Southend Airport bosses want to expand terminal to reach 10 million passengers

Susie Beever & Jodie Bradley

4 July 2024 at 5:39 am·1-min read

Southend Airport in Essex — -Credit: (Image: PA)

Essex’s Southend Airport could soon become one of the UK's largest transport hubs following the announcement of a significant expansion. The airport's bosses have revealed plans to accommodate up to 10 million passengers annually after it changed ownership earlier this year, reports The Daily Star.

Currently, the Essex-based airport near Southend-on-Sea only handles thousands of passengers. Although the airport has a capacity for 3.5 million passengers, numbers are gradually rising and are projected to hit one million next year.

Despite its small size, the airport offers flights to international destinations such as Morocco, Turkey, and the Canary Islands. This year also saw the launch of new flights to Pisa, Antalya, Bulgaria, and Enfidha in Tunisia.

Amit Rikhy, the new CEO, asserts that Southend is now the only airport serving London passengers with room for expansion. He expressed his ambition to see the airport serve up to 10 million passengers per year, which would triple its current capacity.

CEO of Carlyle Airport Group, Amit Rikhy, who snapped up a stake in London Southend earlier this year, believes it's the only airport that can seriously beef up its services for the London market. He's eyeing up some new tech upgrads like next-gen X-rays for security and DIY baggage handling to speed up check-in times, as reported by Aviation Week.

"Why did we invest in Southend? Access to London," he said. "We're looking at things like self-handling baggage and making it more efficient for passengers to self-check-in, including queue management and better wayfinding."

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