aviation - the past, present and future of flight

L

ondon City Airport nestles within the

docklands area of the English capital

and was opened in November 1987

by Queen Elizabeth II. The airport has

grown gradually, handling 133,000 passengers

in its  rst year and reaching 4.5m in 2017. Only

multi-engine,  xed-wing types with special

certi cation for short take-offs and landings are

permitted to operate here. The largest aircraft

currently  ying from London City Airport (IATA

code LCY) is the Airbus A318 used by British

Airways for a business class only service

to New York John F Kennedy International.

With its location and proximity to the  nancial

centres most passengers use the airport for

business travel with the majority of  ights

between Monday and Friday, although there

are some at weekends. The busiest times

during the week are 7-10am and 5-7pm when

it is not unusual to see all the stands occupied.

Airlines  ying from LCY include British Airways

CityFlyer, CityJet, Eastern Airways, Flybe,

Luxair, TAP Air Portugal and Swiss. The facility

also attracts a lot of business aviation traffic.

HOTEL VIEWS

The DoubleTree by Hilton London Excel is

less than half a mile to the west of LCY, just

across the Connaught Bridge. Some of the

rooms facing east on the higher levels have

a good overview of the whole airport. When

aircraft are landing over London from the

west on Runway 09, southerly facing rooms

provide more options for landing shots, but

the airport view is restricted. If Runway 27

LONDON

AIRPORT: LONDON CITY AIRPORT

HOTEL: DOUBLETREE BY HILTON LONDON EXCEL

62 Aviation News incorporating Jets July 2018

Where ships once docked, aircraft now land

and take off. This is the unusual view that

greets guests at a hotel near London City

Airport, as Spencer Bennett describes.

Main photo: CityJet Avro RJ85 EI-RJX in the

special Leinster Rugby promotional livery

rolls to a halt while a British Airways Embraer

190 waits to backtrack to the threshold of

Runway 27. Richard Vandervord

Above: The DoubleTree by Hilton London

Excel is close to London City Airport.

DoubleTree by Hilton London Excel

An overview of the airport during the busy evening period taken from the hotel’s sixth  oor corridor (similar scenes can be captured from rooms).

Richard Vandervord

62-63_rwav_londonDC.mfDC.indd 62 05/06/2018 11:52