London Southend Airport & Environs Joint Area Action Plan Issues & Options Paper

I refer to the above and to Southend Airport's plans for redevelopment.

In my experienced opinion I believe that Option 3 is the best way forward for the airport and the associated businesses based at or around the airport infrastructure.

I have been associated with the airport in a professional capacity as a Director of an Airline based there and also as an Aviation Consultant based in Southend for the past thirty-one years. I have always held the view that the current runway is too short to allow medium sized commercial airliners to operate economically and safely. A runway extension is, in my opinion, the only way forward to opening up the true commercial viability of the airport to potential airline operations. In my view, and I believe that of an investor, would be to only provide capital for further expenditure on terminal infrastructure and railway links once the runway extension had been approved.

Southend Airport needs a useable runway length of closer to 6,000 ft to enable it to compete in today's demanding environment. The airport needs to be able to offer services to aircraft sizes such as the Boeing 737 series from
-500 up to the -800 series as well as the Airbus A318 through to the A320 series. This will only come with a runway extension similar to that proposed in the Joint Area Action Plan "scenario 3".

Tour Operators' margins and market share are being squeezed by the Low Cost Airlines as the public are starting to package their own holidays using the internet and I believe that the only way forward for Tour Operators to compete is to offer regional departures away from the main hubs at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Although airlines will be apprehensive in basing aircraft at Southend in the development stages, they will be interested in operating inside "W" patterns from existing destination points. Southend has a great catchment area and I well remember the successes achieved in the 60's and later into the 80's with Burstin Holidays and Princess Air. Unfortunately, the BAe146 used by Princess Air did not offer the range or commercial advantages required in today's cost conscious environment as it was too small and did not offer low cost performance. Today's Boeing 737's and Airbus A320's are ideally placed to offer very competitive seat rates to keep costs of inclusive tour holidays at affordable levels.

We are fortunate that viable land exists to the South West of the Airport on runway 06 to allow this runway extension to be built without the need of too much public disruption or inconvenience.

Without this additional landing and take-off distance the airport will stagnate and will only be viable for medium sized empty aircraft needing maintenance or re-painting.

With a longer runway the revenues for the airport would increase with larger aircraft as the charges are based on the weight of the aircraft, providing higher landing fees per movement, with passenger airport taxes increasing with the greater flow of passengers through the terminal. This would in turn provide more business for the associated based companies at the airport and of course the town and districts close by.

Should you want to discuss any of these matters in more detail I would of course be happy to oblige. I sincerely hope that the Councils come to the right decision and allow this valuable asset to grow and provide a proper service to the people of South Essex.