SOUTHEND Airport is to become a new gateway to Scotland with three new direct routes to the country.

The new flights from Loganair will travel to Aberdeen, Glasgow and Stornoway, with connecting flights also to Barra, Benbecula, Islay, Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Tiree.

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Aberdeen and Glasgow will have three non-stop flights each way every weekday, with two flights there and back on Sundays, operated by Loganair’s Embraer 145 regional jet aircraft.

Loganair’s managing director Jonathan Hinkles said he was impressed with Southend Airport when he visited for the first time in 15 years last summer.

He said: “The airport was different in a very positive way.

“There are no long waits or delays getting through the terminal, we have a train station right opposite, and from a customer point of view it’s absolutely fantastic.

“We’ve seen in Heathrow and Gatwick airports that certain services can’t be accommodated because of service caps and timings.

“We wanted to address that gap with another airport.

“The fact that we are able to put services here and make it work is a great benefit.

“It’s much less prone to air traffic control delays and other congestion problems from the bigger airports.”

There will be one flight each way between Southend and Stornoway six days-a-week, with Saturday being the only days the new flights do not operate.

Flights to Glasgow and Stornoway will start on the May 28, with Aberdeen flights getting underway on May 12.

Glyn Jones, chief executive officer at Stobart Aviation, owners of Southend Airport, said: “When we first started talking about it I said to Loganair that we have a really, really good train service, which is right next to us.

“At peak time, we have six trains an hour, off peak four trains, the worst case scenario is you’re waiting for 15 minutes. But people don’t want to be waiting, they want to get into London or the town centre.

“We’ve worked to ensure that the time taken to walking out of the plane door to stepping on a train is the least amount of time possible, it needs to be as seamless as possible.”

Loganair’s aircrafts carry up to 49 people, and offers free inflight refreshments, and will be the only airline flying between Scotland and London whose fares include a 20kg checked baggage allowance.

Mr Hinkles said if the three flights prove popular, the airline would be open to increasing the number of trips per day. He added: “We have two options ahead for expansion; one would be increasing the number of flights, or opening up routes to Edinburgh. There’s a lot of business there, and it seems like the next logical step to expand.”

Loganair will not be storing any planes at Southend, keeping its business and assets in Scotland.

The arrival and departure times of the new flights have been timed around departing train times to allow for faster journeys into London.

The new flights are available to book now. Visit www.loganair.co.uk.

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