London City Airport has welcomed the clear statements of policy set out in the White Paper ‘The Future of Air Transport’ published by the Department of Transport in December 2003.

Richard Gooding, Managing Director of London City Airport said: “This is without doubt the most comprehensive policy statement about aviation in general and airport development in particular that we have ever seen in the UK. It is unusual for us to unequivocally congratulate any Government on its policy statements, but we should recognise that the Government has not taken the soft option adopted by its predecessors. By setting out in some detail both where and broadly when new capacity should be developed the Government has established an important policy framework, which will do much to encourage airport operators to bring forward their investment plans for consideration by the planning system.

“Much of the attention of the White Paper has inevitably been focused on London and the South East; this is hardly surprising when 20% of all international passengers in the world are travelling to or via London. The future economic success of the UK, the world’s leading trading nation, depends on maintaining and developing world-class air links. Without this White Paper it is difficult to see how investment propositions for new capacity anywhere in the South East could have been brought forward.”

London City Airport strongly supports the proposed development of hub airports such as Heathrow, as without adequate capacity throughout the South East, London’s role as a major world City – indeed the world’s leading financial services centre – would gradually erode to other European cities. This would have London City Airport with a small share of a declining market, instead we expect to maintain our share of a growing market.

When the last White Paper was published in 1985 London City Airport did not even exist - indeed our initial planning application was about to be considered. We subsequently had to go through two major public planning enquiries and several other lengthy planning application processes most of which would have been considerably shortened had this latest White Policy Paper been in existence, setting out a growth and development policy framework.

So what does this all mean for London City Airport? The White Paper acknowledges our role in providing key UK and European routes for the business community and forecasts we will continue to grow steadily. The White Paper acknowledges that many people and local authorities support our growth to at least 5 million passengers per annum (mppa), if not more.

The White Paper requires regional and local planning frameworks to take full account of the benefits that development at airports such as London City would provide and consider policies to facilitate the delivery of growth at such airports. In addition it goes on to say that further developments should be possible without insurmountable environmental constraints.

The Government also recognises the important contribution made by airports such as London City in providing capacity for Corporate Aviation and The White Paper supports policies which encourages the continued provision of such services.

So what happens next? The Government is inviting airport operators to bring forward plans for increased airport capacity in light of the policies in this White Paper. We are asked to produce new airport master plans as quickly as possible to include details of the necessary environmental controls and mitigation plans, plus proposals for improved surface access.

“We are embarking on this process immediately now that we have a clear policy framework and will be discussing our outline master plan with the regional and local authorities later in 2004. If we can bring our plans to fruition, growth to 5 mppa would produce an extra 2000 full time jobs on the airport site and if we could go further, to perhaps 8 mppa, that would add at least a further 2000. At the same time we would be an important plank in the regional regeneration and development of the Thames Gateway.” concludes Richard.

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For further information please contact:
London City Airport Press Office
Jenny Lloyd
Tel: 020 7646 0054 Fax:020 7473 3105
E-mail: jenny@lcy.co.uk