Despite the fact that Southend Airport is operated by a private company, Southend Borough Council has been subsidising it with local taxpayers’ money for a long time.

To date, the airport has been run in three different ways: first under the direct control of Southend Borough Council, secondly by operating as Southend Borough Council Airport Ltd (SBCAL) and most recently as London Southend Airport Company Ltd. (LSACL). LSACL is a subsidiary of Regional Airports Ltd. (RAL).

When the airport was run directly by the council, it was easy to obtain information about the profit, losses, passenger numbers and freight figures. These were contained in their account booklet each year. The accounts show the following:

1955 to 1960	£6,631 loss
1961 to 1970	£414,185 profit
1971 to 1980	£251,993 loss
1981 to 1984	£1,989,779 loss

In 1985, the Council brought in a company called British Airport International to run the airport. They were going to be paid a fee for this and forecast a profitable operation. In April 1987, the Council set up Southend Borough Council Airport Ltd. (SBCAL) with BAI running the operation and reporting to the Council. When SBCAL was wound up in 1994, the losses were £11,953,192 as shown in their annual report.

A lease for 150 years was given to LSACL in 1994. The lease rent was to be £45,000 per annum plus R.P.I. or 3% of turnover or 12.5% of profit before tax, whichever was the greatest.

Below is the financial situation obtained from Southend Borough Council for 2007. The balance available at March 2008 was £2,709,090 to give to LSACL. On top of this there is £2,000,000 of Council money for infrastructure improvements round the airport. To date, the cost of the JAAP is £124,210, funded by £80,000 from EEDA, the remainder divided between Southend and Rochford Councils.

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SOUTHEND AIRPORT

Rent paid to Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
	£
2000/2001	69,533
2001/2002	66,580
2002/2003	97,329	Includes £28k from prior years.
2003/2004	77,510
2004/2005	62,898
2005/2006	60,040
2006/2007	61,500
Capital receipts from sale of land
1994/1995	-
1995/1996	-
1996/1997	(1,512,300)
1997/1998	(876,000)
1998/1999	(59,248)
1999/2000	(1,304,100)
2000/2001	-
2001/2002	(94,000)
2002/2003	14,000	VAT adjustment relating to 2001/2002
2003/2004	-
2004/2005	-
2005/2006	-
2006/2007	-
Capital expenditure
1996/1997	80,197
1997/1998	237,316
1998/1999	87,602
1999/2000	56,469
2000/2001	135,449
2001/2002	672,954
2002/2003	337,413
2003/2004	71,266
2004/2005	712,530
2005/2006	67,674
2006/2007	160,506
	2,619,376
Balance available at 31.3.07	(1,212,272)