London City Airport Starts Public Consultation to Handle Rising Demand

This month, London City Airport initiated a 10-week public consultation regarding its plan to cope with the rising passenger demands in the upcoming decade after estimating that the number of passengers this year might reach 3 million.

After analysing that the airport might pass its previously planned cap of 6.5 million passengers a year by the middle of this decade, the London aviation market has made a strong comeback after the pandemic.

According to the consultation plans, the airport will focus on its part in meeting the increased demand in London, along with fulfilling any demands of customization by domestic and international travellers. Another important point to focus on would be to be able to ensure accommodating the growth to 9 million passengers a year without making any infrastructural and strategic changes to other airports in the South-East.

After the publication of the airport’s master plan back in 2020, they have invited monitoring of extra flexibility which will be operated on a Saturday afternoon and evening, alongside the first and last half hour of daily operations.

A commitment to only allow cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft, like the Airbus A220 and Embraer E2, to fly in the new operating periods, is also attached to this plan. This will not only improve the connections to new destinations, but also increase the delivery of these aircraft to the airport.

Details of the current 8-hour nighttime curfew to stay in place and not allowing flights to enter the airport before noon on a Sunday are detailed in the consultation. So far, no new plan of increasing the number of flights to enter or exit the airport or additional car parking has been proposed to meet its targets of achieving 80% of journeys.

Contributions towards levelling up and delivering an additional 2,100 jobs will be created from the proposed changes. Among the 2100 jobs, 1,250 are at the level of comfortably living in London wages directly from the airport’s operation, and 850 are created across London through its supply chain. To aid in the improvement activities of local communities and achieve their full potential, The airport has planned to share the benefits through an enhanced Community Fund.

Robert Sinclair, the Airport’s Chief Executive Officer, said regarding the consultation, “London City Airport plays an incredibly important role in quickly and easily connecting London to the rest of the UK and the world for both business and leisure travel. The strength of our rebound demonstrates the huge pent-up demand for air travel and the need to plan responsibly for the future.

Most importantly, following our commitment to being the first net-zero airport in London by 2030, these proposals set out how London City and its airlines can meet future demand sustainably. In particular, it will accelerate investment in cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft, for use for extended periods, delivering the benefit of quieter aircraft to our local community throughout the whole week.

During the 10-week consultation, we want to hear from everybody so that we have the most informed plans for the future as possible.”

Warner Rootliep, Managing Director of KLM Cityhopper, has stated: “London City is a key airport in our UK network, providing fast and convenient connections to and from the rest of the world via KLM’s hub at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

KLM has recently acquired a fleet of new generation Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, which is ideally suited to airports like London City, and more operational flexibility will help us grow this vital route using our new aircraft, reducing noise and emissions.  We look forward to reviewing the proposals in detail.”

Tom Stoddart, CEO of British Airways CityFlyer, has made the statement: “We welcome these proposals, which will provide more choice and flexibility for our customers, increase local jobs and help to drive London’s economic recovery. At British Airways, we remain focused on a sustainable future, and these proposals put sustainability at the forefront of change in London City.

At British Airways we have a clear roadmap to get us to net-zero emissions by 2050, including flying more fuel-efficient aircraft, progressively introducing sustainable aviation fuel and looking at how we can help accelerate the growth of new technologies, such as zero-emissions hydrogen-powered aircraft.”