SOUTHEND Airport enjoyed its “busiest weekend for years” as a link with Uefa saw the runway packed with planes from across Europe.

Ahead of the Champions League final, at Wembley on Saturday night, the airport teamed up with organisers to host planes full of fans and other attendees heading to London.

Aviation enthusiasts who spent the evening plane spotting claimed it is the busiest they have seen the airport since before the Covid pandemic.

The success of the flights – despite some concerns from those living near the airport about noise – has created a new level of confidence in the future of Southend Airport.

Simon Murdoch, has been plane spotting since the 1960s, and claimed it shows Southend is capable and has capacity to host extra flights.

The 68-year-old said: “It was certainly the most business jets I have ever seen parked at the airport in all my 60 years of spotting, Southend Jet Centre must really be pleased.

“Let’s hope that now they have discovered Southend they will visit us again. They did a marvellous job handling so many jets and all those Madrid fans on the airliner charter flights as well.

“It shows the airport is capable of handling a large number of flights all at one time as well and is hopefully a good start for the new owners and it will continue to grow”.

Six smaller business jets and five business planes arrived at Southend ahead of the match, with 16 jets and nine passenger planes departing after the game finished.

The success of the link with Uefa comes just weeks after easyJet revealed plans to set up a new base at the airport and introduce extra flights.

Southend aviation enthusiast, Aaron Chesham, added: “It was absolutely fantastic to see the airport so busy for a change.

“It is slowly getting back to how it was long before Covid, and I reckon the airport could attract more airlines.

“It just proves that we can handle so many aircraft in one day.”

Before the weekend, the airport said that they “understand it may cause noise disturbance” but the larger aircraft moved to the “passenger terminal” to avoid ground noise.

Daniel Cowan, leader of Southend Council, said: “The Champions League final showed what Southend Airport is capable of handling and that is a good thing for them.

“This was a one-off so I wouldn’t want to see the night flights repeated regularly but it does show the attractiveness of Southend for different routes.”