A LESSER-KNOWN airport is looking to become one of the UK's most popular transport hubs, with ambitious plans to triple passenger numbers. Having gained new joint owners earlier this year, London Southend Airport aims to welcome 10 million passengers per year. CEO of Carlyle Airport Group, Amit Rikhy, who became one of the airport's new owners earlier this year, claims London Southend is the only airport serving the London market with the potential for significant expansion.
He wants the airport to cater for as many as 10 million passengers per year, almost tripling its current capacity. Win one of 8 incredible holidays to Florida, Spain, the Caribbean and a Kent safari by voting in The Sun's Travel Awards - enter to win here Speaking at the the London Aviation Symposium, Mr Rikhy said investment was being made to make people more aware of the airport while its numbers continue to recover following the pandemic . Currently, the terminal has a capacity of 3.
5 million, but a lot of its airline services have not returned following the Covid-19 outbreak. Passenger numbers are slowly increasing and are expected to reach 1 million next year. The airport still offers flights to popular holiday destinations, including the likes of Tenerife , Gran Canaria, Dalaman, Marrakech, Paris, Amsterdam, Alicante and Lapland.
Those routes, and several others, are mainly served by easyJet , with BHAir providing additional routes to and from Bourgas in Bulgaria. New easyJet flights to Pisa, Antaly.
