|
Post by tagron on Dec 16, 2017 21:38:07 GMT
It appears that SEN management have informed the Vulcan Restoration Trust that they will be required to vacate Bay 6. This apparently is triggered by the Air Livery hangar fire and the need for redevelopment in the Northern Maintenance Area. I believe it was always part of the deal that the VRT would vacate if Stobart needed the hangar but I imagine they are surprised and disappointed that the requirement may be forced on them so soon after they moved in. www.avrovulcan.com/?q=node/1358This raises the interesting question of what is planned for the Northern Maintenance Area. It certainly has been depopulating over the last few years. Jota and Avionicare moved to the southside, 247 Jet went to Farnborough, Inflite ceased MRO work (though I think their component overhaul business is still there)and of course the Air Livery site has needed to be cleared. This has left very little in the way of actual airframe business or activity. Despite there being vacant sites available for years none have been taken up. I suspect the Area is not attractive to potential clients in its present form and at the same time rental income must have fallen significantly. One can see that Stobart will want to unlock the value of the land and this might be achieved by a a major redevelopment which would involve moving remaining tenants to the southside hangars. Is there any word of Stobart's plans ?
|
|
|
Post by EGMCfollower on Dec 18, 2017 9:04:01 GMT
Perhaps with the new business park being built, is there scope for an improved cargo handling facility?
|
|
|
Post by expressflight on Jan 2, 2018 16:50:03 GMT
Prospects for 2018
I don't seem to have offered my thoughts for the coming year recently but I feel that 2018 could be a watershed in SEN's success or otherwise.
The past year has seen a very large increase in the number of destinations served from SEN with a total of 28 destinations being served in October 2017, double the number served 12 months earlier. This was entirely due to the fact that Stobart Group decided they would be best served by initiating new routes themselves through the Stobart Air franchise agreement with Flybe. This strategy appeared early in the year when talks with CityJet which would have resulted in much the same outcome were terminated and instead 'Stobart Air Mk. II' emerged as a carrier capable of not being limited by their ATR72 fleet just to shorthaul routes, as typified by their Aer Lingus Regional services and the SEN routes to CFR, GRQ and RNS, but now able to effectively access the Med sun destinations and the 'weekend break' European city destinations with newly acquired EMB195s. It is a striking confirmation of the Stobart Group's determination to make SEN a success and, indeed, an essential component of their whole business strategy for the years ahead. Up to now these new Stobart Air/Flybe routes are to some extent still finding their feet in terms of destination choice and frequencies/timings so 2018 will see the fruits of this initiative one way or the other.
The start to 2018 sees a domestic route network worthy of the name from SEN for the first time with the intention of offering DUB 19 x weekly, GLA 13 x weekly and MAN 18 x weekly through 2018. The sunshine and leisure routes will operate similarly to those of 2017 with a few changes as a result of experience of route activity last summer. A total of around 103 weekly Flybe-branded departures will be operated from SEN this summer by Stobart Air and a number of these are being marketed as offering through connectivity from SEN to MAN and beyond on the Flybe network from that city - examples being the new ANR route and the greatly expanded GRQ route. On the face of it this is wonderful news and certainly is for the SEN catchment populace who will benefit from having access to more destinations than ever before in the history of the airport.
Meanwhile EasyJet seem content with the performance of their SEN base and the addition of Prague, Bordeaux, Pula and Dubrovnik for high summer 2018, plus Malta apparently as an all year round destination, seems to suggest their interest in extending the variety of destinations from SEN is not yet exhausted. A 4th A319/A320 (presumably the latter is needed for Malta?) being added to the SEN base from July suggests that there may also be some frequency increases for existing SEN routes.
The above activities should produce around 30 daily departures compared to around 20 previously so, again, that has to be good news.
You are probably sensing there is a "But ......" on the way and you are correct. Previously Stobart Group have tried hard to attract new airlines to SEN and this has not proved possible up to now. It's certainly true to say that they came very close to doing so for 2018 in recent months and I applaud their strenuous efforts in that regard. There were two particular candidates who would have added very considerably to this coming summer's levels of activity and passenger numbers. I feel that I can name only one of these and even here I am making a few assumptions but feel confident that they are basically correct, based upon events elsewhere within the industry and at another airport. Wizzair without doubt have been a SEN target for a couple of years and Glyn Jones had mentioned them during the year when talking of his SEN growth expectations. I believe that they had a reasonably large operation planned for SEN in 2018 and that this was scuppered by two events totally out of Stobart's control. One was Brexit which, initially at least, probably made Wizzair nervous and led them to hold off any SEN plans they may have had until things became clearer. The other was the failure of Monarch which resulted overnight in a number of slots becoming available at LTN. Wizzair have been expanding at LTN for a long time but capacity for 2018 would have limited this continuing at any pace. Those following the LTN thread on PPRuNe will know that Wizzair have now announced additional based aircraft at that airport; something they couldn't have done without the failure of Monarch. The second airline in question would have offered at least as much additional traffic for SEN in 2018 as Wizzair and again I believe this came very close to fruition but for reasons unbeknown to me no deal was concluded. Whether this is just delay in something happening or a total rethink I don't know but it certainly hasn't just been transferred to another LON airport so perhaps hope still remains for 2019. This latter possibility is my reason for not disclosing the name of the carrier. Much of my confidence in the accuracy of what I have written above is based upon the fact that Stobart spent large sums on expanding and re-laying the south and north aprons and improving taxiway access/quality in the second half of 2017 and I don't believe this was carried out on a speculative basis, but to satisfy potential operators' requirements. The extension of the terminal building which has now received planning consent and should hopefully be completed in the first half of 2018 will offer the capacity to cater for any new airline's needs so can only bode well for the future. The Stobart Jet Centre is now nearly completed and should make SEN a more attractive arrival point for bizjet traffic and will perhaps by an area of activity to watch in 2018. The capacity of SEN to cater for LCY weather diversions has also been enhanced by these infrastructure improvements and I shall not be surprised to see a busy SEN ramp from time to time as a result.
All in all there should be considerable growth in passenger numbers and I would not be surprised to see 1.5 million passengers in 2018, although nearly all generated by Flybe/Stobart Air and EasyJet. Whether the MAN route in particular proves a success will depend very largely on the numbers of connecting passengers carried and doubts must exist in that regard but let's hope for the best. Whether a Carlisle route does at last commence this year seems at least a possibility this time but it obviously will not contribute any great level of traffic in any event.
I would welcome any comments or corrections regarding these thoughts, should they prove interesting, and again stress that they represent only my personal views and deductions as I am in no way commercially connected with SEN now and have not been for some years so am not privy to any commercial matters appertaining to SEN. If I was, of course, I certainly wouldn't divulge them here.
|
|
|
Post by Humberside on Jan 2, 2018 22:17:31 GMT
With Stobart's expansion and EasyJet adding a 4th based aircraft I agree it will be a big test/watershed year for SEN. If the expanded operations are a success it will be something to build on, whether further Stobart or EasyJet expansion, or new airlines. If they aren't it won't help SEN short term in trying to attract new airlines.
Out of interest has SEN-MAN got any codeshares on it yet? Flybe have quite a few codeshare partners at MAN
Putting some effort into attracting bizjet traffic seems a wise idea as it will (slightly) diversify the customer base
|
|
|
Progress
Jan 4, 2018 22:56:56 GMT
via mobile
Post by EGMCfollower on Jan 4, 2018 22:56:56 GMT
I don’t suppose BA’s announcement of expansion at LGW today with an additional 150 weekly flights for S18 was the potential SEN airline? Like Wizz Air, they too have taken advantage of the spare Monarch slots.
|
|
|
Post by tagron on Feb 12, 2018 23:14:46 GMT
I understand Air Livery's SEN operation is back in business, initially on EZY resprays. Is this correct and if so which hangar are they using ? (can't come and see for myself as I am too far away at present.)
There seem to have been no further developments regarding the Vulcan Restoration Trust and Hangar 6 and in fact they are advertising open days from April through to September.
|
|
|
Post by jon on Feb 13, 2018 8:34:12 GMT
The Vulcan is back outside (now outside hangar 5). I believe hangar 6 is now in use by Air Livery.
|
|
|
Post by Humberside on Feb 17, 2018 19:20:48 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Humberside on Mar 12, 2018 12:16:10 GMT
Southend's 3rd new airline starting flights this year announced today with Loganair joining Air Malta and IgAvion - and maybe Adria to Paderborn to come as well. The Loganair flights are obviously very much connected to Stobart but slowly starting to see some diversity in Southend's airline portfolio
|
|
|
Post by tagron on May 31, 2018 20:28:50 GMT
More taxiway problems. New NOTAM issued today. How did this happen after all last year's work ?!
B) FROM: 18/05/31 13:58C) TO: 18/06/05 17:00
E) EXIT OFF AND ENTRANCE TO RWY 05/23 VIA TAXIWAY BRAVO NOT AVBL DUE BAD GROUND AT HOLDING POINT BRAVO 1
|
|
|
Post by Thames Gateway on Jun 12, 2018 9:24:03 GMT
Looks like not just the taxiways that are giving problems:
B) FROM: 18/06/11 13:53C) TO: 18/06/13 23:00
E) ILS RWY 05 OUT OF SERVICE
The north-easterly winds and lowish cloud won't be helping the issue.
|
|
|
Post by Thames Gateway on Jun 13, 2018 6:49:44 GMT
ILS seems to be fixed now.
|
|
|
Post by tagron on Oct 5, 2018 22:04:57 GMT
Air Livery received planning consent from Rochford Council at the end of August for their new hangar to be built on the site of the one destroyed by the fire. It will have 52% greater floor area and the published dimensions indicate it should accommodate up to B757 and A321 including the entire 737 range. The previous spray shop was restricted to A320 and B737-700 size.
In a separate development Air Livery including its five UK bases has been purchased by the French international company Satys, formally known as Finnaero. Satys is a substantial company with annual revenue of 170 million Euros in 2017, expected to rise to 200million in 2018. Its published aim is to double in size by 2025 so one would think the omens are good for the new SEN hangar to go ahead.
After removal of debris and repairs to an adjacent building there appears to have been no further work carried out on the site to date. Presumably they will continue to use Hangar 6 while waiting for the new building to become available assuming of course that the EZY contract continues ?
|
|
|
Post by expressflight on Oct 6, 2018 7:44:44 GMT
I was told they will not use Hangar 6 again due to environmental problems but that was not from the company themselves..
|
|
|
Post by tagron on Oct 27, 2018 9:49:53 GMT
Is there any news of the forthcoming runway works, what exactly is involved prior to grooving and what is the schedule ? I would be concerned that much or all of the work looks like being carried out in the period of worst potential winter weather when there is greatest risk of disruption and potential failure to complete the work for April 1 .
Likewise the terminal extension. When I looked in three weeks ago there was a single JCB on site and it had started to level the ground between the terminal and the control tower. Hopefully there are more signs of progress by now ?
|
|