SOUTHEND Airport has had a record-breaking year, with more than a million passengers passing through its terminal in 2014.

The airport handled 1,090,626 passengers, beating 2013’s figure of 970,167.

The airport also scored highly in customer satisfaction, finishing joint top in a survey by Which?

magazine, which prompted senior Southend councillors to label the terminal the bedrock of Southend’s economy.

Lib Dem Graham Longley, councillor responsible for tourism, enterprise, and economy, said: “The airport continues to be the bedrock of some of our economy.

“The business park, which will create thousands of jobs, is being built because of the airport.

“There is still a slight concern about noise and planes flying close to homes, but the airport has been open about those issues and it has flourished.” The new terminal marked the end of a £120million revamp by the Stobart Group, which bought the site in 2008 and got planning permission a few years later.

The airport’s busiest month in 2014 was August, when it handled 119,346 passengers.

That month also saw its most popular day – August 23 – when 4,263 passed through its gates.

The Amsterdam route, operated by easyJet, was the most popular route, seeing 200,793 departures and arrivals.

Chris Heritage, of Hermes Travel, in London Road, Westcliff, said: “About one in every two people are asking about routes from the airport. A lot of clients have switched to Southend Airport and it has also attracted new clients to us.”

Airport bosses have set a target of twomillion passengers for 2015.

However, Jon Fuller, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Southend West, said the airport’s economic impact was overstated.

He said: “A small number of tourists come to Southend, the majority are flights out and we estimate the outflow of cash from Southend because of people going abroad is £181million a year.”