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London City Airport submits planning application for longer opening hours

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London City Airport has submitted a planning application to the London Borough of Newham to allow for a sharp expansion in passenger numbers via longer opening hours.

The airport is asking for:

  • its annual passenger cap to be lifted from 6.5 million passengers to 9 million
  • the airport to be open on Saturday afternoons, with a closure at 6.30pm (7.30pm during the Summer for arrivals only) compared to the current 12.30pm
  • three additional flights between 6.30am and 6.59am, Monday to Saturday, compared to the current limit of six
London City Airport expansion planning permission

There will be no change to the annual flight cap of 111,000, and no change to the eight hour curfew in operation during the night.

In return for permission, the airport is offering:

  • limitations on the aircraft types which will be allowed to land on Saturday afternoons and between 6.30am and 6.59am, limiting it to specific quieter models
  • ‘improved noise mitigation’ for local residents
  • a £3.8 million Community Fund to be contributed over a 10 year period (vs the current £75,000 per year contribution)
  • plans to invest in improved public transport services – this could include improved bus connections between the airport and the Elizabeth Line and / or enhanced DLR operations in the mornings

There is no word on when, if at all, the airport will resume work on the expansion of its terminal, which was halted during the pandemic.

The London Borough of Newham is expected to open a 30 day public consultation on the proposals during January. The proposals have been scaled back following the airport’s own public consultation – the original plan was to open until 10pm on Saturday and add an additional six flights before 7am each day.

If approved, it would seem logical that BA CityFlyer would end its weekend flights from Southampton and keep its aircraft at London City Airport over the weekend, with the ability to slot in additional Saturday afternoon departures and arrivals.

Category

General

Comments (33)

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  • Bagoly says:
    23 Dec23 December 05:09

    “the airport to be open on Saturday afternoons, with a closure at 6.30pm (7.30pm during the Summer for arrivals only) ”
    On Sundays no flights are allowed until 12:30.
    Why would an airline want a ‘plane to sit on the ground from 19:30 Saturday to 12:30 Sunday?
    i.e. I don’t understand the arrivals only element.

    • Martin says:
      23 Dec23 December 06:05

      Perhaps it’s a bit of grace period for delayed inbound flights, for the airlines who can’t think of anything else to do with their planes for 18 hours.

      As someone who lives directly under the westerly departure path, I’m a bit conflicted by the plans. I like the convenience of flying from LCY, but also enjoy the 24 hours of relative peace we get at the weekend.

      • John says:
        23 Dec23 December 06:53

        +1 on this comment

        Despite the mayor locating his office here, it seems like not a lot of thought is being given to Newham residents (despite whatever money was pledged). The walking/bicycling path next to Excel is blocked for the foreseeable, the Blackwall Tunnel will soon dump onto Silvertown Way, and City Airport will operate all weekend long.

        A borough catering to people passing through…

      • Lady London says:
        23 Dec23 December 11:26

        Empty promises by the airport about early morning flights being kept to quiet aircraft. Numbers will always turn out to creep up. This is the thin end of the wedge.

        I say this as someone who used to live in Kew under the Heathrow flight path where ‘exceptional’ ‘late running flight’ approaches outside the curfew, over the sleeping residential area, of certain rumbly old aircraft was so regularly timed always on same days of the week, it was clear we were being regularly woken up at 4am by airlines and airport taking the pi$$

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      23 Dec23 December 07:39

      They don’t leave them on the ground which is why BACF used to send its LCY based planes off to to the likes of MAN, EDI, GLA and SOU to operate flights on a Saturday afternoon / Sunday morning

      • Richie says:
        23 Dec23 December 07:59

        Seven BACF aircraft park at LCY on Saturdays for an overnight stay, even in high summer season, the other 14 are generally elsewhere.

      • Ed_fly says:
        23 Dec23 December 08:29

        As per the OP’s comment. How do you get a plane to those other airports if its arrivals only during that hour? How are you getting the aircraft that land during that time to EDI, SOU etc etc

      • Bill says:
        23 Dec23 December 08:38

        And travel agent charter work from IOM to AGP AND PMI

  • riku says:
    23 Dec23 December 05:40

    >>Finnair is adding four weekly flights to Tokyo Narita for Summer 2023.
    They currently fly twice a week to Narita. They will change to 4x a week in the summer. That is not “adding” four, it is adding two.
    They have actually cut back on flights to NRT because they used to fly there daily but a few months ago switched the daily service to HND and NRT became 2x weekly.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
    23 Dec23 December 07:36

    2.5 million extra passengers a year but no increase in flight numbers = bigger planes.

    But without completing the terminal expansion where are there extra people going to sit and wait for their flights and get something to eat and drink?

  • Richie says:
    23 Dec23 December 08:02

    BACF high summer saturday LCY flights at 8.30 am to Ibiza and to Mykonos are no longer planned to return to SOU, it seems there’s an assumption the PP will be granted.

  • Ed says:
    23 Dec23 December 08:25

    I do wonder if BA will increase frequency to Tokyo or consider adding back Osaka. It’s the only eastern expansion to their routes I can envisage.

  • Richie says:
    23 Dec23 December 08:36

    The following BACF destinations
    Faro – 29th April
    Malaga – 30th April
    Bergerac – 13th May
    Palma – 13th May
    are getting a long summer season from SOU, my guess is demand must be pretty good.
    BTW BACF are also operating SOU-PMI for TUI with TOM flight numbers for summer 23.

  • Joe says:
    23 Dec23 December 08:42

    Just had email notification that my summer 2023 08:35 LCY to Mykonos flight has been cancelled and I’ve been moved to the 06:35 from LHR. Which means a trek over to Heathrow and two hours less sleep for me!

    Just did a dummy booking to see if there are LCY cash fares available and the BA site said BA doesn’t fly from LCY to Mykonos…

    Doesn’t look like much of an expansion, or even maintaining existing flights from LCY.

    • Richie says:
      23 Dec23 December 10:57

      Ba.com says all kinds of misinformation when a flight may just simply be sold out. If you want a Friday 7.05 LCY-JMK flight, you may need to call.

  • BJ says:
    23 Dec23 December 12:26

    Worth noting that KEL-KIX is just a Zone 6 reward.

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