London City Airport restructures + more routes

It was no surprise that London City Airport (LCY) announced restructuring plans last week as Covid-19 continues to impact the aviation sector.

The airport has officially opened consultation with staff to explore ways of reducing costs, including voluntary redundancy. The proposals could result in up to 239 roles being lost across the organisation, just over one third of the workforce.  British Airways CityFlyer, the largest carrier with 55% of the passenger throughput, has not published any redundancy figures.

LCY suspended commercial flights at the height of the pandemic on 25 March because of the sharp contraction in international travel. Flights resumed on 21 June but passenger numbers have remained well below 2019 levels and this is expected to continue during the upcoming winter season.  In July just 12,653 passengers used the airport as against 493,486 in July 2019.

Just prior to the pandemic Flybe collapsed but the majority of its routes have either been taken up or, in the case of Amsterdam (KLM) and Edinburgh (BA), left with a single carrier.  The airport serves 17 destinations.

BA CityFlyerhas restored its route to Dusseldorf today (21 September) initially with four flights per week and in October is expected to return to Rotterdam, Zurich, Amsterdam (all twice daily) as well as Prague (four weekly) and Geneva (two weekly).

The airport has temporarily suspended its development programme.  Works already underway, including the new taxiway, apron stands, security area and baggage system, will be completed as planned by the end of the year.  The digital remote tower, controlled by NATS at Swanwick, is awaiting certification from the CAA.

www.londoncityairport.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum