Stobart Aviation 'on track for growth and profitability'

Passengers at Southend airport have risen by 25 per cent

Clear skies: flights from Southend airport to the continent avoid air-traffic congestion in the London area (Southend airport)

At a time of turmoil for smaller airlines, one of Britain’s newest carriers has revealed promising results.

Earlier this month Monarch Airlines collapsed; after months of winding down with significant disruption, Air Berlin is set to close on 28 October; and yesterday Flybe issued a profits warning.

But Stobart Aviation, which owns the regional carrier Stobart Air as well as Southend and Carlisle airports, is poised “to grow and create significant value”.

Southend airport, which was moribund until the Stobart Group invested more than £100m, has seen passengers rise by 25 per cent to 610,492 — though it still handles fewer people in a year than Heathrow does in three days.

Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, told The Independent: “We’re delighted with progress, and moving forward pretty much exactly as we thought we would be.”

Stobart Air, which is mainly based at the Essex airport, is expanding steadily and has just announced a new route to Antwerp.

“It’s a volatile time, as Alitalia, Air Berlin and Monarch have demonstrated, but as our own airline has shown, you can make money,” said Mr Jones.

”The airline is in a profitable position. That’s not a common position for a regional airline.”

Stobart Group says its airline and airports will deliver “significant value”.

The firm showed pre-tax profits of £111.6m, a 10-fold increase, largely due to the disposal of a large slice of Eddie Stobart Logistics.