Let's fly to the Med, says Southend Airport boss (From Echo)

Let's fly to the Med, says Southend Airport boss

1:27am Thursday 26th June 2008 in Search By Laura Smith

SOUTHEND Airport could soon be running holiday flights to the Mediterranean, as boss Alastair Welch hopes to model the airport on the success of Southampton.

Mr Welch, managing director at Southend, believes the town can emulate the success of Southampton Airport which generates £86.5million a year.

The airport has similar constraints to Southend as it is edged by housing developments and yet every year it serves almost two million passengers.

Mr Welch said: "They are fairly heavily hemmed in. They also have a railway line that goes right past, as we do, and they've got a fair bit of housing around them.

"They are doing about two million passengers a year now from a runway which is a little bit longer, and at the length we'd like to go to. That's why for me it's a good comparison."

Southampton Airport's origins date back to 1910 when Rowland Moon first flew his Moonbeam II aircraft in the meadows of North Stoneham Farm.

It was bought up by BAA in 1994, which invested £80million to get the site off the ground with new aircraft stands, check-in facilities and baggage systems, which aim to create a "breeze through" experience.

There are now 15 airlines at Southampton providing services to 43 destinations - including Amsterdam, Alicante, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Brussels and Malaga.

The airport has also added a new car hire reception centre this year - with representatives from Avis, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and National Alamo.

Mr Welch said: "What's different between our airports is they have a significant number of passengers, whereas we have maintenance and component manufacturing that they don't have.

"But from a passenger point of view there are similar communities in Southampton and Southend, and they have a railway station which is very close to a modern passenger terminal - that's what we are absolutely looking to deliver."

The runway at Southampton is much longer. It is 1,723m and at that length can accommodate the larger aircraft needed for package holidays to the Mediterranean.

However, Southend plans a 250-metre extension to allow medium-sized aircraft - such as an Airbus 319 - to land while fully loaded, which is not possible at the moment.

Mr Welch said: "The airport serves a range of destinations, and serves not just business users but also leisure users.

"It's used at weekends by families. That's exactly the sort of model I'd like to follow in terms of the numbers of destinations, frequencies and reliance on public transport.

"Two million passengers sounds like an awful lot, but it's not that significant, especially when you compare it to Stansted. It's less than 10 per cent of what Stansted is doing today. We could give the people of Southend a real asset with their airport and allow them to go away in their summer holidays from here."

Mr Welch also praised Southampton for the way it works with the local communities to tackle problems with noise and help local causes.

In 2004 it formed a partnership with the nearby Britterne Park School.

It operates a work experience programme with the school, which involves careers' advice, awards evenings, competitions, and enterprise days, culminating in a Dragons' Den-style challenge.

More recently, Airports Council International presented Southampton with the 2008 Airport People Award for customer service.

Jan Halliday, director of marketing and communications for Southampton Airport, said: "Southampton Airport has the proud reputation of being the easy, fast and friendly airport for central southern England.

"Earlier this year, the airport was voted the top airport in Europe for its customer service.

"This is in addition to our ongoing investment in modern facilities that are comfortable, light and airy, and there is excellent access by road and rail."

Mr Welch said his aim was to make an airport which could be used by people locally and he knew Southampton was an example which worked well with its community.

He added: "Southampton is an airport which isn't a big scary horrible airport. There are things we can learn from that. Generally, it's a real asset. It's a small, perfectly formed little thing."