Is London City Airport The Best Airport In London?

The Flight Detective
an aerial view of a city

Nestled in the heart of London is London City Airport. This single runway facility is served by eleven airlines flying mainly to European destinations.

Since the airport is located close to Canary Wharf, the airport is used by business people and it is designed for this purpose. Here are some excellent reasons for choosing to use this airport.

London City Approach

Arriving flights track over London, providing a very nice view of the city. This is great for visitors to see as you can get some wonderful pictures.

Due to its location, all flights descend at a 5.5 degree glide slope which is more than aircraft usually do. All aircraft need to be specially certified to use the facility as a result. The sporty approach and landing is quite a lot of fun!

Easy To Get To Central London

London City Airport is served by the Docklands Light Railway or DLR. This means that central London is only twenty minutes away from the terminal which is far closer than the alternative airports.

Once you arrive at the end of the line, you can transfer very easily to the London Underground. You then have access to all of London from there so it’s quite good.

Small Is Best

As the airport is so small, it only takes a minute to get from your aircraft to the outside world. It is great being on your way without having to go through hundreds of metres of walking.

Departing passengers also have a pretty good deal as it all works in reverse too. In fact, you can arrive at the airport very close to departure time indeed and make your flight with ease.

Head to New York

Perhaps the most interesting flight out of the airport is the luxurious all business class British Airways Club World London City flight to New York via Shannon. The Airbus A318 used is the largest aircraft used at London City Airport.

Passengers can arrive up to 20 minutes before departure for this service. As the runway at the airport is short, it can’t take a full load of fuel westbound, so the service stops in Shannon for fuel. While there, passengers go through US immigration, meaning they arrive as a domestic passenger stateside. Very handy indeed!

Overall Thoughts

I really like London City Airport as it is so handy when visiting London. British Airways fly several times a day from Dublin which makes it an excellent option for me.

Other airlines serving the airport are Alitalia, CityJet, Flybe, KLM, Lufthansa, Luxair, SkyWork Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, VLM Airlines and Swiss – who use the new Bombardier C Series.

It is definitely worth considering flying here when heading to London. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Ercan Karakaş via Wikimedia Commons.
Terminal image by calflier001 via Wikimedia Commons.

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2 comments
  1. The problem with it is it’s location leads to a lot of delays due to fog between October and February, particularly early morning flights.
    But yes otherwise it’s what I would call a handy size. Faro is another similar case.

    1. Yes, I’ve heard that is the case with LCY, which is a shame. Not too surprising, I guess. Otherwise it is pretty handy indeed. Not been to Faro, yet, but I’m sure I’ll check it out sometime. Thanks for the comment!

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