Is the sky the limit for Southend Airport?

Today's announcement that EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is in the process of setting up a new rival airline has prompted a lot of speculation, but the outspoken entrepreneur has so far kept the details of his new 'Fastjet' venture close to his chest. The Fastjet website simply declares that it is 'coming soon'. With the lack of any further information it's hard to tell how far down the line the airline's development is.

Although Stelios and his family still own 38% of EasyJet, he has been at loggerheads with the airline's board of directors for a number of years now. The revelation he is seeking to set up a rival airline could be dismissed as simple sour grapes, but the Haji-Ioannou family certainly has the necessary financial clout.

Stelios has extended the 'easy' brand to plenty of different ventures - including pizza - over the years, but he now seems set to abandon the brand (Photo credit: www.stelios.com)

One of the big questions of course, is how does a new airline establish a presence in and around the capital when any sort of airport expansion inevitably comes up against so much scrutiny and opposition?

The answer could lie on the Essex coast. For Southend Airport, the timing couldn't be any better. Last week marked the official opening of the rail link between the site and central London - 53 minutes from central London and 44 minutes from the Olympic site in Stratford.

Southend Airport is undergoing a massive improvement project. Having struggled to attract passenger airlines in recent decades, it will have 70 flights departing each week from April next year when EasyJet start flying to destinations such as Amsterdam, Barcelona and Belfast.

EasyJet's regular routes from Southend are key to the Stobart Group's ambitions for Southend (Credit: jakers118)

The owners - Stobart Group - have ambitious long-term plans too. By the year 2020 they want 2 million passengers per year to be passing through. Could Fastjet be the fast-track to Southend reaching these heights and becoming a major transport hub in the south-east of England?