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London City Airport has been cleared to grow from 6.5 to 9 million passengers annually, although plans to extend its Saturday opening hours have been rejected.
The new UK government approved London City Airport’s new passenger cap on Aug. 19. The airport originally sought permission for the changes in December 2022, but the plans were rejected by local planning authorities in July 2023 because of the noise and environmental impact. London City immediately appealed the decision, and that appeal has now proven successful.
London City handled 3.4 million passengers in 2023, and the airport is expecting to reach its existing 6.5 million cap by the mid-2020s, hitting up to 9 million passengers by 2031.
While the new clearances do not include any additional infrastructure or any changes to the airport’s 111,000 annual flight limit, the airport has been given permission for three additional weekday movements in its first 30 min. of operation, taking it to nine flights between 6:30 a.m. and 6:59 a.m. The airport had originally hoped to secure a total of 12 early morning movements, but this was whittled down to nine in the early stages of the consultation process.
London City Airport CEO Alison FitzGerald welcomed the clearances, but she was “disappointed” that the government rejected plans to allow Saturday flights between 12:30p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (or 7:30 p.m. during the summer months).
The airport currently closes at 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and afternoon operations would have allowed up to 12 additional arriving flights. Under the original plan, London City wanted to extend the Saturday opening even further to 10:00 p.m.
FitzGerald said the rejection of the extended Saturday opening hours will “slow down” fleet renewals, because the airport had committed to only allowing the latest technology aircraft to fly in the extended operating hours. The Embraer 190-E2, 195-E2 and Airbus A220-100 are all specially certified to perform London City’s steep approach.
“Local residents would have had the added benefit of these aircraft operating at the airport throughout the week, not just in the extended operating hours,” she said.
One of London City’s main operators is British Airways CityFlyer (BA CityFlyer). In September 2023, BA CityFlyer CEO Tom Stoddart said he was considering A220s or E2s for the airline’s fleet renewal, but this partly depended on London City’s ability to secure extended opening hours.
CityFlyer currently operates a fleet of 20 E190SRs. The SR—which stands for special requirements—was specifically certified for BA CityFlyer, because the airline’s scope clause blocks non-mainline pilots from operating aircraft certified with over 100 seats.
Stoddart said CityFlyer was getting up to seven hours of daily utilization from its E190SRs, but longer weekend opening hours would increase this figure quite significantly. “The increased utilization associated with adjusted opening hours is critical to making an investment case,” Stoddart said in September 2023.
London City is currently open 6:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Monday to Fridays. At weekends, its opening hours are 6:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 12:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m. on Sundays. “There can’t be many airlines that are unable to access their home base for 24 hr. every weekend,” Stoddart said.
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