London Southend Airport rated best airport in the UK again – utilising a fully virtualised SaaS IT solution powered by Ultra Electronics Airport Systems

For the 2nd time in three months and for the 3rd year in a row London Southend Airport has been rated best airport in the UK. This year’s awards are from consumer magazine Which? and from the Airport Operators Association (AOA).

The AOA winner was decided by a survey of airline members of the Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) and the British Air Transport Association (BATA). The Which? award was gained based on a customer satisfaction survey.

London Southend Airport utilises a unique fully hosted Airport Solution delivering Software as a Service (SaaS) from a fully secured data centre, provided by Ultra Electronics, Airport Systems. London Southend’s visionary approach on this project enables the airport to benefit from significant savings, removing the need for an on-site IT room and IT team with everything being managed by Ultra remotely. It is one of only a few fully virtualised airports in the world. Ultra supplies the Common Use Passenger Processing System, Airport Operational Database, Flight Information Display System and Airport Charge Calculation and Billing.

Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, which owns the airport said:

“To win another ‘Best Airport in Britain’ is superb news and once again testament to all the hard work that the team at London Southend has put in.

“Our unique ‘Simply Easier’ promise to passengers that include short walking distances, outstanding customer service, a lack of queues compared to other London Airports, our own station with fast and frequent train services to the heart of London every 20-minutes, and car parks right next to the terminal, are all key factors in our success and why ever increasing numbers of passengers are repeatedly choosing London Southend Airport over all the others.”

Paul Owen, Managing Director Ultra Electronics, Airport Systems commented:

“Ultra has been providing cost saving SaaS solutions for airports and airlines for over 10 years, but the London Southend requirement was to take this model one step further by minimizing the IT overhead on site. Ultra is proud to contribute to smooth and cost effective operations at Southend that airlines and passenger highly value.”