Southend airport is officially a London airport after IATA included it in the classification of the Metropolitan Area of London.
It means international travellers will automatically be offered Southend as an option alongside the other five ‘London’ passenger airports – Gatwick, Heathrow, City, Stansted and Luton.
Whilst the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has always classed the Essex airport as ‘London,’ historically the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has not.
Airport managing director Alastair Welch, said: "We look forward to even more people discovering our new light and airy terminal building less than 100 paces from our brand new railway station with up to 8 trains per hour into the heart of London.
"Passengers flying out from London Southend will wait for a maximum of four-minutes for security, whilst those arriving with just hand luggage can expect to travel from plane to train within 15 minutes of their aircraft doors opening (30 minutes if collecting luggage)."
