Thanks for the comments. Looks like 2011 was the last year with NWI being busier than ‘London Southend.’

The tail logos are identical, I wonder what the story behind that is..

Thanks a lot, I’m glad you liked the 757 shot. Far more efficient way of clearing birds than a flair gun!

Thanks for your comment, and I would certainly miss Aer Arann’s many liveries. Apparently one of their ATR42s, EI-CBK is currently in the paintshop at Shannon, being painted into Aer Lingus Regional livery. If that’s the case, Aer Arann; 4 ATR42s will be painted in 4 completely different liveries!!

I think you’re referring to the Algerian Air Force IL76s which came to Southend for attention by Avionicare.

There’s a video of it on youtube.

The Olympics was always the target date to get everything finished. The place should be very busy then, a railway station with at least 3 trains per hour to Stratford in under 45 minutes. Only LCY will be better connected to the Olympic site.
It will be fascinating to watch how it all pans out this year, but it seems inevitable that 2012 will be the busiest year for a very long time, perhaps since the golden days of the 1960s and 70s,

Flying a North Korean An26 in the 80s sound like quite an experience to me! So is flying a 727 into the short and narrow runway at Southend. However the 727s have relatively good runway performance???

I believe that the hotel which 27vet mentions is still around, however it is closed at the moment whilst undergoing restoration. It was meant to open for last summer, yet the owner insists it is going to reopen. They acquired a couple of former RAAF HS 748 fuselages a couple of years ago which they intend to use for weddings!

For good measure, I’ll add a couple more, both ATRs, and only one being Irish both landed after the Plane Stupid protesters were cleared of the runway and arrested!
Based maintainence company Inlflite which specialises in 146s, has previously offered basic support for Aer Arann, but this is the first visiting ATR which has come in for maintenance, in the form of a Golden Air ATR72 from a regional airport in Sweden.

SE-MDC Golden Air AT75 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr

Any finally, another Aer Arann ATR42, arriving just over 2 hours late from Waterford. EI-BYO is the most elderly aircraft in the relatively old Aer Arann fleet, being originally delivered to Ryanair in 1989. Despite being the oldest, it’s certainly the smartest, wearing the best of the 3 liveries which Aer Arann aircraft are flying around in.

EI-BYO Aer Arann AT43 at Southend EGMC by AeroPics, on Flickr