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London City Airport is a single-runway Airport , intended for use by STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) Airliner s, and principally serving the financial districts of London . It is located on a former Docklands site, in the London Borough Of Newham in East London , and was developed by the private engineering company Mowlem in 1986/87. London City is the fifth airport serving the London area after Heathrow , Gatwick , Stansted and Luton . HISTORY The airport was first proposed in 1981 by Hines Ward - Chief Executive of the newly formed London Docklands Development Corporation . He in turn disscussed the proposal with Sir Philip Beck (Chairman of John Mowlem & Co Plc ), and the idea of an airport for Docklands was born. Mowlem and Brymon Airways submitted an outline proposal to the LDDC for a Docklands STOLport city centre gateway in November 1981, and on 27th June 1982 Brymon Captain Harry Gee landed a Dash 7 aircraft on Heron Quay to demonstrate the feasibility of the STOLport project. After planning permission problems and a public enquiry, construction finally began on the site (the former Royal Docks ) in 1986, with the Prince Of Wales laying the first stone of the terminal building. {Link without Title} Queen Elizabeth II officially opened London City Airport in November 1987 and it since has become recognised as one of Europe's leading airports for business travel. It has subsequently been extended in three significant stages. The runway was lengthened and the angle of Glideslope s was reduced from 7.5 to 5.5 degrees, still relatively steep for a Europe an airport. The western apron was enlarged and a turning loop built in 2003 at the eastern end of the runway. Over 1.9 million passengers used the airport in 2005 {Link without Title} and its management believes that economic development nearby will sustain a potential for over five million passengers per annum. Domestic routes to Edinburgh , Manchester , Liverpool , Newcastle , Dundee , the Isle Of Man and Jersey complement international services. It has become a useful adjunct to London 's larger airports, particularly for workers frequenting Docklands , and has met its operating costs in recent years. It is an important element in the Newham labour market and, together with the nearby ExCeL Exhibition Centre , has stimulated a local surge of hotel building. On the other hand the airport flight path restricts the maximum height of new skyscrapers in and around Canary Wharf , and the management keeps a close watch on planning applications for tall buildings in the area. Passenger access to the City of London is facilitated by a branch of the Docklands Light Railway from Canning Town , which opened in December 2005. Initially shuttle and London Bus services connected the airport to Canning Town and beyond, however they have since been withdrawn. AIRLINES AND DESTINATIONS The airport is unusual to the extent that, from the opening day, stringent rules were imposed on the noise impact acceptable from each Aircraft departure. This, together with the physical dimensions of the runway, limits the range of aircraft types that are acceptable to the airport and planning authorities. This also affects the running times of the airport allowing it to only operate between 5:30 and 21:30 Monday to Friday, with an even more restricted service on Saturday and Sunday. Typical mid-range airliners seen here include the ATR42 , DHC Dash 8 , BAe-146 Whisperjet , Dornier 328 , Fokker 50 and Saab 2000 . Corporate aircraft such as the Beechcraft Super King Air , Cessna Citation , Raytheon Hawker 400 and 800, and variants of the Dassault Falcon Bizjet are increasingly common, but larger or noisier types are not permitted. Helicopter s are also denied access for environmental reasons. The earliest scheduled flights were operated by De Havilland Canada Dash 7 s and Dornier 228 aircraft with Paris, Amsterdam and Rotterdam being the initial destinations. The size of the airport, constrained by the water-filled Royal Albert and King George V docks to the north and south respectively, means that there are no covered maintenance facilities for aircraft. Passengers are likely to perceive the compact terminal as a benefit. The following airlines fly to London City Airport:
LONDON CITY AIRPORT TODAY Although in recent years passenger travel has been constant throughout all the seasons, LCY is still at its busiest during the winter months. With the same influx of business travellers, the winter months also see a rise in travellers to winter destinations and Ski resorts run by Swiss Airlines . London City Airport is relatively small compared to the other 4 London International Airports but has proved vital for thousands of business travellers from London's Docklands and financial district. Inside the terminal there are only 26 check-in desks plus an extra 5 self-service kiosks for , Europcar and Hertz . Plus a Chauffeur hire car desk operated by Quay Cars. The terminal has both landside and airside restaurants and cafes, plus duty free shops airside. The whole terminial is WiFi enabled. 2 KLM Ground Service company KGS handles most check-in and ticketing for most airlines, with the exception of Scot Airways , who are handled by Menzies and Air France who handle themselves. Ticketing for Luxair , VLM and Lufthansa are also handled by their own companies. The KGS ticket desk is located to the left of the front doors and the Scot Airways / Luxair / Lufthansa / Air France ticket desk is located in the centre of the landside area. There are nine gates at London City Airport and a further five stands connected via an airside bus. Again, KGS handles most of the boarding with Air France and Scot Airways boarding themselves. The check-in, boarding and operations network for the airport is run by SITA , on their CUTE network. This allows for any workstation to be used for any purpose. The SITA CUTE system is supported by ESP engineers 24/7. Outside there are two car parks, one for short stay and one for long stay, free valet parking and a new administration building called City Aviation House, which opened in 2004. Central location London City Airport also has what is believed to be the closest private jet centre to central London, which in 2005 was voted by European Business Air News, as the best corporate aviation passenger handling facilities in Europe. In a 2006 advertising campaign the airport claimed to be the 'only airport in London'. A complaint by London Biggin Hill Airport that this was untrue and misleading was not upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority because London City Airport demonstrated it is the only airport in Greater London to be within the London Postal Area and have a telephone number prefixed with 7 (which traditionally, but not necessarily, indicates an inner London location). {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS
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