Judges proclaim it the ‘Jewel in London’s gateway’

London Southend Airport has won the prestigious ERA (European Regions Airline Association) Airport Achievement Award 2012/13 – the second time in three years it has achieved this top honour.

The award recognises the best achievements by an ERA member airport over the previous 12 months and the positive role it has played in support of future intra-European air transport operations.  Previous winners include Munich, Nantes Atlantique and London City airports.

Beating off strong international and national competition, London Southend was picked as the winner in recognition of the number of major projects the airport has completed in a relatively short space of time and its focus on customer service.

The announcement was made during a prestigious award ceremony at the Dublin Convention Centre on Thursday 20 September. On announcing London Southend as the winner, the Chairman of the Judging Panel said “In spite of its limited traffic volume this airport is making a massive effort to become attractive for passengers and airlines. The delivery of five major infrastructure projects in the same year is an outstanding achievement. They present themselves as a compact airport with dedicated customer commitments. The airport’s ability to transform plans to practical results is impressive. In a tough financial environment Southend was able to realize its ambitious plans to create a modern infrastructure, centred on the needs of its work force as well as the passengers and with a high focus on social and environmental considerations. The service orientation of the compact facilities together with the creation of optimum processes will make Southend a jewel in London’s gateway.”

London Southend Airport Managing Director Alastair Welch says “We are delighted to have been given this award for the second time in three years – it is a very large vote of confidence from Europe’s largest and most respected airline association. The whole team at London Southend has worked  incredibly hard to bring all the new facilities at the airport on line and to meet our customer service commitment of 4 minutes through security and 15 minutes from exiting plane to train (with hand baggage). We are looking forward to more routes being available from October, with the airport well on course to reach its target of 2 million passengers per year by 2020. We’d also like to thank our partners at easyJet and Aer Lingus for the part they are playing in making the airport a jewel in London’s gateway.”
London Southend previously won the award in 2010/11 for its collaborative work with the local community and relevant local bodies in order to secure planning permission for a runway extension.