In 1992, Princess Diana re-launched the airport, after upgrade works and runway expansion. By 2000, passenger totals hit 1.5Mil per annum, with more than 52,000 flights that year.
Fast forward to 2013, passenger totals hit 3.39Mil (up 12.4% on the previous year); flights numbers hit 73,713 (up 4.14% on the previous year) - Source - http://www.lcacc.org/history/
How many aircraft movements a day?
If you take a simple average (73,713 / 365), you get 201 movements. But the figure is higher on weekdays, because the airport is essentially a business traveller airport, with fewer movements on weekends. One aircraft movement means either one landing or one takeoff.
Future of London City Airport
The Airport has permission to handled up to 120,000 flight movements a year, and they are keen to do so. The demand is there. The Airport is in a very good location, serving Canary Wharf and City of London. The Airport has announced plans to expand capacity, though they have ruled out extending the runway.
20/10 Service
You may be wondering, why do business travellers want to fly from London City Airport? Why not fly from Heathrow? The answer is the 20/10 value proposition.
a. 20 minute check-in time - from terminal door to boarding gate
b. 10 minute arrival time - from wheels down of plane to boarding the train
For a business traveller working at Canary Wharf, this is fantastic. Not just travel time from office to Airport, but also all the time spent going through airport immigration at security etc. It is no wonder that many business travellers would prefer to fly through London City, than through Heathrow.
For an aviation enthusiast, the pictures of London City Airport are breathtaking. Here are some pictures from the Airport website.
The single runway, 1500M, this view from the East looking West.
Another view, West looking East.
This area used to be very busy London Docklands. All the ships have gone though.
A row of British Airways aircraft, with SwissAir at the end.
A SwissAir plane, promoting Zurich Airport as a shopping paradise!
Happy Reading!
Back to my Page on Royal Wharf
London City Airport situated in the previous Docklands Place. This is an exciting Post that you have posted; you share a lot of stuffs. Which are right helpful for us? Thanks for sharing such very good article.
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