What Are London City Airport’s Operating Hours & Why Are They So Restricted?
Airplanes aren't exactly the most quiet inventions of mankind.
As one of the six main airports serving the UK’s capital, London City Airport handles some of Europe’s major international and regional carriers, such as British Airways, KLM, Luxair, and Loganair. But despite being a significant destination for many airlines, London City Airport has one of the most restrictive operational hours compared to its nearby counterparts.
While most major airports tend to run on a more extended time schedule in London and worldwide, London City Airport operates very differently. The airport’s current operational hours allows for flight services are as follows:
- from 04:45 to 22:00 on Mondays to Fridays
- from 04:45 to 13:00 on Saturdays
- from 11:00 to 22:00 on Sundays
- from 06:45 to 22:30 on Public and Bank Holidays
- Complete closure on December 25th
And suppose some flight services scheduled between these timings have been unavoidably delayed due to uncontrolled circumstances? Then London City Airport allocates the final 30 minutes of airport operations solely for such flights. Overnight stays by passengers are also prohibited on airport property, as the terminal is closed during off-hours.
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Can you please keep the noise down?
But why are the operating hours of London City Airport so restricted that it even closes on Christmas Day? According to the airport, the limited hours are to minimize the impact of aircraft noise pollution on local residents. In fact, noise is such a contributing factor that airlines must first conduct permissible noise trials with their intended aircraft.
The noise results of said trials, which are generated by the airport’s noise and track-keeping system, will be documented and provided to the relevant local authorities for approval. Once given the green light, the aircraft type used in the noise trials is then allowed to operate flight services to and from London City Airport.
Even with the restricted operating hours, noise trials, and subsequent tracking for airlines to abide by, London City Airport limits the total number of aircraft movements – for both take-off and landings, to just 111,000 per annum. In contrast, other major London airports handle over 300,000 aircraft movements annually and consistently look to increase capacity.
Will London City Airport always stay so restricted?
But as one of London’s most significant airports and with an expectation to welcome at least four million passengers this year, can London City Airport continue being so restrictive with its operating hours? This seems uncertain, and the airport has been in consultation discussions with relevant parties for a proposed expansion through 2030.
While the overall proposal included new airfield infrastructure and extended passenger facilities, London City Airport also wanted to increase its yearly passenger capacity to at least nine million without increasing the annual flight limit. Instead, the airport wanted to extend its cut-off operational time of 13:00 on Saturdays to 18:30 all year round.
An additional 12 extra flights on Saturday afternoons during the summer from 18:30 to 19:30 and three extra flights in the morning were also proposed. Unfortunately, the proposal received plenty of critical backlash from the local political parties over the issue of, once again, noise pollution, with criticism of how residents wouldn’t be able to enjoy a quiet Saturday afternoon.
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What could this mean for London City Airport?
From the perspective of making profits and staying relevant as an airport in a growing aviation industry, London City Airport would need to accept more flights to cater to the needs of airlines and passengers.
But from the perspective of the local residents and political parties, the noise pollution generated from the aircraft cannot always be tolerated, and they say they have already compromised with the airport’s operational hours. While London City Airport might expand physically in terms of infrastructure, any changes to its restrictive active hours will probably be extremely slight.
Source: London City Airport
