SOUTHEND Airport’s only terminal has been closed until next year as passenger flights are temporarily put on hold.

The airport plans to reopen the terminal on January 1 of next year at the earliest, when bosses say they are expecting a “stronger demand” for passenger flights to return.

The move comes days after the final Ryanair flights departed from the airport, following the budget carrier’s decision to quit Southend Airport.

Just 18 months prior, budget airline giant Easyjet withdrew from the airport.

“With the continuing improvements to travel restrictions and easing of testing, we’re expecting stronger demand to return next year,” a spokesperson for Southend Airport said.

“The airport is in discussions with a number of airlines regarding the great opportunities available from London Southend next summer.”

An airport expansion was announced two years ago, four months before the first UK lockdown, but these plans are now under threat.

Planned upgrades to the runways, and both arrivals and departure lounges now seem to be in dangers as the airport struggles with the financial hardships of the pandemic.

Last week, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced financial relief measures for the beleaguered industry in his national budget.

Flights between airports in the UK nations will be subject to a new lower rate of Air Passenger Duty from April 2023, a new ultra-long haul band in Air Passenger Duty for flights of over 5,500 miles will be introduced from April 2023, and financial support for airports to be extended for a further six months.

Southend airport bosses at the time welcomed the measures as ‘small steps in the right direction’.