London City Airport is seeking approval from aviation regulators to allow larger aircraft to operate from the airport, which is located just six miles from Central London in the heart of the Docklands area.
If the application is approved, airlines will be allowed to operate Airbus A320neo airplanes from the airport for the first time, allowing LCY to increase annual passenger numbers from 6.5 million to 9 million without adding more flights.
Due to its unique location close to Central London, including the steep approach for landing, which is required to navigate around the surrounding urban area, and a relatively short runway, airlines have been limited in what types of aircraft they fly to London City Airport.
Carriers like British Airways CityFlyer have traditionally used regional aircraft like the Embraer 190 for operations out of LCY, although this comes at the expense of passenger capacity.
Even a recent refit of these planes to squeeze eight additional seats onboard only resulted in a maximum passenger capacity of 106 per plane. In contrast, an Airbus A320neo in BA’s standard configuration can accommodate nearly 70% more passengers with 180 seats onboard.
In order to allow Airbus A320neos to use London City, the airport has filed an application with the Civil Aviation Authority for a flight procedure known as RNP AR, which stands for ‘Required Navigation Performance – Authorization Required.’
RNP AR allows planes to fly highly precise routes using advanced navigation systems and is already used at other airports with challenging terrain or other unique features.
Under LCY’s application, the approach angle used to land planes at the airport would be altered, opening the possibility of the Airbus A320neo serving the airfield.
“The potential introduction of the A320neo aircraft at London City Airport is incredibly exciting,” commented Alison FitzGerald, the chief executive of LCY. “It would broaden the range of leisure destinations for our passengers, enable growth without increasing the number of flight movements, deliver much needed economic growth, and accelerate refleeting to cleaner, quieter, new generation aircraft.”
Although independent of the government, the CAA will no doubt be aware that politicians are desperate to boost the UK’s faltering economic growth and is considering controversial aviation policies such as adding a third runway at London Heathrow Airport.
Under London City’s proposals, the airport says economic gains can be realized without adding any additional flight movements while bringing quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft to the airport.
British Airways previously flew the Airbus A318 out of London City Airport, but this aircraft had a fully flat Business Class configuration, which restricted capacity to just 32 passengers. The airline disposed of this aircraft during the pandemic.
