London City Airport Albert and King George V docks to the north and south respectively, also means that there are no covered maintenance facilities for aircraft. With space limited in the London Docklands area, and comparatively low passenger volumes, London City Airport is small compared with several other airports serving London, such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. The airport has a single, two-storey passenger terminal building. The ground floor contains the check-in desks and some service facilities as well as a staircase leading to the security control on the upper level, after which the airside waiting area and several more shops can
London Southend Airport adjacent to the airport entrance opened on 1 October 2012; owned by the Stobart Group it has the only rooftop restaurant in Essex. London Southend has been voted the best airport in Britain for three consecutive years by consumer group "Which?" in August 2013, August 2014, and again in September 2015. Southend Airport handles mainly scheduled passenger, charter, cargo and business flights, with some pilot training (both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter) and private aircraft flying. The airport is run by London Southend Airport Co Ltd, which employs over 150 people directly. Due to expansion, there were over 500 more people