London City Airport are currently undertaking a public consultation (ending on 09 September 2022) on proposals to expand and change the way that flights are operated from the airport. This can be viewed via consultation.londoncityairport.com/  .

HACAN EAST, a campaign group representing residents affected by the flight paths of both London City and Heathrow airports, has produced their own analysis of the proposals. This can be found on the website hacaneast.org.uk/news  .

HACAN EAST’s summary of the proposals is below –

  • An increase in annual passenger limit from 6.5 million to 9 million
  • Getting rid of the current curfew on flights (12.30pm Saturday – 12.30pm Sunday) to allow flying on a Saturday afternoon and evening – there will be no change to the current operating hours on Sunday, with no flights before 12.30 pm
  • An increase in the number of flights permitted between 06:30 and 06:59, from 6 to 12
  • ‘More flexibility’ for delayed departures and arrivals in the last half hour of operations each day (10pm – 10.30pm) – they are currently limited to 400 per year
  • Only the cleaner, quieter planes will be allowed during the additional hours of operation – London City believes this will act as an incentive for airlines to renew their fleet so these aircraft become the norm at all times. These planes are larger which allows London City to seek to increase annual passenger numbers but not the total number of flights.

What is not changing:

  • The 8 hour night ban will remain (10.30pm – 6.30am)
  • The current annual cap of 111,000 flights will remain – London City seems to have dropped, certainly for now, the proposal in its Masterplan to seek to increase it to 151,000.
  • No increase at parking at the airport.

The views expressed by HACAN EAST are their own and are reproduced for information only. They are not intended to necessarily reflect those of the Residents’ Association of Emerson Park.