London City Airport (IATA: LCY, ICAO: EGLC) is an international airport in London. It is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, some 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) east of the City of London and a rather smaller distance east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial industry, which is a major user of the airport. The airport was developed by the engineering company Mowlem in 1986–87 and is now owned by a consortium comprising Highstar Capital and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). London City Airport has a single 1,500-metre (4,900 ft) long runway, and a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P728) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flight training (but only for training necessary for the operation of aircraft at the airport). Only multi-engine, fixed-wing aircraft with special aircraft and aircrew certification to fly 5.5° approaches are allowed to conduct operations at London City Airport. In 2013, London City served over 3.3 million passengers, a 12% increase compared with 2012 and a record total for the airport. It was the fifth busiest airport in passengers and aircraft movements serving the London area after Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton and the 15th busiest in the UK. In 1988, the first full year of operation, the airport handled 133,000 passengers. The earliest scheduled flights were operated to and from Plymouth, Paris, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. With a runway of only 1,080 m (3,543 ft) in length, and a slope of the glidepath of 7.5° (for noise abatement reasons), the airport could only be used by a very limited number of aircraft types, principally the Dash 7 and the smaller Dornier Do 228. In 1989, the airport submitted a planning application to extend the runway, allowing the use of a larger number of aircraft types. In 1990 the airport handled 230,000 passengers, but the figures fell drastically after the Gulf War and did not recover until 1993, when 245,000 passengers were carried. By this time the extended runway had been approved and opened (on 5 March 1992). At the same time the glidepath was reduced to 5.5°, still steep for a European airport (the slope of an airport glidepath is normally 3.0°), but sufficient to allow a larger range of aircraft, including the BAe 146 regional jet liner, to serve the airport. Regardless, with a wind direction from the east (of 14 knots or more), approaches must be done from the west and the City of London. Here several tall buildings makes approaches from the west unnecessarily hazardous and may disturb both ILS-system (the localizer and glideslope instrumentation in cockpit). Tall buildings also forces pilots to use "canyon landing" techniques (which among other things calls for the use of the so-called speed brakes). Also for approaches from the east, the tall buildings make go-arounds unnecessarily difficult, and due to the short runway late go-arounds are more often called for. By 1995 passenger numbers reached half a million, and Mowlem sold the airport to Irish businessman Dermot Desmond. Five years later passenger numbers had climbed to 1,580,000, and over 30,000 flights were operated. In 2002 a jet centre catering to corporate aviation was opened, as well as additional aircraft stands at the western end of the apron. In 2003 a new ground holding point was established at the eastern end of the runway, enabling aircraft awaiting takeoff to hold there whilst other aircraft landed. On 2 December 2005, London City Airport DLR station opened on a branch of the Docklands Light Railway, providing rail access to the airport for the first time, and providing fast rail links to Canary Wharf and the City of London. By 2006, more than 2.3 million passengers used London City Airport. In October 2006, the airport was purchased from Dermot Desmond by a consortium comprising insurer AIG Financial Products Corp. and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). In the final quarter of 2008 GIP increased its stake in the airport to 75%, the remaining 25% belonging to Highstar Capital. London City Airport was granted planning permission to construct an extended apron with four additional aircraft parking stands and four new gates to the east of the terminal in 2001; they became operational on 30 May 2008. They are carried on piles above the water of the King George V Dock. In September 2009, British Airways commenced the first scheduled transatlantic flights from the airport, with a twice daily service to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport using a specially configured Airbus A318 aircraft. (Technically, only the eastbound leg is transatlantic, as the plane cannot carry enough fuel due to take off weight limitations because of the short runway at the airport; on the westbound leg, the plane stops in Shannon Airport to refuel, during which time passengers avail of US border preclearance.)

• published: 27 Nov 2015
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