WORK is set to begin on a £10 million maintenance project for the runway of Southend Airport.

The “essential” maintenance work is to upgrade the durability and performance of the runway going into the New Year.

The work is expected to last approximately three months, and is set to begin on January 7.

It is the first major project to improve the airport’s runway in eight years.

The airport is now a significant employer, playing a key role in regenerating the Southend area as well as offering accessible leisure and business travel to people across the south of Essex, and London.

Over the past few years the number of passengers using the airport has grown to 1.5 million, with this number expected to rise further next year.

This upgrade is part of the ambitious plan for ongoing investment to cater for increased aircraft operations, which is hoped will lead the creation of more jobs for the area.

These roles will include the 750 “on-site” jobs created with the opening of a new Ryanair base at Southend Airport in summer 2019.

The majority of the works will be undertaken during night time in order to keep the airport operating smoothly during the day.

The runway will be closed to all aircraft between 11.30pm and 6.30am, to enable the contractors to carry out the planned works in a safe environment.

Glyn Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport, said: “It is essential to maintain a safe runway.

READ MORE: How Southend Airport has changed in the last (very successful) decade

“The last set of major runway works were in 2011 and were part of the runway extension development. Previous to that, maintenance was carried out in 1994.

“As part of the strategic plan for continued investment to cater for the growth of the airport, within our existing S106 Planning Agreement, we are enhancing the durability and performance of the runway.”

Mr Jones added: “We value our relationship with the local community and, although the nature of these works means that some disturbance is unavoidable, we will be putting a series of measures in place and making every effort possible to ensure that any disturbance is kept to an absolute minimum.”

Southend Airport was ranked “Best London Airport” 2017 by Which? for the fifth year in a row. It was also voted best UK airport (under 3 million capacity) by the Airport Operator’s Association for 2015 and 2016.

Visit https://southendairport.com/faqs.