London’s Southend Airport is up for sale with the parent company, Esken looking at the right buyer. The buyer would need to support the growth prospects of the airport over the long term and benefit airline partners, customers and stakeholders.
The company had originally announced in March 2023 that it was exploring the sale of the airport. The company expects the sale process to take several months, and that it would provide further updates in due course.
Esken originally bought Southend Airport on December 5, 2008, through its subsidiary Stobart Airports Ltd for £21 million. At the time, the book value of London Southend Airport’s assets was £25.5 million.
The pandemic hit the airport hard and as the airport resumed commercial operations, its revenue fell by 90% in 2020.
The airport borrowed £50 million last year to keep the operations afloat, but with airlines like Ryanair and Wizzair suspending operations, easyJet is the only airline operating from the airport.
In 2022, the airport saw just 90,000 roundtrip commercial passengers, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority. That was just 4.4% of the two million it had in 2019 when it was the UK’s 18th busiest airport.