page_title: London Southend Airport
section_title: 2008: Stobart Group
hierarchical_section_title: London Southend Airport / History / 2008: Stobart Group
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Southend Airport terminal building from the bridge at Southend Airport railway station. For more information, see Wikipedia articles Southend Airport and Southend Airport railway station.
context_page_description: London Southend Airport is an international airport in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, approximately 36 miles from the centre of London.
  Southend was London's third-busiest airport from the 1960s until the end of the 1970s, when it was overtaken in passenger numbers by London Stansted Airport. Following its purchase by Stobart Group in 2008, a development programme provided a new terminal and control tower, extended runway, and connection to central London via a regular rail service running between Liverpool Street Station and Southend Airport Station on the Shenfield–Southend line, continuing on to Southend Victoria.
context_section_description: The airport was bought on 2 December 2008 by the Stobart Group for £21 million, becoming part of the Stobart Air division of the Stobart Group, which also operates Carlisle Airport.
  Following council consultation with the local population, a planning application to extend the usable runway length by 300 m (984 ft) to 1,799 m (5,902 ft) and upgrade navigational and lighting aids, was submitted to Southend Borough Council 13 October 2009. Planning permission was granted 20 January 2010.
  Initially subject to an Article 14 Direction, after due consideration by the Government this was withdrawn 19 March 2010, meaning it would not be subject to a Public Inquiry. A Section 106 agreement was entered into between the airport and local councils.
  On 1 June 2010, Stobart Group took a £100 million loan from M & G Investments, partly in order to fund the airport construction. In July 2010, an application for a judicial review of the planning application was filed, which was dismissed on 2 February 2011. On 23 September 2010, the airport received the Airport Achievement Award 2010/11 from the European Regions Airline Association.
  A replacement air traffic control tower became operational 21 March 2011, followed by the return of year-round daily passenger services 27 March 2011 when Aer Arann commenced services to Galway and Waterford in Ireland.
  EasyJet announced a ten-year agreement with Stobart Group in June 2011, and in April 2012 commenced around 70 flights per week from Southend, using three Airbus A319 aircraft based at the airport, flying to eight European destinations. Easyjet's operation at the airport has since increased to 16 destinations and in the summer of 2018 they will base a fourth aircraft at Southend, an Airbus A320.
  A new on-site rail station opened on 18 July 2011, (the official opening by Minister for Transport Theresa Villiers MP was on 21 September 2011), and a new road opened on 1 September 2011, replacing Eastwoodbury Lane that lay in the path required for the runway extension.
caption: Pre-extension terminal building seen from railway station, illustrating proximity.
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