SOUTHEND Airport is showing support to frustrated passengers who are delayed at Heathrow and Gatwick by offering free flights to three destinations.

The move is the latest ploy by the airport to boost numbers and compete with the country’s biggest airports.

The airport is offering free return tickets to Manchester, Glasgow or Dublin on new flights to be operated by Stobart Air, to passengers who suffer delays of 30 minutes or more to those destinations.

The offer will apply to flights from October 29 for the first 1,000 passengers who prove that they have been delayed from Monday until the offer runs out on September 30.

Glyn Jones, CEO of Stobart Aviation, owners of London Southend Airport, explained the reasoning behind the offer.

He said: “Heathrow and Gatwick keep celebrating rising passenger numbers.

“But what is good for their bottom line, makes for a bad travel experience for tens of thousands of passengers every day.

“We have been rated the best airport in the UK three years in a row by Which? and it is our core customer promise that we provide a better, quicker, more pleasurable way to travel compared to the stressful and overwhelmed larger airports.

“An increasing number of people are discovering the benefits of London Southend Airport and are enjoying our calm, friendly and easy terminal; we look forward to welcoming many more.”

The offer comes following figures released from the Civil Aviation Authority which found that in the first five months of 2017, 11 million passengers or 75,000 passengers per day faced delays at Heathrow and Gatwick.

Successful customers will be sent voucher codes to book the free flights in the first half of September 2017.The offer ties in with Southend Airport and the Stobart Group celebrating their new flight services to Dublin, Manchester and Glasgow.

The new services to Dublin and Manchester will operate up to three times daily, with Glasgow up to twice daily from Sunday to Friday. All new routes are on sale now.