Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (2 April) officially opened its new base at London Southend with 3 aircraft (an investment of $300m) and kicked off its summer 19 schedule with 14 new routes, including exciting new connections to Alicante, Corfu, Faro and Milan Bergamo, which will deliver over 1m customers p.a. and support 750 “on-site” jobs at London Southend Airport.
Mr Brady of Stobart Group (the owner of Southend Airport) said their long term goal is to make Southend Airport as well-known and respected as London’s other airports, such as Stansted and Gatwick. “There is a massive potential for growth here, we’re due to grow in passengers by around 65 per cent by the end of the year, so the new flights act as a self-propelling growth plan.
“It will also help London as a whole; Heathrow and Gatwick are full up, Stansted is full at peak times, but Southend is equidistant to them. If you get on a train from London Liverpool Street, it takes the same amount of time to get here and to Stansted”.
Read more at Ryanair and BBC News