With the recent announcement of FR setting up a new base with 13 routes at SEN, it seems there is no stopping the airport and with a 5m passenger target by 2022, there are bound to be not only more flights by the current airlines, but also new airlines.

I was quite surprised that FR are setting up a base given STN is only 50 minutes away - and I also thought a fully loaded B738 was too big for SEN - even with the runway extension, but I'm obviously wrong!

What other airlines do we see being launched from SEN? I'm still surprised TUI haven't launched a number of routes with their own metal.

I could also see the following: Jet2, Wizzair, Norwegian, WOW Air and even KLM to AMS for connections?

Thoughts?

I don't think we'd see Norwegian. They are building their London hub at Gatwick. KLM wouldn't surprise me they love UK regional airports but recently launched LCY and have slot issues in AMS so that might stop them.

Otherwise, I would look to small operators who maybe fly once a day to LGW who could sell the slot and move to SEN (those with O&D ops) perhaps like Air Baltic, Belavia, Smart Wings, Ukraine, Wizz's sole LGW route to Bucharest.

On a personal note I'd like to see flights to Scandinavia. It's a shame Wideroe chose STN for their Kristiansand route.

seansasLCY wrote:

I don't think we'd see Norwegian. They are building their London hub at Gatwick. KLM wouldn't surprise me they love UK regional airports but recently launched LCY and have slot issues in AMS so that might stop them.

Otherwise, I would look to small operators who maybe fly once a day to LGW who could sell the slot and move to SEN (those with O&D ops) perhaps like Air Baltic, Belavia, Smart Wings, Ukraine, Wizz's sole LGW route to Bucharest.

On a personal note I'd like to see flights to Scandinavia. It's a shame Wideroe chose STN for their Kristiansand route.

Do you think full service airlines like Air Baltic and Belavia would be interested in SEN though? SEN is further out of London than LGW is and probably not known to those from Latvia and Belarus. I know Air Malta flies to SEN, but they already have service to LHR and LGW, plus they're flying to more leisure routes likely to be used by people originating from SEN.

8herveg wrote:

Do you think full service airlines like Air Baltic and Belavia would be interested in SEN though? SEN is further out of London than LGW is and probably not known to those from Latvia and Belarus. I know Air Malta flies to SEN, but they already have service to LHR and LGW, plus they're flying to more leisure routes likely to be used by people originating from SEN.

Oddly Belavia flies from CRL instead of BRU in Belgium. So why not? But I can't see why they would give up on LGW and move to SEN, unless SEN decides to subsidize them in some way. Interestingly in CRL there is a lot of advertisement of Belavia about Belavia's connections to Russia or Kazakhstan.

Another one I could see is Pegasus flying SAW-SEN (if their planes can do that route with the limitations in SEN) in addition to STN services, and maybe some beach destination at a later stage (Izmir, Antalya, etc).

While Belavia or Pegasus are not hub legacies, they both allow some limited connectivity, so Southend Airport could advertise 1-stop connections to Beirut, Doha, Dubai or Tel Aviv (in the case of Pegasus) or Moscow, Astana or St Petersburg (in the case of Belavia). This would be a good and easy advertisement for the airport locally.

I don't think KLM would touch Southend. Their London service is limited to Heathrow and City, they don't even fly to Gatwick. EasyJet on the other hand flies regularly between Amsterdam and Southend as well as other London airports. Seems like KLM and EasyJet have the Amsterdam - London market nicely devided between them.

I could see Wizzair use Southend. So far they got all their London operations concentrated at Luton except for one flight from Gatwick, but at neither of those airports there's room for growth. Southend on the other hand is the only London airport that isn't slot controlled, so if they need growth capacity on short term Southend is the place to go.

Maybe the likes of WOW Air or Primera Air might fancy a crack at SEN someday? (the latter for short haul routes to countries like Spain etc).

Just a thought..

Ben

CrawleyBen wrote:

Maybe the likes of WOW Air or Primera Air might fancy a crack at SEN someday? (the latter for short haul routes to countries like Spain etc).

Just a thought..

Ben

I can't see either of those two airlines ever flying from SEN especially as they have only just recently started operations from STN.

8herveg wrote:

seansasLCY wrote:

I don't think we'd see Norwegian. They are building their London hub at Gatwick. KLM wouldn't surprise me they love UK regional airports but recently launched LCY and have slot issues in AMS so that might stop them.

Otherwise, I would look to small operators who maybe fly once a day to LGW who could sell the slot and move to SEN (those with O&D ops) perhaps like Air Baltic, Belavia, Smart Wings, Ukraine, Wizz's sole LGW route to Bucharest.

On a personal note I'd like to see flights to Scandinavia. It's a shame Wideroe chose STN for their Kristiansand route.

Do you think full service airlines like Air Baltic and Belavia would be interested in SEN though? SEN is further out of London than LGW is and probably not known to those from Latvia and Belarus. I know Air Malta flies to SEN, but they already have service to LHR and LGW, plus they're flying to more leisure routes likely to be used by people originating from SEN.

Air Baltic may be the flag carrier of Latvia but it's not a full service carrier and classes itself as a low cost operator.

I would think maybe Wizz. Lots of Eastern European workers out that way.

LupineChemist wrote:

I would think maybe Wizz. Lots of Eastern European workers out that way.

But with Brexit happening in March 2019 and the dramatic decline in East Europeans traveling to the UK I can't see WIZZ expanding to SEN.

Cunard wrote:

Air Baltic may be the flag carrier of Latvia but it's not a full service carrier and classes itself as a low cost operator.

But Air Baltic does not serve secondary airports. The only exception is London where they fly to LGW (instead of LHR) but that has probably more to do with slots.

Otherwise, they serve CDG, MXP, TXL, OSL, ARN, BRU, DUS, FCO... not a single "secondary" Ryanair/Wizzair airport.

I would love to see Eurowings fly to SEN from CGN. There is a lot of traffic between south Essex and Cologne due to presence of Ford at both ends.

When living in London SEN was my favorite airport. Literally 200m from train to plane .... made it within 10 minutes once including clearing customs. Runway is extremely short though but we made it all the way to BCN ecerytime

SCQ83 wrote:

Cunard wrote:

Air Baltic may be the flag carrier of Latvia but it's not a full service carrier and classes itself as a low cost operator.

But Air Baltic does not serve secondary airports. The only exception is London where they fly to LGW (instead of LHR) but that has probably more to do with slots.

Otherwise, they serve CDG, MXP, TXL, OSL, ARN, BRU, DUS, FCO... not a single "secondary" Ryanair/Wizzair airport.

Hey Hey Mr Clever Boy.

I wasn't commenting on the fact that Air Baltic don't serve secondary airports which I'm totally aware of but I was pointing out that the airline may be the Latvian flag carrier but it classes itself as a low cost operator as the poster I was answering to had quoted Air Baltic as a full service airline which it isn't.

You've obviously jumped ahead of yourself!

I wasn't in anyway suggesting that Air Baltic could be a contender for SEN quite the contrary, I suggest that you read the quote I was replying to!

767Forever wrote:

I would love to see Eurowings fly to SEN from CGN. There is a lot of traffic between south Essex and Cologne due to presence of Ford at both ends.

And that business traffic is well catered for by Eurowings at STN.

767Forever wrote:

I would love to see Eurowings fly to SEN from CGN. There is a lot of traffic between south Essex and Cologne due to presence of Ford at both ends.

FlyBe already flies SEN-CGN. I doubt it needs more capacity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIZigTV6Tf0

8herveg wrote:

With the recent announcement of FR setting up a new base with 13 routes at SEN, it seems there is no stopping the airport and with a 5m passenger target by 2022, there are bound to be not only more flights by the current airlines, but also new airlines.

I was quite surprised that FR are setting up a base given STN is only 50 minutes away - and I also thought a fully loaded B738 was too big for SEN - even with the runway extension, but I'm obviously wrong!

What other airlines do we see being launched from SEN? I'm still surprised TUI haven't launched a number of routes with their own metal.

I could also see the following: Jet2, Wizzair, Norwegian, WOW Air and even KLM to AMS for connections?

Thoughts?

I agree with you. That’s why EasyJet tactically opened this base as they knew FR couldn’t operate at all effectively with the B738. Apparently they would be not much higher than 50% loads when departing. I guess the extension has helped.

Also are they going to put their first MAX aircraft there for better performance. They should be getting them from Q1 2019 and maybe that’s why they waited as wasn’t worth on the B738.

Also these reasons are why I don’t see Norweigan or Jet2 starting. I guess KLM could use the Embraer but unlikely with all their LHR/LCY presence.

I can see a freight operation moving there. STN is getting a little congested, so maybe ASL can start operations from there with a few based 734s.

Can SEN actually cope with many more airlines? I mean running ops at times that work for them/Infrastructure and so on?

I personally have not flown from there but know a number of people that have a say its a great experience for just breezing through without any queues etc.

UAL777UK wrote:

Can SEN actually cope with many more airlines? I mean running ops at times that work for them/Infrastructure and so on?

I personally have not flown from there but know a number of people that have a say its a great experience for just breezing through without any queues etc.

Current capacity is 2 million PAX currently extended to 5 million.

SEN has about 1 million PAX a year, so definitely a very different experience to any other overcrowded London airport. It is like landing in some tiny regional airport and 1 hour later you are in Liverpool Street!

I like how SEN has a number of thinner routes to the continent across different operators, including SkyTaxi to Châteauroux.