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Post by expressflight on Aug 30, 2008 6:37:18 GMT
I'm pleased to hear that the railway station still seems firmly in the programme, although I wonder why Alastair specifically mentioned 8th October 2009 (a Thursday) as being the "ideal" opening date. It seems rather odd to name the day that far in advance, and such an obscure date at that.
Is something else happening on that date?
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Post by southendobserver on Aug 31, 2008 16:53:41 GMT
I understand that Icejet, the Icelandic bizjet operator, is establishing a London 'base' at SEN and will rotate its five-strong Dornier 328Jet fleet through SEN as required. ATC Lasham are to provide engineering support. The costs of parking their aircraft at LCY, STN or LTN is given as the main reason for this, together with SEN's H24 availability. Their aircraft are configured either in executive shuttle or VIP pax layouts, according to the mission. Picture in the latest 'Airport's of The World' showing us two examples, which stayed for two weeks... Apparently just parked for that period.
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Post by expressflight on Sept 1, 2008 6:32:05 GMT
So far three of Icejet's fleet have visited SEN and operated as follows:
TF-MIK 25/7 from Luton, 5/8 to Luton, from Geneva, 21/8 to Rimini, from Le Bourget, 29/8 to Luton.
TF-MIO 2/8 from Birmingham, 9/8 to Geneva, 17/8 from Luton, 23/8 to Malaga.
TF-NPA 17/8 from Reykjavik, 19/8 to Reykjavik.
There may also be other movements that I have missed, but I hardly think the description of "apparently just parked for two weeks" really fits the situation do you?
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Post by southendobserver on Sept 1, 2008 6:50:23 GMT
It seems to be a blunder by the photographer. You do need to be careful about what you read.
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Post by expressflight on Sept 13, 2008 9:33:02 GMT
The Icejet 328s continue to operate through SEN with 3 or 4 movements a week and other bizjet movements also seem to have increased in the past week or so.
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Post by LEWIS on Sept 19, 2008 7:44:05 GMT
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Post by expressflight on Sept 20, 2008 6:30:52 GMT
....... and an excellent response to the story from Thames Gateway on the Echo website, putting forward the facts very concisely I thought.
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Post by southendobserver on Sept 20, 2008 18:54:52 GMT
By Christine Sexton
LEIGH will bear the brunt of noise and pollution from the proposed expansion of Southend Airport, a new campaign group has claimed.
More than 200 people attended a meeting organised by the local branch of Friends of the Earth to draw up battle lines against the expansion, and to form a new committee to fight it.
The meeting heard the expansion of the runway across Eastwoodbury Lane would mean larger aircraft beginning their descent sooner to the longer runway, coming in lower over areas like Leigh, which are on the flight path.
The larger airport, which could mean the demolition of some houses in the area, is expected to cater for two million passengers a year, which equates to 40 flights a day.
It was claimed by the time aircraft reach the area of Eastwoodbury Lane, near the Borough Combination Ground and Nestuda Way, they will be very close to the ground.
But while there are restrictions on night passenger flights, there are none on night freight flights.
John Stewart, from Airport Watch, who was invited to the meeting to advise the campaigners on the best way to fight the proposals, said the aircraft “will be landing lower and there will be a lot more noise for Leigh”.
He added: “The question to ask is whether there is a market for passenger flights from Southend.
“My fear is it may not be passengers they are going for. It may be freight and, if so, it might be at night and with noisy old planes.”
Mr Stewart urged the campaigners to question whether the larger airport would bring jobs and business opportunities to the area.
He said while the airport would employ more staff, it was questionable whether it would bring any significant prosperity to the town.
Many at the meeting, at the Eastwood Community Centre, felt the expansion would bring added pressure to already gridlocked roads.
Some felt the consultation process organised by Southend Council and Rochford District Council had been poorly advertised and shrouded in secrecy.
Kiti Theobold, who was part of the now disbanded action group which campaigned to save St Laurence Church when it was threatened by previous airport expansion plans, is likely to become chairman of the new committee.
She said: “I am angry about the secrecy from the airport and from Rochford and Southend councils.
“I am angry my friend’s house is due for demolition. I don’t want children suffering from asthma and I don’t want my grandchild to g
Ridiculously biased article. No objecting quote to Mr Stewart from 'airport watch.' Its hardly suprising he wasn't in support of any expansion plans. I don't know what happened with the last paragraph. This has been directly copied from the echo website, has someone vandalised the article?
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Post by Thames Gateway on Oct 2, 2008 20:08:24 GMT
From the Southend Echo on Thursday.....
Council vote to sell, but Ipeco can’t buy 6:10pm Thursday 2nd October 2008
Comments (1) Have your say »
By John Geoghegan »
TORY councillors agreed to sell 25 acres of land near Southend Airport to an aviation company, only to discover the firm can no longer afford to buy it.
Aircraft seat manufacturer Ipeco expressed an interest in the land, off Aviation Way, when airport expansion plans were under discussion.
At a recent cabinet meeting, councillors agreed they were prepared to sell it to Ipeco, which employs about 400 people on its site in Aviation Way.
Now any sale has been stopped by the economic downturn and the crisis in aviation industry caused by rising fuel prices.
Ipeco supplies aircraft seats to leading companies including Boeing.
Steve Johnson, the firm’s chief executive, was surprised to hear the council had voted on the matter, as the company was not in a position to buy the land at the moment.
He explained: “There aren’t any plans for Ipeco’s expansion or relocation.
“This is the first I’ve heard about the sale of the land and I’ve had no approach from Southend Council.”
Mr Johnson added in the past Ipeco had held talks with both Southend and Rochford councils about airport expansion.
He said: “All we have said to the councils is if they did ever think about selling land, we might be interested.
“But right now we aren’t in a position to pay for it.
“We’ve actually reduced the number of staff we employ. We’ve made about 30 redundancies this year.”
John Lamb, deputy council leader, said councillors had agreed to the sale to help boost Ipeco’s business, which would, in turn, boost the economy of the town.
But added: “If we don’t have a reason to sell it, then we won’t.
“Only if we have the right approaches for it to be sold, would we do so. Otherwise we’ll hold on to it.”
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Post by expressflight on Oct 3, 2008 8:06:43 GMT
During my vist to SEN I was told that the Eastwoodbury Church authorities now support (and that was the word used) the runway extension plans.
I was rather disappointed at the new check-in facilities as the desks seem to just sit on the floor with no connected baggage conveyors nor any destination boards - they are merely free standing desks with built in weighing scales. That was my impression anyway. The landside terminal area in general doesn't give the impression of SEN being a 21st century airport yet - particularly the whiteboard giving arrivals information!
On a more positive note, the other facilities seemed pretty good with the one baggage carousel being sufficient for current needs and the expanded departure lounge with its new refreshment facility being a great improvement. Still very poor parking in front of the terminal for coaches and I'm surprised that hasn't been addressed. The new fuel farm and general tidying up, plus the large amounts of new fencing give the impression that it's an airport ready to move ahead. The renovated Inflite hangar and new workshops look particularly impressive. All it needs now is an owner with the funding to take the next steps forward.
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Post by Thames Gateway on Nov 5, 2008 20:55:35 GMT
I see from the Notams that the fire category has been permanently raised from the previous low level. This is a good move that has got to make the the airport more attractive to potential operators.
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Post by expressflight on Nov 6, 2008 12:39:17 GMT
The move to increase RFF cover to Category 4 (from Category 2), with Category 6 now available at a maximum of 30 minutes notice, has certainly been made to make SEN more attractive to potential operators.
In effect, it becomes Category 6 to all intents and purposes (except overnight) which more accurately reflects SEN's aspirations and capabilities. As they have the staff available it is a timely move to officially upgrade the level of cover.
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Post by expressflight on Nov 8, 2008 8:02:46 GMT
One bright spot amongst all the economic gloom is that ATC Lasham is extremely busy and currently they are suffering a shortage of engineers and may recruit some from Eastern Europe.
They have just taken on the lease of the southside ex-Air Livery hangar (next to the FLT hangar) so now have five maintenance bays at SEN.
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Post by LEWIS on Nov 8, 2008 17:37:54 GMT
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Post by expressflight on Nov 12, 2008 7:27:21 GMT
The second phase of the JAAP, the preferred strategy, is still being worked on by Rochford and Southend Councils but they expect it to be published and put out for public consultation in December.
Although that is a month later than in the original timetable they still hope that the submission proposal for the chosen option will be sent out, as planned, in June/July 2009.
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