London City Airport has reported record passenger numbers for 2013, making it the most successful year since the airport opened in 1987. The airport welcomed just under 3.4 million passengers, a 12% increase compared to 2012.
Chief Executive Declan Collier said that the increase was due to an increase in routes served, frequency of services, seat capacity and consistently increased demand. “Achieving significant growth in what has been a relatively flat market is a real accomplishment and demonstrates just how much value our core business traveller audience places on convenience, speed and location – all key benefits of flying to and from LCY. We believe that, with our development plans for the future and the predicted airport capacity crunch, further growth opportunities are there for the taking.
“In the short term, London City Airport can make an immediate contribution to relieving the UK’s existing airport capacity constraints by accommodating more short-haul traffic. For example, 15% of Heathrow’s traffic is short-haul and 64% of passengers carried are O&D (origin and destination) who would be better served flying into LCY.
“In the medium term, our proposed development plans will enhance existing infrastructure to allow the airport to cater for our permitted 120,000 flight movements (70,000 in 2013) and an additional three million passengers per year (six million by 2023) – some 10% of the projected passenger increase in the London airport system over the next 10 years.”
The airport’s proposed growth plans will develop existing infrastructure to accommodate up to 120,000 movements annually and cater for next generation aircraft. The development programme will see the construction of a parallel taxilane to optimise use of the runway, seven new aircraft stands, an expansion of the existing terminal, and a new, separate arrivals terminal.
