London City Airport
London City Airport LCY/EGLC is an eighteen-gate single-runway airport for Short Take Off& Landing (STOL) airliners. The runways and one terminal of this STOLportsits on a re-developed area of the Docklands in East London, England 6.9 miles (11 km) from the center of the city of London. The Docklands Light Railway has a station at the airport. London City Airport is used chiefly by passengers who need quick access to London’s financial district or who are leaving London City Centre for European destinations. British Airways began twice-a-day transatlantic flights to New York City JFK AIRPORT airport in 2009.
The STOLport was first proposed in 1981. Construction began in 1986 and continued into 1987. The first aircraft landed at the London City Airport in May 1987 and regular commercial flights began in October 1987. In 1988, the first full year of operation, 133,000 passengers used the airport. The destinations of flights in that first year were local to Plymouth and internationally to Amsterdam, Paris, and Rotterdam.
Growth continued to a high of 230,000 passengers for 1990, but fell off during the Gulf War, not reaching the same numbers again until 1993. An extended runway was approved and constructed in the mid-1990s, increasing the possible types of planes that could land and resulting in an increase to well over two million passengers a year by 2010, giving tiny London City Airport a ranking of 14th among all airports in the United Kingdom. Due to the airport’s location amidst the Royal Albert and King George V docks, there is not much room for further physical expansion.
Aircrew of any plane landing at the London airport must be certified to fly a 5.5-degree approach. Only fixed-wing multi-engine aircraft are allowed to land — no helicopters are allowed to land. Smaller corporate aircraft having the designated configuration, such as the Dassault Falcon, Cessna CitationJet, Hawker 400/800, Beechcraft Super King-Air, and Piaggio Avanti business jets, are also allowed to land.
The location of the London City Airport near the docks and the flight paths of aircraft for takeoffs and landings over London residential districts restrict the operational hours of the facility. The London City Airport closes every week at 12:30 PM Saturdays and cannot re-open until 12:30 PM the next day, Sunday. Also, during the week, all operations are restricted to daylight hours and early evenings, from 6:30 PM until 10 PM.
