What’s it like flying British Airways from London City Airport, as it celebrates 25 years?

This article is sponsored by BA Cityflyer

This week, British Airways is celebrating 25 years of flying from London City Airport.

BA Cityflyer now serves 26 short haul destinations from the airport, with the furthest being Mykonos.

If you’ve never flown British Airways from London City Airport, you are missing out on a unique experience.

Everything – almost literally – is different from the BA experience at Heathrow or Gatwick. It’s a different aircraft type, different seating arrangement and different catering, operating from a much smaller airport which you can sail through in minutes, helped by new security scanners.

A trip to Frankfurt reminded me how good the airport can be. In a separate article tomorrow we’ll look at where BA Cityflyer is currently flying.

If you book by 11th November, for travel before 31st March 2025, you can save 25% on various city break routes from London City Airport. Florence is as low as £57 each way and Berlin as low as £65 each way.

For many years I used London City Airport extensively for business and personal flights. I was working in the City and living in East London and it could not have been more convenient. After moving to West London my flights from City became rarer, with Heathrow just a 45 minute Piccadilly Line ride away.

What I had forgotten, of course, is that London City is as quick to reach as Heathrow even if you live next door to a Piccadilly Line station in West London.

I took a District Line train to Westminster, swapped to the Jubilee Line and then changed to the DLR in Canning Town. My flight was scheduled for 8.10am and I ended up arriving embarrassingly early, but at least it gave me time to take some photographs.

Coming from the DLR there is no need to step outside – the exit leads directly into the check-in hall. There are escalators and a lift available.

If you don’t have a mobile boarding pass, you can pick one up from these machines even before you enter the terminal:

My departure

I had already checked in online the day before. I only had carry-on luggage for my flight to Frankfurt so took the 30 second walk through the terminal to the escalators ….

…. which immediately drop you at security:

London City has now installed next generation security scanners which mean that you can keep your electronics in your hand baggage. Liquids can remain in luggage too but you are now restricted to 100ml bottles again following the recent rule changes.

From scanning my boarding pass at the top of the escalator to walking through the scanner took me just two minutes at the start of the morning peak period. With three of the four scanners working there was no chance of a queue building up.

The scanners are sensitive and my bag got picked out for a manual search, at the back of a line of around eight. However, with three security personnel working on individual luggage searches it only took another three minutes to get my bag back. All in all it took five minutes to pass security, which would have been just two without the additional bag search.

Once through security the question is what to do until your flight boards.

There is no British Airways lounge – indeed, no lounge at all – at London City. If you have a Priority Pass card which is not issued by American Express, you get £18 to spend at the Juniper & Co or Soul & Grain restaurant.

The first thing which greets you is a large duty free shop:

Opposite is a business centre and some seating but was hardly used. It is a good space for getting some work done before boarding:

The main departure hall was very busy and difficult to photograph, but you have two coffee shops, an Inmotion, a WH Smith and a Boots.

Juniper & Co (see image) was busy but still with plenty of tables available. I ate here once last year and found the service fast and the food to be good quality.

Unfortunately you cannot see out of the front of the departure hall so you don’t get to see what is going on outside. If you are like me and love to observe planes taking off and landing I’d recommend walking to the gates 1-14. Gate 21-24 on the other side of the departure hall also offer views but it is a longer stroll.

Between gates 1 to 14 you will also find two more coffee shops, including a Big Penny Brews which has table seating.

…. and a Pret a Manger which also has tables:

Between gate 4 and 5 is the Airport Beauty Lounge with treatments lasting from as short as 5 minutes up to 50 minutes:

Importantly for families, a kids play area called Airside Andy is available between gates 5 and 6:

Between gate 7 and 8 is a quiet seating area with free water. This is far preferable to the hustle and bustle of the main departure hall:

I enjoyed the brightness of the early morning at gate 6 which allowed me to get some photographs of the airfield:

Ground handling in progress:

Nothing like the thrill of a full throttle acceleration and steep ascent:

BA Cityflyer has recently refurbished the interiors of their aircraft, and here is a PR shot of the new look:

My arrival

I flew back into London City from Frankfurt in the evening. With less congestion than Heathrow we avoided the loops and descended directly before a short taxi to our stand – something else which is far quicker than at Heathrow:

It was gate 5 for us which is pretty close to passport control:

We touched down at 19.00 (slightly delayed) and I disembarked at 19.12, walking straight to passport control:

I used the e-passport gates and was out of the airport at 19.16, just four minutes after being at the aircraft door.

To be fair, part of this is because I was sat in Row 1 and was first off into an empty arrivals hall. Row 1 (technically Row 2 on the right) is the place to be on BA Cityflyer flights as you can see (those are Rob’s legs from a different flight, not mine!):

Conclusion

London City Airport is all about convenience and speed, and the airport certainly delivers this. I never hit any sort of delay despite travelling at peak times in the early morning and early evening, and the trip from West London was also far quicker than I expected.

It is a big green smiley face from me!

In a follow-up article tomorrow we’ll look at the current BA Cityflyer route network which is broader than you might think.

Visit ba.com to check out the 25% discount on key city routes from London City Airport to celebrate the 25th anniversary. You need to book by 11th November for travel by 31st March 2025.