London City Airport new aircraft

Bigger 'planes at LCY ?

Will British Airways CityFlyer announce its future aircraft needs at the Paris Air Show? (see in this week's TNU).

London City Airport recently arrived Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Hodges tells TNU that the choice will be interesting, both the potential aircraft offering around 10% more capacity, quieter, and extended range by making the use of runway upgrades.

Users of the airport at this time will note major restaurant improvements under way, the pre-pandemic terminal expansion now on hold for the time being.  “Once we get back towards 5m annual passengers we will look again.”  Presently the airport is forecasting towards 3.5m passengers for this year.  

Amsterdam continues to be the most popular destination with both British Airways (six flights) and KLM (10 flights) vying for business, other key routes being Zurich, Frankfurt, Dublin, Luxembourg, Glasgow, Berlin, Belfast City and Dusseldorf in that order.  All the BA holiday routes, including the Greek islands, continue to flourish and the winter programme will be much the same as the one now behind us.  Clearly with the Canary Wharf banking fraternity in mind Loganair continues with its Isle of Man route in spite of now also offering Heathrow. 

Under way is the new “Juniper” restaurant, opening soon, which will provide passengers with a greater level of service from a new bar area and full-service kitchen, plus an overall increase of 80 covers. In addition, the airport’s “Cabin Bar” will be replaced with a new SSP restaurant brand offering a new menu, greater levels of service and an overall increase of 20 covers.

The airport is monitoring carefully its planning application, not offering more flights, but allowing airlines flexibility at the weekends with its proposal to extend operating hours on Saturdays. No date has yet been announced by the local council for a decision.  

Also under consideration is an (electric) bus link to Custom House, for both exhibition and Elizabeth Line connections.  The possibility of a Silvertown station is remote, although most parties agree that its demotion by the then Mayor Boris Johnson a serious blunder.  Present Mayor Sadiq Khan has never visited the airport, aviation links to the capital not of importance for him.

www.londoncityairport.com

The covers below are from two special runs of "London City Airport 30 YEARS SERVING THE CAPITAL".

But what will be on the cover in British Airways colours in a planned updated edition sometime in the future.

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