London City Airport begins 10-week consultation on changes to its existing planning permission
With a little change to the operating hours the airport currently runs to, could see up to 9 million people travel through the airport, with no major changes to its existing runway and infrastructure. The airport is seeking to open for an hour longer on weekdays and open on Saturday afternoon and evening, which will, according to the airport create around 2,100 additional jobs and also provide a boost to business productivity locally equivalent to £530m a year. This would also support tourist expenditure in London of around £600m a year and contribute an additional £750m annually to London’s economy, they say.
In the consultation plans released today, the airport sets out how it can play an important role in meeting the increased demand in London, as well as providing more choice and flexibility for travellers planning business and leisure trips domestically and internationally. Most importantly, growth to 9 million passengers a year can be delivered without requiring any additional infrastructure and ahead of longer-term, strategic, aviation planning decisions for other airports in the South-East.
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| Master Plan LCY_MP.pdf |
The airport is inviting views on additional flexibility to operate on a Saturday afternoon and evening, as well as additional flexibility in the first and last half hour of daily operations (0630-0700hrs and 2200-2230hrs).
The plans come with a commitment from the airport that only cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft, such as the Airbus A220 and Embraer E2, would be allowed to fly in the new operating periods. This would bring forward the delivery of more of these aircraft to the airport and allow better connections to new destinations.
The consultation also details how the current 8-hour night-time curfew will remain, as well as the current operating hours on Sunday, with no flights being permitted until early afternoon (1230hrs). No increase to the current annual limit on flights is proposed. In order to meet its targets of achieving 80% of journeys to and from the airport by sustainable transport modes, no additional car parking is proposed either.
Commenting on the consultation, the Airport’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Sinclair, said: “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 be the first net zero airport in London by 2030, these proposals set out how London City and its airlines can meet future demand in a sustainable way. In particular, it will accelerate investment in cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft, for use in the 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.”
Tom Stoddart, CEO of British Airways CityFlyer, said: "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 at 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.”
Warner Rootliep, Managing Director of KLM Cityhopper, said: “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.”
The 10-week consultation includes 7 public events across East London between July 12th and 21st as well as pop-up events through August. Additionally, for people unable to attend any of the events, all of the consultation materials can be viewed on the airport’s online consultation portal here: https://consultation.londoncityairport.com/
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