Southend Airport celebrates start of new routes
London Southend Airport today celebrated the start of new routes to Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow, with those arriving and departing on the very first flights to each destination being greeted - or sent off - with a water arch salute from the Southend Airport Fire Service.
Legendary Manchester band Oasis, Glasgow’s iconic SEC Armadillo and Dublin Bay (complete with cliffs, beach and waves) are just some of the highlights of
Also, a monumental cake was shared with passengers, featuring Manchester band Oasis, Glasgow’s iconic SEC Armadillo and Dublin Bay (complete with cliffs, beach and waves), as travellers and staff gathered to toast the beginning of flights to Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin, which are all operated through Stobart Air’s franchise partnership with Flybe.
Flights to the Irish capital will operate up to three times daily. The route to the UK’s 2013 ‘Capital of Culture’ – Manchester – will also fly up to three times daily and to Scotland’s largest city – Glasgow – up to twice daily Sunday-Friday.
The enormous, three-tiered cake was designed to incorporate iconic locations, characters and themes from all three destinations – so the various layers included representations of the Glasgow Tower, Clyde Arch, Scottish flag, Lancaster Rose, a Manchester United shirt, Leprechauns, shamrocks and much more, including a turboprop aircraft. The confectionary creation, which has a salted caramel and chocolate base, with Victoria Sponge upper layers, was made by Bourgee Bites – Bar – Luxe Lounge and took two chefs a week to create.
It was also an opportunity to mark the start of new easyJet route to Mediterranean favourite Malta, which got underway on Sunday.
Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport said: “We have plenty of reasons to celebrate today, as these new routes mark yet another important development for us in an exciting year where we continue to grow and expand in order to be the very best airport possible for our customers.
"In the last 12 months we’ve opened a new World Duty Free, Bourgee and other shops, offering even more variety for our guests. We’ve added a number of new routes – with more still to come – and provided a time and cost-effective way for our passengers to connect to North America and Canada. Plus, we’ve launched a Private Jet Centre and also submitted plans to develop the terminal building.
“London Southend Airport is going from strength to strength and delivering on its promise of being a better way to travel - more comfort, faster access, fewer queues and a friendlier experience than larger airports in the South East.”