Airport's chance to fly into a brave new future

1:50am Wednesday 25th June 2008

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THE suspense at London Southend Airport is tighter than anything in the film Snakes on a Plane. The future hangs on two separate transactions, both imminent.

One is the result of the airport joint action plan, now under consideration by Rochford and Southend councils. The other is the impending sale of the airport's commercial operation by current owners and managers Regional Airways. The freehold remains the property of Southend Council.

At a time like this, a state approaching limbo, even frozen terror, might be expected.

In reality, the place is already a hive of development. Under its director Alistair Welch, Southend Airport is undergoing an overhaul involving £500,000 of investment.

It is also home to a thriving community of about 1,000 people, working for the airport or for companies that in some cases are world leaders in their field. Aircraft seat manufacturer Ipeco and runway light supplier Iavna are just two such firms.

Most people, even residents who live on the periphery of the airport's new upgraded security fence, see little of this inward facing, self-contained world. Despite the current economic climate, the airport thrives as a dependable source of revenue and employment for south east Essex.

"It is an efficient example of something called an engineering cluster," says Mr Welch.

Businesses interact with each other, providing one another with business. A plane being serviced by ATC Lasham may also get a respray from Air Livery and instrumentation work by Avionicare.

"Businesses within the aviation community feed off one another in a way that works," says Mr Welch. "It also Affects the decision of clients to use Southend airport. The more work they can get done in one place, the lower their costs."

He sees the airport management's role in this pattern as one of facilitator. "Ideally a new company coming into this pattern should complement the others.

"Twenty organisations all doing the same thing are going to be 20 organisations all going bust."

Southend Airport's engineering cluster has proved robustly recession-proof in the past, and continues to ride buoyant in the face of the present credit crunch and oil price rises.

While British airlines go bust or start the process of mothballing their fleets, demand is building in the Middle East.

"The oil price rise means, of course, that they have even more money to spend," says Mr Welch.

Rochford and Southend councillors face a range of proposals in their joint assessment of the action plan, starting with do nothing, simply retain this thriving status quo. Given that choice, the airport could survive in its present state.

"But this option, crudely, means stagnation," says Mr Welch. "Many of these companies are anxious to expand, and other towns, Basildon for instance, would welcome them with open arms."

He hopes councillors will select another option, at the opposite end of the range of choices: This involves two major shafts of expansion - the development of the rugby club and an adjoining field to the north of Aviation Way for further business use, and the long fought-over runway extension.

Two hundred extra metres of runway would transform the airport's future as a passenger facility.

Mr Welch puts the consequences in perspective. "Two hundred extra metres of runway would increase the range of aircraft from 600 miles to 1100 miles, effectively doubling the reach.

"That means opening up the southern and eastern Mediterranean, the places, like Malaga, where people actually want to go. Southend will become an airport that is actually useful to local people."

Using Southampton Airport as a case study, Mr Welch believes Southend could serve two million passengers a year "without significant extra noise or disruption to the local community".

The move would entail the diversion of Eastwoodbury Lane - expensive, but relatively uncontroversial from the environmental viewpoint.

The focal point of opposition in the past has been the historic St Laurence Church.

Working with the Civil Aviation Authority, the airport team has devised a working solution that will do away with the need to move the church from its 1,000-year-old location.

By shifting the entire runway so that the church is aligned with the tip of the runway, the building ceases to be a hazard for pilots rectifying their approach.

These, and other developments, including the £12million railway station, are largely dependent on the sale of the airport.

Around £35million capitalisation is required. "We are talking scary figures. It does involve a leap of faith," Mr Welch says.

While the suspense builds, the current management has made its own gesture of faith by refurbishing the existing terminal. Along with a spruce-up, there is a new pilots' room, the departure desks have been brought to the front of the building, and the coffee lounge and reception area tripled in size.

It looks like a place that means business, poised for big things to happen. Now there is everything to play for.

"We hope." says Mr Welch, "that this is just the start, rather than a case of this is as far as we go'."