London-Southend Airport is gradually turning out to be one of the big losers of the corona pandemic, because after Easyjet, Ryanair will also close its local base. In the previous year, the base was downsized to two Boeing 737-800s, but it should end at the beginning of the winter flight planning period 2021/22.

Southend is part of the Esken Group, formerly known as the Stobart Group. A few years ago they tried to set up some routes on their own with Stobart Air. The company acted as a Flybe franchisee for its own account. In some cases, Flybe planes were even rented so that Embraer regional jets could offer routes such as Vienna. However, the project was not crowned with great success and the airline Stobart Air no longer exists.

At the same time, both Easyjet and Ryanair established bases in Southend. First of all, the orange low-cost airline announced its withdrawal due to the pandemic. This wants to focus on Luton and Gatwick. The base in Stansted was also closed and the competitor Ryanair was able to get hold of many slots.

However, the latter has no interest in filling the gaps that the competitor has left in Southend, because the base at this airport will be closed on November 1, 2021. This was reduced to two Boeing 737-800s in the previous year. The Esken Group has a problem with that, because the Irish low-cost airline is the last remaining airline to offer regular scheduled flights from Southend. It is not entirely out of the question that one could continue to fly in from other bases, but Ryanair is putting all efforts and forces into the presence in Stansted in London.

As things currently stand, there is only a small ray of hope for Southend, as Wizz Air plans to offer Bucharest three times a week at the beginning of November, among other things. But that should be far too little to be able to at least cover costs at the airport, which is located around 65 kilometers from London near the city of Southend-on-Sea.