The owners of Southend Airport, Eddie Stobart, expect to have expanded the airport in time for the Olympic Games in London 2012. The Bank of London and the Middle East has agreed to loan the group around £20 million pound to fund approximately two thirds of the construction project.

The British government has given permission to expand Southend airport (SEM), which lies around an hour’s drive east of central London, and it is expected that the airport can attract two million passengers a year by 2020.

Work on a related new rail station and a new control tower has already commenced and are expected to be completed in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The extension of the runway by 300 metres will soon be underway and is scheduled simultaneously with the completion of a new passenger terminal in 2011 – so in time for the London Olympics. A new hotel will also be built near the airport.

“The expanded runway will allow Southend Airport a significant role in the many visitors to the Olympics, as with a train journey in 40 minutes to reach the big Olympic Park in Stratford in east London”, says a press release from the owners.

The extended runway will allow aircraft types such as Airbus 320, Boeing 737 and Embraer 195 with up to 160 seats to use the airport.

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