Southend Airport will not be sold, owners vow (From Echo)

.......... expect a new owner soon then !

Put that in your pipe SEAN and puff on it, well done STOBART!

I would have thought that profits for most companies would be down this year. It really is no real surprise and Stobart's shareholders will need to ride the storm along with all other share holders in the same boat.
The reason a lot of companies never get things right is because these companies do things more to please the short term whim of the sahreholders than do what is good for the business in the long term.

He is only short of cash because he has also tried to raise money to pay for all the expansions he is doing at break-neck speed. His shareholders will be the best judge of the mid range term.

Like most of these big companies, Stobart is no doubt largely owned by the
banks. Perhaps they are putting the screws on.
An investment like the Airport is going to take a very, very long time to pay for
itself. If indeed it ever does.

Sinc when has SOUTHEND been LONDON.Have thay moved Southend then during the night

Audioman wrote:
Sinc when has SOUTHEND been LONDON.Have thay moved Southend then during the night

Yes, last night! Two big lorries came and took it away.

saddo99 wrote:

Audioman wrote:
Sinc when has SOUTHEND been LONDON.Have thay moved Southend then during the night

Yes, last night! Two big lorries came and took it away.

It's the other way round, London is moving its inhabitants to Southend.

I wonder how many local (or other) Companies are owed overdue monies by any Stobart Group Company. Normally when finances are strained, others are made to suffer. Funny though you never hear this mentioned on the TV show or press releases.

This statement may well be a bit premature. The new Executive Chairwoman has hardly had time to get her feet under her desk! And I gather she has an agenda.

If London is moving its inhabitants to Southend, perhaps Stobarts can buy City Airport and fly them down.

southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

Where has my innocuous post gone?

Swines!

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

To whoever complained: Mind you don't choke on whatever it is that sticks in your throat....

Might have choked on Tom, Dick or Harry

Teetime wrote:
Might have choked on Tom, Dick or Harry

I'll plump for the middle one!

Audioman wrote:
Sinc when has SOUTHEND been LONDON.Have thay moved Southend then during the night

Apart from City airport, All the London airports are outside of London. Most major cities have to do that as there is not enough land in a city to site the airports.

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Audioman wrote:
Sinc when has SOUTHEND been LONDON.Have thay moved Southend then during the night

Of korse its London. Got City Beech and wants two bee City of Kulture to proove it.

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

supershrimper, technically you can get a long haul ticket with Aer Lingus from Southend, just a quick change of aircraft at Dublin and you can also clear American customs there too, then on to Boston, Chicago and Florida!

The airport brought one major thing to the town JOBS, in my view that must be a good thing. All these 'people' who want it closed must think to themselves what about the job losses if it did. What would you rather have the airport & jobs or no airport no jobs? Do you want a travelers site there? (jaymam no need to answer as you are I'm shoeburryness)

No matter what they say as an employee they are struggling for money desperately!! they have fired staff and not replaced them ! they are whoefully under staffed (to dangerous levels at times)..
They are asking worn out staff to cover under manned shifts and asking them to be paid in time owing as cant afford to pay overtime!! if all else fails they will pay a man a few hrs to cover very important areas.
The staff are at breaking point but the management refuse to take this on board,its all take from them and if you show any distain you hear well if you want to have a job ?? We work so hardbut its not all rosy at SEN

Every thing is for sale if the price is right ! Watch the old film magic Christian for this theory to be demonstrated !

Whats happened to MAX Impact...surly this is his area for comment!

supershrimper wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

Heathrow has its own London underground connection.

Stansted has its own branch line.

Gatwick has the Gatwick express train service.

Southend has a flashy station bolted on to a congested commuter line..

Southend has no direct long haul flights and never will.

Southend airport is not yet in the black after investment and it will need many years of continued growth before it is..

wontholdback wrote:
No matter what they say as an employee they are struggling for money desperately!! they have fired staff and not replaced them ! they are whoefully under staffed (to dangerous levels at times)..
They are asking worn out staff to cover under manned shifts and asking them to be paid in time owing as cant afford to pay overtime!! if all else fails they will pay a man a few hrs to cover very important areas.
The staff are at breaking point but the management refuse to take this on board,its all take from them and if you show any distain you hear well if you want to have a job ?? We work so hardbut its not all rosy at SEN

I hope you can provide proof of your allegations?

If you can not provide the proof than I recomend you issue a retraction as you could find yourself in serious trouble if it is proven that you have lied in your post.

(just trying to bhelp)

Broadwaywatch wrote:
Whats happened to MAX Impact...surly this is his area for comment!

Seem to recall on a previous story he said he was "signing off" for a few weeks.

Did enjoy his slagging matches with some of the others on here, good belly laugh reading the arguments back and forth!

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

Heathrow has its own London underground connection.

Stansted has its own branch line.

Gatwick has the Gatwick express train service.

Southend has a flashy station bolted on to a congested commuter line..

Southend has no direct long haul flights and never will.

Southend airport is not yet in the black after investment and it will need many years of continued growth before it is..

Do you seriously beleive they would break even with the airport development in under a year!

It's more of a medium/long term project, not many if any companies could get their £100million of private capital back in under a year without selling the asset they have been working on.

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

Heathrow has its own London underground connection.

Stansted has its own branch line.

Gatwick has the Gatwick express train service.

Southend has a flashy station bolted on to a congested commuter line..

Southend has no direct long haul flights and never will.

Southend airport is not yet in the black after investment and it will need many years of continued growth before it is..

Oh dear, do you a actually think before you post or does the range induced by Southend Airport take over?

Heathrow. The Picadilly line is also a commuter service taking 45 minutes to get from Heathrow to central London.

Stansted does have an 'Express' service. But this service shares track space with slower commuter services an takes about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street.

The Gatwick Express also shares tack space with commuter services.

Southend Airport has a regular train service which takes about 55 minutes to get to Central London. I don't see how this differs too much from the services from other airports you reference.

As for never offering long haul flights. When did anyone ever say that was part of the business plan.

Finally you say that it will take years to return the investment. That is what is called a long term investment plan. Would you be happy if this business had a short term strategy?

Dinosaur_Jr wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

Heathrow has its own London underground connection.

Stansted has its own branch line.

Gatwick has the Gatwick express train service.

Southend has a flashy station bolted on to a congested commuter line..

Southend has no direct long haul flights and never will.

Southend airport is not yet in the black after investment and it will need many years of continued growth before it is..

Oh dear, do you a actually think before you post or does the range induced by Southend Airport take over?

Heathrow. The Picadilly line is also a commuter service taking 45 minutes to get from Heathrow to central London.

Stansted does have an 'Express' service. But this service shares track space with slower commuter services an takes about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street.

The Gatwick Express also shares tack space with commuter services.

Southend Airport has a regular train service which takes about 55 minutes to get to Central London. I don't see how this differs too much from the services from other airports you reference.

As for never offering long haul flights. When did anyone ever say that was part of the business plan.

Finally you say that it will take years to return the investment. That is what is called a long term investment plan. Would you be happy if this business had a short term strategy?

Never say never. Long haul flights could happen if aircraft engine technology advances, or if the runway is further extended.
Personally I prefer the idea of an airport in the estuary for long haul flights, but some time in the future they could happen at Southend.

Nebs wrote:

Dinosaur_Jr wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

Heathrow has its own London underground connection.

Stansted has its own branch line.

Gatwick has the Gatwick express train service.

Southend has a flashy station bolted on to a congested commuter line..

Southend has no direct long haul flights and never will.

Southend airport is not yet in the black after investment and it will need many years of continued growth before it is..

Oh dear, do you a actually think before you post or does the range induced by Southend Airport take over?

Heathrow. The Picadilly line is also a commuter service taking 45 minutes to get from Heathrow to central London.

Stansted does have an 'Express' service. But this service shares track space with slower commuter services an takes about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street.

The Gatwick Express also shares tack space with commuter services.

Southend Airport has a regular train service which takes about 55 minutes to get to Central London. I don't see how this differs too much from the services from other airports you reference.

As for never offering long haul flights. When did anyone ever say that was part of the business plan.

Finally you say that it will take years to return the investment. That is what is called a long term investment plan. Would you be happy if this business had a short term strategy?

Never say never. Long haul flights could happen if aircraft engine technology advances, or if the runway is further extended.

Personally I prefer the idea of an airport in the estuary for long haul flights, but some time in the future they could happen at Southend.

There is more chance jayman supporting the airport than any true long haul passenger flights operating from Southend.

the runway length is too short, there is not much chance of it being extended at one enf you have Nestuda Way at the other you have a railway line, houses and Southend Road, the cost of tunneling them would be very high.

At the Nestuda Way end you would be looking at the very least £12million as the depth would need to be sufficient for the runway to be laid across the top, you would also have to take into account the rate of the slope going down/up into/out of the tunnel, you also have to consider the RBS access and St St Laurence Way junction you would not want to have a roundabout in the tunnel.

At the Southend Road/Railway end you would be look at something not giving much change from £100million as the road and railway would need tunneling starting from before Rochford Station (coming into Southend) emerging close to where to where Warners Bridge is, would would make the new station redundant.

The runway is not wide enough to take wide wide bodied aircraft, space prevents it from being made wider.

The Estuary airport might happen but... 90% of the airlines that use Heathrow have said they do not want it, any compnay electing to build it might very well find they have the worlds biggest white elephant, as airlines switch long haul operations to other airport only operating feeder flights to the new airport and other reginal airports arround the UK.

Better to make more sensible use of the airport we have before building new.

Northolt is a stones throw from Heathrow, if all domestic flights operating into and out of Heathrow were switched over there it would free up much needed space at Heathrow, a high speed underground rail link direct to the city could be built to get people to London fast.

Southend does not plan to have direct long-haul flights. But it is possible to use feeder flights by airlines with code shares, like Air France, KLM and Lufthansa. Here in Luxembourg with one of the longest runways in Europe we have no longhaul passenger flights. We all fly via Frankfurt, Paris, Munich or Amsterdam. It's an accepted thing and rarely is a problem costwise or conevience wise.

Quote Echo "Southend Airport will not be sold, owners vow"

In a statement issued to the Echo, Stobart said it was “as committed as ever” to Southend Airport

They are 2 completely different statements, and the Stobart statement does not mean they won't be selling it, they didn't say that.

They said they are committed to it, that could mean they are commited to the airport generating them some money, that could well mean selling it to generate some profit following all the investment they have done there.

Either that or the Echo has mis reported what was actually said, which wouldn't surprise me.

So what are peoples view on the front page of tonights echo.

Should the airport charge the car parking company the fukk charge of the parking they took during the free parking scheme?

Should the people that paid for parking now get their money back?


How can the airport prevent this happening again, prehaps get an injunction against nammed persons from entering the airport grounds?

Broadwaywatch wrote:
Whats happened to MAX Impact...surly this is his area for comment!

Maybe like a lot of others, they had to re-register under a different name.
After the wholesale bannings imposed by the echo ?

Joe Wildman-Clark wrote:

Nebs wrote:

Dinosaur_Jr wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

jayman wrote:

supershrimper wrote:

lennyfy wrote:

leslog wrote:
southend at the moment so much better for use of locals in essex than stansted or the dreaded gatwick especially the short way to board the aircraft ,compared to the other 2 airports ,the picking up and dropping off needs improvement ,and I hope they keep things simple with further development,most of us just wish to fly simply and easily to our chosen destination,without hassle at this new expanded airport,by the way stansted also uses the London tag,what is the problem

So does Oxford

The difference between Southend and Oxford is that Southend is 'officially' a London airport. If you were to type LON (London - all airports) into an airline which served both Southend and Oxford (hypothetically) then only Southend would come up. Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not in London. Heathrow is borderline and City is the only definite one. It is only because we live in Southend that we realise its distance from London. I am sure that when Gatwick, Stansted and Luton achieved 'London' status their residents were equally as bemused as you seem to be.

Southend airport has received massive capital expenditure to facilitate current operations. The high level of finance that stobart have received to pay for all the works would reduce any attempt to sell in the medium to short term to nothing but a colossal loss to stobarts balance sheet.

to put it bluntly. southend airport is a cash cow that wont lactate fast enough. The cow remains too ugly to sell.

If Southend airport was served by a M-road or had its own dedicated rail service or had the prospect of long haul flights then perhaps the old heifer would be worth a bean or two...

Long haul flights! If the Echo put up an article about A380s flying to New York tomorrow you would have an absolute fit!

It has its own train station, and let's be honest, if easyJet are continuing to add new routes, it can't be that 'ugly', financially speaking.

Heathrow has its own London underground connection.

Stansted has its own branch line.

Gatwick has the Gatwick express train service.

Southend has a flashy station bolted on to a congested commuter line..

Southend has no direct long haul flights and never will.

Southend airport is not yet in the black after investment and it will need many years of continued growth before it is..

Oh dear, do you a actually think before you post or does the range induced by Southend Airport take over?

Heathrow. The Picadilly line is also a commuter service taking 45 minutes to get from Heathrow to central London.

Stansted does have an 'Express' service. But this service shares track space with slower commuter services an takes about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street.

The Gatwick Express also shares tack space with commuter services.

Southend Airport has a regular train service which takes about 55 minutes to get to Central London. I don't see how this differs too much from the services from other airports you reference.

As for never offering long haul flights. When did anyone ever say that was part of the business plan.

Finally you say that it will take years to return the investment. That is what is called a long term investment plan. Would you be happy if this business had a short term strategy?

Never say never. Long haul flights could happen if aircraft engine technology advances, or if the runway is further extended.

Personally I prefer the idea of an airport in the estuary for long haul flights, but some time in the future they could happen at Southend.

There is more chance jayman supporting the airport than any true long haul passenger flights operating from Southend.

the runway length is too short, there is not much chance of it being extended at one enf you have Nestuda Way at the other you have a railway line, houses and Southend Road, the cost of tunneling them would be very high.

At the Nestuda Way end you would be looking at the very least £12million as the depth would need to be sufficient for the runway to be laid across the top, you would also have to take into account the rate of the slope going down/up into/out of the tunnel, you also have to consider the RBS access and St St Laurence Way junction you would not want to have a roundabout in the tunnel.

At the Southend Road/Railway end you would be look at something not giving much change from £100million as the road and railway would need tunneling starting from before Rochford Station (coming into Southend) emerging close to where to where Warners Bridge is, would would make the new station redundant.

The runway is not wide enough to take wide wide bodied aircraft, space prevents it from being made wider.

The Estuary airport might happen but... 90% of the airlines that use Heathrow have said they do not want it, any compnay electing to build it might very well find they have the worlds biggest white elephant, as airlines switch long haul operations to other airport only operating feeder flights to the new airport and other reginal airports arround the UK.

Better to make more sensible use of the airport we have before building new.

Northolt is a stones throw from Heathrow, if all domestic flights operating into and out of Heathrow were switched over there it would free up much needed space at Heathrow, a high speed underground rail link direct to the city could be built to get people to London fast.

The only way long haul flights would be able to operate from Southend is if an airline operates a route similar to that of BA from LCY-JFK. An all business class A318 or A319 stopping off in Ireland before completing the trip. It would be great, but unlikely.

Jayman, are you seriously suggesting that the airport would be more popular if they built an exclusive airport line RIGHT NEXT TO the current line going into The City?