London’s Least Stressful Airport Gets Back To More Than One Airline

London’s Southend Airport
Airport (SEN) has confirmed that a second scheduled operator will serve the airport this year. Starting in April, Eastern Airways will connect the Essex airport with daily flights to Cornwall in South West England, Southend’s 20th nonstop destination.

Nonstop to Newquay

Regional carrier Eastern Airways
has confirmed it will begin service from a second London gateway to Cornwal Airport Newquay
(NQY) in April. The new route will connect Essex, London, and East Anglia with Cornwall’s main commercial airport in Newquay, with daily flights beginning Thursday, April 3rd, 2025

Newquay is often known as the ‘surf capital of England.’ It is home to beaches and surfing hotspots, including Fistral and Watergate Bay, making it popular among surfers and beach lovers alike. The area also offers stunning coastal walks and a lively dining scene.

The airport also serves as a gateway to the wider Cornwall region, home to iconic attractions such as St Michael’s Mount, the Eden Project’s eco biomes, and St Ives’s artistic charm. Amy Smith, Head of Commercial at Cornwall Airport Newquay, expressed her excitement for the new route to begin:

“We’re confident this route will be incredibly popular with travellers from the east of England looking to experience Cornwall’s stunning coastline and rich heritage this summer season.

“The new service from Eastern Airways will provide a convenient and efficient way to travel between the east and west of our country and further supplements our London connectivity, meeting the increased leisure demand in the summer months.”

Eastern Airways will use its ATR 72
aircraft to serve the route. The plane is configured to seat 72 passengers in a single-class configuration for the 90-minute flight. The services are scheduled to depart Cornwall just before lunch and arrive back in the early afternoon, with a later operation on Sundays:

The routes will complement the carrier’s existing service from Cornwall Newquay to London Gatwick (LGW) and open the option of direct flights up to a new catchment area. Roger Hage, Commercial Director at Eastern Airways, noted how the Southend route will increase connectivity across East Anglia:

“Adding London Southend for 2025 as our second London airport connection to Newquay Cornwall follows the success the team in Southend have shown in the increasing strength of the easyJet product.

“This helps open the North & East of the capital – plus Essex and Suffolk especially – to a daily service to the South-West of England, complementing our London Gatwick twice-daily offer.

“The speed of access to Greater London via the adjacent rail link offers an appealing option, helping to avoid the otherwise arduous alternative travel options.”

The only other London connection to Cornwall Newquay Airport this summer is a thrice-weekly Ryanair service from London Stansted (STN). Stobart Air, flying as Flybe, last operated the Southend link route in 2019.

Eastern Airways is a regional carrier based in Humberside (HUY) that operates flights using a fleet of Embraer, ATR, and BAe Jetstream 41 aircraft. The larger Embraer E170 and E190 aircraft are currently operating on behalf of the Dutch flag carrier KLM on several of its 18 links to UK regional airports.

Based on published scheduling data from Cirium, London Southend will become the 7th airport with Eastern Airways flights this summer. The carrier operates the most seats from Aberdeen
(ABZ) in Scotland, where it uses uses the rare BAe Jetstream 41
to serve its base in Humberside (HUY), Durham’s Teesside Airport (MME), and Wick (WIC) in Scotland’s far north.

Eastern Airways also connects Jersey
(JER) in the Channel Islands to Teesside and Humberside weekly using its ATR 72s.

Taking off from Southend

Located by the English coast, Southend Airport is technically the furthest of London’s six airports from the city center but features the shortest distance from plane to train. Wait times at both departures and immigration on arrivals are minimal, and passengers can routinely reach the train station or parking lot within 10-15 minutes of arriving.

The airport train station is located just opposite the terminal and offers connections to the London Underground (the Tube) via the Elizabeth Line at Shenfield in 20 minutes, arriving at London Stratford 43 minutes after departure and London Liverpool Street Station nine minutes later.

In addition to Londoners, Southend Airport has a proprietary catchment area that covers the South East region of England, including Essex, Suffolk, and Greater East Anglia. Around 8.2 million people live within an hour’s drive of the airport. Nigel Mayes, Business Development Manager at London Southend Airport, noted just how excited the area is for the resumption of new flights to the country’s West Coast:

“The return of a route to Newquay is a great way to start the new year; connecting passengers from coast to capital and into London with our on-site train line, just 43 minutes into Stratford or 52 minutes to London Liverpool Street.

“We look forward to welcoming new customers, and returning faces, in April this year.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport was served by a wide range of operators, with 2 million passengers passing through its doors in 2019. It once ranked as the third busiest airport in the nation and has offered direct flights to over 70 destinations over the past decade.

Which airlines serve London Southend Airport?

In addition to Eastern Airways, easyJet
has shown a significant commitment to the airport. The low-cost operator currently operates flights to Alicante (ALC), Amsterdam (AMS), Geneva (GVA), and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and has flown over seven million customers from London Southend Airport since operations began in 2012.

This spring, easyJet will open its 10th base at London Southend Airport with three Airbus A320neo
aircraft, which seat 186 passengers. The base will open on March 31st, 2025, and facilitate the launch of a range of additional leisure routes. Ali Gayward, easyJet’s UK Country Manager, noted the significant demand the airline has seen for flights from Southend, which its customers view as a quick and easy gateway:

“We are really looking forward to opening our new three-aircraft base in the UK, at London Southend Airport on 31 March. This is supporting and creating hundreds of jobs locally as well as providing convenient, new and returning connections, and package holidays, to many popular leisure and city destinations.

“This move is indicative of the demand from people in the east of London, Essex and the wider East Anglia region who will have greater opportunities to choose to travel through Southend’s well connected, quick and easy airport.

“Our continued growth and investment in the UK highlights the importance of the market where this year we will operate more flying than ever before with our customers choosing our flights and holidays because of our trusted brand, unrivalled network and great value fares.”

The new base will be the latest of several easyJet has added over the past several years, with Birmingham opening last year and Milan-Linate(LIN) and Rome Fiumicino(FCO) arriving this spring. The incoming aircraft will be accompanied by a batch of new holiday routes across Europe and Africa, creating around 130 direct jobs for pilots and crew in the area.

The new routes will supplement the carrier’s existing connections and will be augmented by returning seasonal services. Based on scheduling data from Cirium, easyJet will operate the following routes from London Southend in 2025:

• Alicante (ALC), Spain
• Almeria (LEI), Spain*
• Amsterdam (AMS), Netherlands
• Antalya (AYT), Turkey*
• Dalaman (DLM), Turkey*
• Enfidha (NBE), Tunisia*
• Geneva (GVA), Switzerland
• Gran Canaria (LPA), Canary Islands, Spain
• Malaga (AGP), Spain
• Malta (MLA)*
• Marrakech (RAK), Morocco*
• Palma de Mallorca (PMI), Spain
• Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), France
• Pisa (PSA), Italy*
• Reus (REU), Spain*
• Tenerife South (TFS), Canary Islands, Spain*

*New for 2025

The flights also provide a gateway for visitors from France, Italy, Malta, Morocco, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Tunisia to reach London and Great Britain at large. The UK is easyJet’s largest market, with 56% of all easyJet passengers flying to and from UK airports. John Upton, the former CEO of London Southend Airport, remarked how excited he was for the new base when it was announced:

“We’re thrilled to welcome an easyJet base to London Southend, supporting and creating hundreds of jobs locally as well as convenient, new and returning connections to many popular leisure and city destinations.

“This move is indicative of the demand from people in the east of London, Essex and the wider East Anglia region who now have greater opportunities to choose to travel through our well connected, quick and easy airport.

“easyJet passengers will start their holiday sooner at London Southend as they relax and discover our award-winning terminal experience.”

In addition to regularly scheduled commercial flights, Southend Airport serves a large number of private, charter, and general aviation flights. Tour operator Balkan Holidays also operates a series of summer package holidays to the Black Sea coastline in Bulgaria this year.

The airport is also home to one of the three remaining operable Vulcan Bombers.