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Do you happen to be a hotshot in the airport real-estate game? We know, we know, it’s probs a bit of a stretch. Well, if you are, we might have some tremendously exciting news. London Southend Airport is up for sale, meaning that an entire sort-of-big air hub could be yours for the taking.
After Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Luton and City, Southend is London’s sixth-biggest airport. Situated, as the name suggests, near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, London Southend was once the city’s third-biggest airport. These days it’s actually mostly empty, with only a few flights a day.
Much of Southend’s current woes are rooted in the lingering impact of the pandemic. Over the past few years, both Wizz Air and Ryanair have pulled out of the airport. While easyJet routes to Amsterdam, Malaga, Majorca and Faro have either resumed (or will soon resume), the airport has few passengers and makes substantial financial losses.
So who currently owns the airport? That’d be Esken, a company that does loads of stuff, from infrastructure and energy to aviation. It has said that the sale will ‘benefit airline partners and the region’, though it’s more likely the case that Esken is cutting its losses after not really having managed to establish Southend as a proper London aviation hub.
At the moment, there aren’t yet any further details about exactly who London Southend will be sold to or when. In other words, it might still be up for grabs! Airport magnate Time Out readers: your time has come.
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