Southend Airport now has scheduled flights to Galway and Waterford in Ireland – and the Echo has quite a good article, wiith lots of comments, here.
We thought it would be worth looking to see what they thought of this in Galway – and there seems to be some enthusiasm.
This is the article in the Connacht Sentinel :
Sky’s the limit for airport as new service takes to the air
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March 29, 2011 – 7:00am By Dara Bradley
Galway passengers now have two London choices after weekend launch
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Airport bosses have predicted that Galway?s newly launched link to London Southend will mark the start of a brighter future for the facility, which has been under increasing financial pressure in the aftermath of the Government?s decision to withdraw its support for subsidised fares.
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Management at Galway Airport say the new air route will, in time, increase the Carnmore facility?s connectivity with major European regional and hub airports such as Amsterdam and Charles de Gaulle, Paris ? and that, they say, will create new opportunities in terms of business links to new destinations as well as opening up new tourism markets with direct access to Galway.
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Aer Arann?s first flight from Galway Airport to Southend London took to the skies on Sunday ? the Irish airline will operate direct flights four times a week, with three days via Waterford.
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There will be two return flights each day, morning and evening, between Galway and London Southend with direct flights on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. On the other three days each week flights will operate via Waterford.
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The flight time is about one hour 50 minutes and when a new terminal and rail station is completed at Southend by the end of this year, the train commute into London Liverpool Street station will be approximately 50 minutes.
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The new route opens up the whole east coast of England and the greater London area for passengers flying direct from Galway but also has huge potential for local businesses as well as tourism interests, according to Galway Airport manager Joe Walsh.
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It will also offer great opportunities for Galway people to fly direct to the airport, which is situated just miles ? and one train station hop away ? from Stratford, the heart of the London Olympics 2012.
?There are large Irish populations on the east coast of England, in places like Brentwood and Colchester and now there is a direct flight into Galway, which opens up new tourism markets and opportunities,? said Mr Walsh.
There;s an interesting line there – Management at Galway Airport say the new air route will, in time, increase the Carnmore facility?s connectivity with major European regional and hub airports such as Amsterdam and Charles de Gaulle, Paris So it looks like Southend will have flights to Amsterdam or Paris soon?
Has there been a change in the air traffic routes in this region lately? Over the past few weeks I have become aware of more low level planes passing over our house, with the related increased noise.
They seem to be mainly the medium sized turbo prop type, but there have been some passenger jets as well.