London City Airport is located 6.9 mi east of the City of London, on a former docklands site, in the borough of newham, East London. It is a single runway STOLport, which is an airport used by Stol (short take off and landing) airliners. London City Airport was developed in 1986/1987. By 2008, in terms of passengers and aircraft movemen ts, London City Airport was the fifth busiest airport serving the London area, and the 15th busiest in the UK.

In 2008 London City Airport served a record 3.2 million passengers, which was a 12% increase over 2007.

London City Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence which allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flight training. Only mulit engine, fixed wing aircraft with special aircraft and aircrew certification to fly 5.5 degree approaches are allowed to conduct operations at london City Airport. It is the closest private jet centre to central London. In 2005 the centre was voted the best corporate aviation passenger handling facility in Europe by European Business Air News.

The Airport has produced a development and expansion plan up to 2030. The plan details an expansion of the airport to maximum capacity of 8 million passengers per annum, without the need to build a second runway or to significantly expand the airport boundaries.

Compared to the other four London international airports, London City Airport is small. Due to its proximity to London´s Docklands and financial district it is mainly used by business travellers. However, leisure traveller numbers are increasing.

London City Airport has one terminal building. Inside the terminal are 22 check in desks plus eight self service kiosks. There are 14 gates, with a further four stands to the west which are connected via an airside bus.

Due to the airport flight path there is a restriction og the maximum height of new skyscrapers in and around canary wharf, and the airport management keeps a watch on planning applications for tall buildings planned in the area.

London City Airport has free Wi-Fi for all of its passengers, which is available throughout the terminal area and the business Centre, which is located in City Aviation House.)

London City Airport sees in busiest time during the winter months, mainly due to a number of airlines flying to ski resort gateway destinations.

London City Airport has strict rules imposed to limit the noise impact from aircraft operations. This, along with the physical dimensions of the runway and the steep glideslope means there is a limitation on the aircraft types that can use the airport. The size and layout of the airport and overall complexity caused by the lack of taxiways means that the airport gets very busy during peak hours. The air traffic controllers have to deal with over 38 flights an hour on a runway requiring a lengthy backtrack for each aircraft needing to depart from runway 28 or land on runway 10. Operations are restricted to 06:30am to 22:00pm Monday to Friday, 06:30am to 12:30pm on Saturdays and 12:30pm to 22:00PM on Sundays. The closure of the airport during saturday and Sunday gives residents a bit of relief from the noise. The size of the airport, constrained by the water filled docks, Royal Albert and King george, to the north and south means that there are no covered maintenance facilities for aircraft.

HISTORY:

The airport was first proposed in 1981, where the idea of an airport for the Docklands was born. By November of that year, a proposal was submitted outlining the idea for a docklands STOLport city centre gateway. In 1982 an aircraft was landed in nearby West India Docks in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the STOLport project. Later that year a study was published which showed the majority of local residents were in favour of the development of the airport, and the application was submitted for planning permission. A 63 day planning enquiry started on 6 June 1983. Before the plan was agreed, it was asked to provide further details. Following a failed court case by the Greater London Council in 1985, outline planning permission was granted in May 1984. Detailed planning permission was granted in 1986, and construction began shortly after. The first aircraft landed on 31 May 1987, and the first commercial services operating from 26 October 1987. The airport was officially opened in November 1987 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Placing a commercial airport into congested airspace was a challenge for the National Air Traffic Services. As a result, a new airspace authority, Thames radar, was established to provide a radar control service and to provide safe separations for London City arrivals and departures.

In its first full year of operation, the airport handled 133,000 passengers. In 1989, the airport submitted a planning application to extend the runway, allowing the use of a larger number of aircraft types. In 1990 the airport handled 230,000 passengers. These figures fell after the Gulf War and did not recover until 1993 when 245,000 passengers were carried. The extended runway was opened on 5 March 1992, and the glideslope was reduced to 5.5 which allowed a larger range of aircraft to serve the airport.

By 1995 passenger numbers had reached 500,000 and the airport was sold to Irish businessman Dermot desmond. Within five years, passenger numbers had climbed to 1,580,000 and over 30,000 flights were operated. A jet centre catering for corporate aviation was opened in 2002 as well as additional aircraft holding stands at the western end of the apron. In 2003 a new holding point was established at the eastern end of the runway, enabling aircraft awaiting take off to hold there whilst other aircraft landed.

By 2006 more than 2.3 million passengers used London City Airport. On 2 December 2005, London City Airport DLR station opened a branch of the Dockland Light Railway, which provided rail access to the airport for the first time. It provided fast rail links to Canary Wharf and the City of London. On 30 November 2006, the airport was sold to a consortium consisting of AIG and Global Infrastructure Partners.

In 2001, London City Airport was granted planning permission to construct an extended apron with four additional aircraft parking stands and four new gates to the east of the terminal in. In 2008 Work was completed, with the four new stands and gates operational as of 30 May 2008.