southend Airport a very attractive option to serve London.”

The airport has seen revenue rise by more than £3million in the past year with the number of passengers coming through Southend reaching more than a million for the first time, putting the airport on course to hit its target of flying 2.5 million passengers a year by 2018.

Mr Tinkler added: “Our focus is now on getting new airlines into London Southend Airport.”

The airport has been rated the best by customers in a Which? survey two years running.

Mr Tinkler puts the rating down to the ease at which passengers can get to and from London using the airport train station.

He said: “We offer significant peak capacity availability and fast turnaround times at a low cost base for airlines that want a hassle-free experience for their customers.

“Access to the airport is good with a regular rail connection to Liverpool Street Station taking around 50 minutes and plenty of parking availability for passengers travelling by car.

“Our customers are important to us and after listening to them we improved the new terminal catering facilities and developed safer and more efficient security arrangements.

For the second year running we received the Which? award for airport customer satisfaction.

“The infrastructure and new management team are in place to deliver our target of over 2.5 million passengers by 2018 and we have created capacity to handle up to five million passengers per annum through the new terminal.”