London City Airport Escorts

London City Airport (IATA: LCY, ICAO: EGLC) is a single-runway STOLport, an airport for use by STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) airliners. It principally serves the financial district of London and is located on a former Docklands site, 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi)[1] east of the City of London, opposite the London Regatta Centre, in the London Borough of Newham in east London. It was developed by the engineering company Mowlem in 1986/87. In 2009 London City was the fifth busiest airport in terms of passengers and aircraft movements serving the London area after Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Lutonand the 15th busiest in the UK.[2]
London City Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P728) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flight training. Only multi-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.[3]
The airport has produced a master plan outlining their vision for growth up to 2030. The plan shows an expansion of the airport to a maximum capacity of 8 million passengers per annum, without the addition of a second runway, or significant expansion of the airport boundaries.[4]
London City Airport was purchased from the Irish businessman Dermot Desmond, in October 2006 by a consortium comprising AIG Financial Products Corp. and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for £900,000. In the final quarter of 2008 GIP increased its stake in the airport to 75%, the remaining 25% belongs to Highstar Capital.[5] In 2009, London City Airport served nearly 2.8 million passengers, a 14.2% reduction compared with 2008.
By 2006, more than 2.3 million passengers used the airport. On 2 December 2005, London City Airport DLR station opened on a branch of the Docklands Light Railway, providing rail access to the airport for the first time, and providing fast rail links to Canary Wharf and the City of London. On 30 November 2006, the airport was sold to a consortium consisting of insurer AIG and Global Infrastructure Partners.
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 2001. Work is now completed, with the four new stands and gates operational as of 30 May 2008. They are carried on piles above the water of the King George V Dock.[8]
In September 2009, British Airways commenced the first scheduled transatlantic flights from the airport, with a twice daily service to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport using a specially configured Airbus A318 aircraft. The A318 is the smallest airliner to operate transatlantic since BA's own corporate predecessor, BOAC, began the first jet flights "across the pond" on October 4, 1958, with theDe Havilland Comet 4. The first day of the service, which was launched one week after Willie Walsh of British Airways pledge to the United Nations that aviation would deliver deep cuts in carbon emissions, was disrupted by activists from Plane Stupid and Fight the Flights dressed up in business suits.