LONDON City Airport is arguably the greatest business travel success story of the 1990s.
Ten years ago, it had just a handful of services operated by a couple of airlines and its survival was touch and go. Today the Docklands airport has 14 airlines offering daily flights to almost every major city in Europe.
Over the past three years its passenger numbers have more than doubled to 1.5m, 65% of whom are business travellers.
The airport has also won accolades from the business community including UK Business Airport of the Year from the Institute of Transport Management in 1998 and Most Preferred UK Airport by the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland this year.
The turning point for the struggling airport came in 1991 when the then secretary of state for the Department of Environment Michael Heseltine gave the go-ahead for a runway extension which meant it could serve a wider range of destinations with jet aircraft.
Since the runway was completed in 1992, the airport has gone through a period of rapid growth, constantly adding destinations and airlines every year.
The latest operators from London City are British Regional Airways, which launched the first flights between Docklands and Sheffield, and Aer Lingus with services to Dublin. Air France has also launched flights to Rennes and Le Havre.
After such a long period of sustained growth, managing director Richard Gooding said the airport is going through a period of consolidation.
Although he would like to be able to offer new flights to Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin and Belfast from London City, Gooding said his main concern is to keep London City’s existing customers content.
“We have now got a very good clutch of airlines and need to make sure they are bedding in properly,” he said. “We want to make sure we have got a solid, long-term business.”
In particular, the airport is keen to maintain its main advantage – speed. Gooding claimed that for those who live in the City, Docklands or Westminster, London City offers a faster route to Continental Europe than from Heathrow.
“They can save 2hrs of their own or company’s time by flying from here,” he said.
Passengers flying from London City need only check in 10mins before departure and the airport virtually guarantees that inbound passengers will be able to leave the airport within 5mins of landing. Other advantages include telephone check-in, 30mins free parking, check in at the gate for those with hand-luggage only and a free-phone hotline for flight availability and ticket sales.
In addition, London City has just opened a £1m business centre with 22 private rooms and full secretarial support so business travellers flying into London for a meeting need not even trouble themselves to leave the airport.
It has also just embarked on a multimillion-pound overhaul of its catering facilities and the next major project will be a revamp of the arrivals hall.
Further improvement to its accessibility is also top of the agenda.
“We have been influenced by the opening of the Heathrow Express, which made us realise that when there are improvements at other airports we have to offer faster access to London City,” said Gooding.
Access has been improved with the opening of the Jubilee Line extension which has widened the airport’s catchment area to the West End.
London City now operates a dedicated express shuttle-bus service to Canning Town tube station, from where passengers can transfer to the Jubilee Line which takes 30mins to Waterloo and 40mins to Green Park.
Gooding said the opening of the Docklands Light Railway station at London City Airport in 2003 will make it possible to reach Bank within 18mins and will complete the jigsaw.
He added: “By then we will have more than 2m passengers a year and by 2005 we will be getting close to 3m.”