The enhancement works all take place during the airport’s closure times to ensure there is no disruption to passengers. The project is sched¬uled to be completed by the end of 2010.

Passengers on Air Southwest’s flights to London City can buy a Visitor Oyster card on board for just £22, which includes £20 of travel credit.

Air Southwest operates two daily return flights to London City Airport from Plymouth and the surfing mecca of Newquay in Cornwall.

The deal with TfL allows passengers to buy Visitor Oyster cards before they arrive in the capital giving them quicker and easier access to the transport network and thereby allowing them more time to make the most of their trip to London.

Oyster is an electronic transport smartcard which enables passengers to pay for journeys on the Tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Buses, Tramlink, London Overground, Thames Clippers river services and on all National Rail services in Greater London.

Thanks to the DLR, more passengers leave London City Airport by public transport than any other airport in the country and by purchasing a Visitor Oyster card, they avoid having to queue for tickets.

Air Southwest’s commercial director Mike Coombes, said: “This is all about giving our customers a hassle-free journey into London. With their Oyster card they can go straight from our aircraft onto the Docklands Light Railway and be in the City or Canary Wharf in minutes.”

Giles Bailey, Head of Group Marketing Strategy and Integration for TfL, said: “This is our first partnership into London City and we’re delighted to be working with Air Southwest on promoting the Visitor Oyster card as a quick and easy way of accessing London’s public transport network.”

Richard Gooding, Chief Executive of London City Airport said: “This is a great partnership that we hope to see repeated on other scheduled services into London City. The airport is committed to giving passengers the smoothest journey possible and this will add to that.”

Air Southwest’s daily return flights from London City Airport to Newquay and Plymouth start from £49 including taxes, charges and baggage. The airline also operates four daily return flights from London Gatwick on which Oyster cards are also available.

The match formed part of the Co-operative International Netball Series and pitched the UK team against current number one in the world, Australia.

The eight GCSE students, who have all opted to sit their GCSE in Physical Education as an additional topic in their spare time, were rewarded by London City Airport with tickets to watch the match to spur their motivation for sport.

The donation forms part of the airport’s health and wellbeing for work programme, which engages young people in sports and activities to encourage them to get active, aim high and achieve their goals for a positive future.

Jo Sangster, Head of girl’s PE at the Tower Hamlets school said ‘the girls opted to take the GCSE as an extra subject and attend classes after school and during their lunch breaks. This was a fantastic opportunity to encourage the girls further and to reward them for their dedication’.

The previously summer only service resumes at the end of March and will continue through the summer and winter.

In addition an extra Saturday morning service will be introduced in May, bringing the total number of flights to seven per week. One-way all inclusive fares are available from £63 on ba.com

British Airways is also launching new services to Majorca and Ibiza in May and currently operates flights to the Spanish capital of Madrid.

Luke Hayhoe, commercial manager for BA CityFlyer, the wholly owned British Airways subsidiary who will operate the service, said: "The Spanish destinations are proving extremely popular from London City Airport Barcelona has traditionally operated as a summer only destination but there is a big demand from both business and leisure passengers for us to continue through the winter."

The British Airways flights include complimentary food and drinks on board, free on-line check-in and seat selection 24-hours before departure and free baggage allowance.

The opening of Pret A Manger compliments the food and beverage offering at the airport from brands including Caffè Nero and the Autogrill Group, which operates Bar Ten 28, Trattoria and Presto.

All of Pret’s sandwiches, salads and wraps will be prepared in the shop’s kitchen each morning, using amazing, natural ingredients delivered at the beginning of each day. At the end of each day, all of Pret’s unsold sandwiches, salads and wraps will be delivered to local Catholic monastery, Franciscan Friars of the Renewal of St Fidelis Friary in Canning Town, where the monks will redistribute the food to the homeless.

To celebrate the opening, Richard Gooding OBE, Chief Executive of London City Airport, attended Pret’s staff graduation ceremony, where a red ribbon was cut to open the shop for business.

Gooding commented, “We are delighted Pret A Manger has opened a shop at the airport.  The menu selection offers our travellers a choice of nutritious food made fresh daily.”

Andrew Walker, Managing Director of Pret A Manger, commented, “We are so excited about our new shop in London City Airport. Pret has a long tradition of feeding city workers and we have great expertise in operating in busy airports. Both of these skills have been brought together in what will no doubt be a fantastic shop in a well run airport.”

The shop’s opening hours are 5:15am-22:30pm Monday to Friday, 5am–12:30pm on Saturdays and 11am–2:30pm on Sundays.