Joy to the world! London Southend celebrates first ever flight to Lapland
London Southend Airport has brought joy to the world (of Southend) with today’s inaugural flight to Lapland, operated by package holiday provider, Santa’s Lapland.
To celebrate the festive occasion, passengers were met with mince pies, mini hot chocolates and an extra special visit from Enzo the Elf!
Music filled the award-winning terminal as the #SENsational team – complete with bells, antlers and mistletoe – danced, sang and embraced the spirit of Christmas before waving passengers off on their magical getaway to Finland.
A representative for Santa’s Lapland said: “Santa’s Lapland are delighted to be offering their first flight from London Southend Airport, allowing even more families to experience a Christmas like no other from their local airport.
“Following the fun filled flight to Ivalo an abundance of Christmas magic awaits. From husky sledding, tobogganing, mini skidoos, and a reindeer sleigh ride, to an unforgettable private meeting with Santa himself, every trip will be packed full of magic and memories to last a lifetime.”
Business Development Director for London Southend Airport, Nigel Mayes, said: “Christmas has come early for passengers on today’s flight; from the joyful experience of our quick and easy airport to departing on the first ever package holiday to Lapland, families from Essex, the east of London – even as far as Yorkshire and Cardiff, we learnt this morning – will remember this as a once-in-a-lifetime trip that started at London Southend.”
Santa’s Lapland packages for December 2025 are already on sale, with flights departing London Southend Airport on Sunday, December 21, 2025.
The flight to Ivalo Airport completes London Southend’s existing schedule for winter 2024, including ski flights to Geneva with airline partner, easyJet, in addition to Amsterdam, Paris and Alicante.
The airport will welcome an increase in its commercial operation from summer 2025 following the return of a three-aircraft easyJet base in March next year. Passengers can book holidays across Europe and North Africa with flights to Pisa, Marrakech, Malta, Reus and Almeria in Spain, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Alicante, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Amsterdam, Paris, Antalya and Dalaman in Turkey and Enfidha in Tunisia.
Tour operator Balkan Holidays will also return for a series summer package holidays to the Black Sea coastline in Bulgaria.
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About London Southend Airport
London Southend Airport, ranked the best London airport by consumer group Which? six times and voted the best UK airport (under three million capacity) by the Airport Operator’s Association in 2019.
Serving close to 2.3 million passengers in 2019, London Southend offered services to around 40 domestic and European cities. The terminal has its own railway station, less than 100 paces from the main entrance, with up to six trains an hour at peak times to central London, taking just 52 minutes to Liverpool Street and 43 minutes from Stratford. All airport car parks are located minutes from the terminal entrance.