New London Airport

[mpthomson]

You don't necessarily need to get Gatwick's core catchment in Sussex and outer South London, you could work with East London, Essex and North Kent.

It depends where in the home counties - Kent, Essex, East London, eastern Herts could be easily reachable for Southend.

But you've just lost more than half of Gatwick's catchment population, and the same goes for Luton. You can't just 'work with East London, Kent and Essex'. There isn't the demand which is why Southend has barely any flights.

No airline is going to move if that's the consequence as it would have a huge effect on their revenue. Airlines, particularly LCCs, ideally base themselves where catchment populations are maximised with as little overlap as feasible, hence Jet 2 having bases at Newcastle, East Mids, Leeds/Bradford but no interest in Teeside, Humberside and DSA as just one example.

 

[AlastairFraser]

The M25 is not something I particularly want to get involved with when going for a flight. If going to Stansted (which I avoid, both because of the location and because of the awful airline that dominates it) I go cross country. For Southend that'd take forever.

Even less so in a coach where I can't re-route to my preferences.

It needs to be considered that Southend has the advantage of both the A13 and A127 off the M25, so you can jump off a junction early/late if needed.
And you could run a shuttle bus from Southend Central to give C2C as an option too.

It's never going to be a perfect location for an airport, but it would be insanity to build a new airport or runway at a cost of billions and billions because of a slightly awkward location for the airport with free capacity.

But you've just lost more than half of Gatwick's catchment population, and the same goes for Luton. You can't just 'work with East London, Kent and Essex'. There isn't the demand which is why Southend has barely any flights.

Gatwick perhaps, but Luton isn't as easy to get to as you say.

 

[mpthomson]

It needs to be considered that Southend has the advantage of both the A13 and A127 off the M25, so you can jump off a junction early/late if needed.
And you could run a shuttle bus from Southend Central to give C2C as an option too.

It's never going to be a perfect location for an airport, but it would be insanity to build a new airport or runway at a cost of billions and billions because of a slightly awkward location for the airport with free capacity.


Gatwick perhaps, but Luton isn't as easy to get to as you say.

Luton is very easy to get to from the north, (5 mins from Jn 10 of the M1, and has a rail link) which comprises a significant amount of the catchment area that would be lost by moving to Southend.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Luton is very easy to get to from the north, (5 mins from Jn 10 of the M1, and has a rail link) which comprises a significant amount of the catchment area that would be lost by moving to Southend.

Indeed.

I think @AlastairFraser continues to miss the point that Luton isn't primarily a London airport but more one covering the south Midlands and Home Counties (it's long done that as a holiday charter airport pre-easyJet). You could probably shift flights from Gatwick to Southend without annoying too many people, but not Luton.

 

[Ediswan]

There are also Lydd and Lympne in Kent already

I had to look Lympne up. Closed in 1984, nothing left but field marks.

 

[CastlebarKeith]

I had to look Lympne up. Closed in 1984, nothing left but field marks.

Yes, but it was an airport = flat too. Why take up more land that is already being used rather than revivify a redundant airport?
BECAUSE it's in the wrong place: - MANSTON? That closed down much more recently. People didn't want it closed. l know one charter provider who wanted to use it. Rail access would be easier too.
BUT Apparently (allegedly) it is "needed"(??) for housing

 

[Bald Rick]

Moving from Luton and Gatwick to free up valuable landing slots at Heathrow and thus avoiding the need for a 3rd runway is a very good incentive.

How does moving flights from Luton and Gatwick free up slots at Heathrow?

The thing is with Southend, ground transport is easily improved.
The rail access is already there, it just needs more buses and coaches.

It isn’t. Buses and coaches are not going to cut the mustard. See every airport everywhere.

Gatwick perhaps, but Luton isn't as easy to get to as you say

It’s 15 minutes from my house. It’s under half an hour from well over a million people, for whom Southend is at least an hour and a half away, if they drive. It’s more than that with public transport. People are simply not going to do it.

 

[Lewisham2221]

I can't see anybody coming from North or West of Luton, or South or West of Gatwick, wanting to add another 90 minutes onto their journey trekking across to Southend. Especially for a short hop across the North Sea to Amsterdam etc. Nor can I imagine anybody from south of the Thames would be in much of a hurry to rely pretty much solely on the Dartford crossing, with no reasonable diversion route, if going to catch a flight. "Yes dear, I know the flight to Amsterdam only takes just an hour, but we're leaving 8 hours early so we can trek over to Southend and still have plenty of time if the M25/Dartford crossing is a mess..."

 

[edwin_m]

I can't see anybody coming from North or West of Luton, or South or West of Gatwick, wanting to add another 90 minutes onto their journey trekking across to Southend. Especially for a short hop across the North Sea to Amsterdam etc. Nor can I imagine anybody from south of the Thames would be in much of a hurry to rely pretty much solely on the Dartford crossing, with no reasonable diversion route, if going to catch a flight. "Yes dear, I know the flight to Amsterdam only takes just an hour, but we're leaving 8 hours early so we can trek over to Southend and still have plenty of time if the M25/Dartford crossing is a mess..."

They might do so if the flight was a lot cheaper, but that's unlikely to be the case versus Luton, Gatwick or Stansted.

 

[camflyer]

Wherever any, IF any new airports are built in Britain good RAIL ACCESS should be a primary consideration.

PS PLEASE REMEMBER Manston in Kent closed in recent years because few people used it.
There are also Lydd and Lympne in Kent already

Not convinced by the need for a new "London" airport as anywhere with enough land is going to be too far from population centres (needed to supply staff) and would need a lot of new infrastructure building to connect to London and the rest of the country. Kent is also on the wrong side of London for most people.

First consideration should be improving rail links to existing airports. Build the proposed Western and Southern Access links to Heathrow and increase the capacity of the lines to Stansted. Not sure what could be done with Gatwick as the Brighton Mainline is pretty much full already.

If the number of cars using airports could be reduced then the second runway at Gatwick and the third one at Heathrow then become much more sustainable.

 

[MotCO]

I can't see anybody coming from North or West of Luton, or South or West of Gatwick, wanting to add another 90 minutes onto their journey trekking across to Southend. Especially for a short hop across the North Sea to Amsterdam etc. Nor can I imagine anybody from south of the Thames would be in much of a hurry to rely pretty much solely on the Dartford crossing, with no reasonable diversion route, if going to catch a flight. "Yes dear, I know the flight to Amsterdam only takes just an hour, but we're leaving 8 hours early so we can trek over to Southend and still have plenty of time if the M25/Dartford crossing is a mess..."

Don't forget that the Lower Thames Crossing should be built more or less by the time Southend Airport is ready