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First look at London City Airport’s new terminal – which will be FOUR TIMES the current size

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London City Airport has released the first images of how its new terminal building will look when it opens in 2022.

If you have been to City Airport recently you will have seen that construction work is already underway.  Most people don’t quite understand the sheer scale of the project, however.

The current terminal building covers 17,000 square metres.  Following completion of the building work, it will expand to 68,000 square metres.

Impressively, looking at the details I was sent, it still won’t have any dedicated airline lounges ….

Here is the new entrance:

As well as the terminal, the £500m building project includes a new taxiway and eight new aircraft stands.  This will allow an additional 30,000 flights per year.

Here is the new check-in area:

To quote:

“The River Thames … plays a role in the design concept, with the interior’s soft curving lines inspired by the fluidity of the river – from materials to the colour palette. The 21st century London theme will be reinforced by light features, art installations, graphic wall panels and furniture from the city’s abundant talent, with large format digital screens providing spaces for storytelling.  The spaces will provide the opportunity for collaboration with London talent, brands and events, and the airport is seeking partnerships to develop this content.”

This is the new entrance to the departures hall:

This will be your view as you exit security:

Before entering into the substantially expanded departure lounge:

Heading back into London, you will be greeted by an entirely new arrivals hall:

Lots to look forward to ….. we can only hope that the disruption between now and 2022 is manageable.

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Comments (55)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Genghis says:
    21 Dec21 December 05:01

    OT Tesco->BAEC 1k bonuses have posted, as @Liz said they would.

    • Stu R says:
      21 Dec21 December 05:53

      I must’ve missed this, but just checked my account and I have 1K bonus too; thank you for pointing this out! …. what was it for?

      • Shoestring says:
        21 Dec21 December 06:38

        +2

        Told you it was open to all 🙂

      • Alan says:
        21 Dec21 December 07:27

        Having Tesco to VS autoconvert on. Now’s the time to switch it off! Mine posted a couple of days ago so have switched back to CC points 🙂

      • Rich says:
        21 Dec21 December 07:29

        Exchanging Tesco vouchers for Avios in the recent voucher distribution round.

    • Liz says:
      21 Dec21 December 07:36

      We got it 3 times even though only daughter got the target email. You never can tell what is really targeted and what is open to all.

      PS think it was Anna that called up to check the other day, not me!

    • Alex W says:
      21 Dec21 December 07:50

      +2 thanks everybody

    • Graeme says:
      21 Dec21 December 09:03

      I converted from one CC account to four BAEC accounts in the hope that they’d all get the bonus, but it only seems to be on one. There was nothing in the T&Cs about only being able to send to one account – has anyone else done this and had any success?

    • Bits Police says:
      21 Dec21 December 09:58

      Reminder – OT topics belong in the BITS section.

    • AndyGWP says:
      21 Dec21 December 19:03

      Whoops. Christmas (all day) party today so I’m just catching up on today’s events on the train home. Apols for the post in Bits relating to Tesco Avios bonus. Didn’t realise G had already posted it here 👍🏻

    • JOHN CONNOR says:
      21 Dec21 December 21:08

      Genghis, I’d completely forgotten about this and doubted any bonus would post as there was no indication I was eligible. Thanks for the reminder.

  • BA-Flyer says:
    21 Dec21 December 07:47

    So according to Sadiq Khan, London has toxic air pollution, and a third runway at LHR would be a disaster, but an extra 30,000 flights at LCY is ok.

    • Laineyling says:
      21 Dec21 December 08:16

      Would also be interested in how they plan to control noise pollution and whether the airport would continue to be shut over part of the weekend.

      • flyforfun says:
        21 Dec21 December 09:56

        The weekend shut down will continue. I don’t think there is anything they can do to remove that given the proximity to residences.

        It was intersting to note over the summer that locals perceived their to be a greater number of flights, but stats showed that there wasn’t. What was more likely was that due to the longer warm period they had their doors and windows open for longer.

    • Catalan says:
      21 Dec21 December 08:18

      It’s was ‘Boorish’ Johnson who tried to block any expansion at LCY durring his tenure. These London mayors know nothing!

    • David says:
      21 Dec21 December 09:00

      Well he’s wrong about LHR anyway, but also LCY is completely different. The problem with LHR is all the freight and too many passengers turn up in diesel-powered vehicles, whereas LCY barely has any freight and most passengers use the DLR.

      • LB says:
        21 Dec21 December 09:52

        …and of course the freight is then moved from LHR on electric lorries with windmills on the roof ;).

    • Lady London says:
      21 Dec21 December 22:53

      Yes that makes sense for Sadiq Khan to say that. isn’t London City Airport in Tower Hamlets Borough which is regarded as particularly eligible for commercial development or something?

  • KP says:
    21 Dec21 December 08:15

    Loving the new look of LCY…hope it doesn’t come at the detriment of the ease of travel and efficiency of the airport!

  • Jonathan says:
    21 Dec21 December 09:25

    LCY is the best London airport as you can whizz through it in 10 minutes, when boarding and exiting. These plans will inevitably extend this. 👎🏻

    • Oli says:
      21 Dec21 December 09:30

      Southend much better than LCY in terms of queuing in my experience. Although we still prefer flying from LCY as we get there quicker with the DLR

      • thehornets says:
        21 Dec21 December 12:29

        I flew out of Southend on Wednesday. It is 100 steps from the station to the front door (just like London City) and then it took no more than 5 minutes to get from the front door to the departure gates. It’s excellent.

        However, there were only 3 flights departing that evening. Unfortunately I cannot see how that is sustainable.

  • Antonio says:
    21 Dec21 December 11:02

    “The 21st century London theme will be reinforced by light features, art installations, graphic wall panels and furniture from the city’s abundant talent, with large format digital screens providing spaces for storytelling.”

    Advertising.

    “The spaces will provide the opportunity for collaboration with London talent, brands and events, and the airport is seeking partnerships to develop this content.”

    More advertising.

    • Rob says:
      21 Dec21 December 11:16

      Indeed 🙂

    • flyforfun says:
      21 Dec21 December 11:34

      Yes. Canary Wharf Tube station is a prime example of this. The wonderful space of the ticket hall has been destroyed with 2 massive in your face screens blasting out ads. They had to turn the brightness down on some of them due to complaints from people! Pity the poor tube staff working there having to endure constantly changing light for hours.

      • The streets says:
        21 Dec21 December 17:29

        With all the government cuts, TfL have to find their revenue from somewhere…

    • Lady London says:
      21 Dec21 December 22:55

      I have to say I too thought that a perfect example of complete and utter tosh.

  • RakishDriver says:
    21 Dec21 December 11:17

    Any sign of planned lounge(s) ?

    • Shoestring says:
      21 Dec21 December 11:21

      Article says no but you can bet that means ‘not yet’ – they will have left spaces that can in future be used for lounges.

      • ChrisT says:
        21 Dec21 December 12:16

        Proof?

        • Rob says:
          21 Dec21 December 12:20

          A BA employee told me today that there may well be something happening ….

          However, as on some flights it seems that virtually all BA passengers are CE or have status, I’m not sure how that will work. Perhaps City opens a lounge with paid catering for non-status passengers and everyone else gets to roam the terminal eating for free 🙂

        • TGLoyalty says:
          21 Dec21 December 14:27

          I’m sure most of those status passengers are looking to pass through ASAP and the lounge would be used by mostly leisure travellers which there are probably far less of at LCY

    • Colin JE says:
      21 Dec21 December 11:40

      I do hope so, but lounges would probably bump up the cost of BA flights from LCY which currently are often cheaper than LHR?

  • Stephen Payne says:
    21 Dec21 December 13:23

    I still remember the pleasure it was using LCY when it first opened. I could leave the home on the Isle of Dogs 40 minutes before my flight. Drive there in 15 minutes. Park the car outside the terminal for £5, check on and walk straight onto my flight to AMS or Rotterdam. Happy days.

  • Antonio says:
    21 Dec21 December 14:32

    I hope it doesn’t become so big or complex that it requires conformance… just a few weeks ago, after getting stuck on a broken DLR train, I arrived at LCY two minutes after my flight to ZRH should have taken off. I ran through departures and security, and made it to the gate before boarding had finished… and I wasn’t even the last one to board.

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