London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Airport that 'took a hammering' due to pandemic hoping to rebuild

Airport that 'took a hammering' due to pandemic hoping to rebuild

The travel industry was hit hard by the pandemic as all but essential air travel was effectively stopped. At Southend Airport they have "taken a hammering" as passenger numbers have dropped more than 90% from pre-pandemic levels, so can it rebuild?

Between April 2019 and April 2020, London Southend had a bumper year with 2,150,000 passengers. Pandemic restrictions hit in March 2020, and numbers nosedived to 147,000 for the period between April 2020 and April 2021, and just 94,000 for the same period 2021-2022.

When the pandemic hit, Southend's three main carriers - EasyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air - pulled out of the airport and only EasyJet has returned, but it is only flying to three destinations.

On the airport's busiest days only three flights leave, so what does the future hold?


'We took a hammering'
Nigel Mayes, business development director at the airport, says they "took a hammering" due to the pandemic but were hoping to rebuild by next summer


Nigel Mayes, business development director at the airport, says they are already focusing on summer 2023 when they are hopeful more airlines will be back with new routes.

"Our business has taken a hammering," he says.

EasyJet, the anchor airline for the airport, is only offering flights to Faro, Palma and Malaga this summer and Mr Mayes is clear the airport "needs to grow" if it has got a future.

"We're hoping to get more airlines back into London Southend but also trying to grow that partnership with EasyJet, trying to get them to put on more flights and especially to some very popular sunshine destinations that we used to serve," he says.

Popular routes to Amsterdam and Alicante brought in more than 200,000 passengers each year and Mr Mayes says he wants to see them return as well as other routes to get the airport back to the 40 destinations it offered before the pandemic.

"The whole of the aviation sector has had a really difficult couple of years and we've got to make sure that we can both grow our business commercially as well as the airlines," he says.

"We're open to conversations and negotiations with any carrier out there."


'We'll use Southend more and more'
Fiona Clements says she's sure she'll use the airport again as it gets more routes for passengers


Fiona Clements, 57, from nearby Basildon, had only travelled from London Southend once before, but says she "really enjoyed the experience" and has returned.

"I absolutely love Southend and we've had a great experience - straight through security, a bit of shopping, loads of staff around, the cafe staff have been amazing and they really looked after us," she says.

"There's not many routes yet but as they increase I'm sure we'll use Southend more and more."


'Want to see it get back to where it was'
Julie Martine prefers travelling from the smaller airport than bigger London alternatives


Julie Martine, 55, from Thorpe Bay in Southend, says travelling from London Southend is better than other bigger London airports.

"We just want to see it get back to where it was before," she says.

"They had so many different destinations that everybody could get to really easily and just being here compared to the big London airports just makes so much difference.

"It's so easy, quick, doesn't feel like a big problem and it doesn't take up half your day travelling there."


'Now it's back, it's great'
Colin Siggs is happy to see the airport offering flights again


Colin and Rosalind Siggs, from Minster in Kent, used to travel from Southend regularly, but were forced to fly from elsewhere when EasyJet suspended flights from the airport during the pandemic.

They are both happy to see the terminal back in business.

Mr Siggs, 81, says: "I think it's great; we flew from here in the past to Faro, and then they shut down.

"We had to revert to going from Gatwick which is a lot busier and [there are] all the problems that are there now.

"I realised Southend was back in business at [the] last minute and booked it."

He said there was "hardly anyone" there which was part of the appeal of flying from a smaller airport.

Rosalind Siggs says it is "great" to be able to travel from London Southend again


Mrs Siggs, 78, says: "It's smaller, so you don't have the crowds, [it is] so much easier to get through everything, and we just prefer it.

"We were disappointed when it was out of use with Covid, but now it's come back, [it's] great."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×