London City Airport Future Airport and Planning

Our City. Your Airport. Have your say on our future plans.

In 2022 London City Airport applied to the London Borough of Newham to make changes to its existing planning permission for the City Airport Development Programme (CADP).  The application followed an extensive 10-week consultation period during which local residents gave feedback on key issues, then we adjusted our proposals to take these into account.

The application seeks to:

Increase the current planning cap on passenger numbers from 6.5 million to 9 million per annum by 2031
Extend Saturday operating hours from the current closing time of 12.30pm to 6.30 pm, with an additional hour in summer for arriving flights only, up to a maximum of 12
Allow three additional flights in the first half hour of operations Monday to Saturday (6.30-6.59am) with a new limit of 9 flights, instead of the current 6 flights

The application does NOT seek:

Any increase to the annual number of permitted flights, which will remain at 111,000
Any change to the existing 8-hour nightly curfew
Any additional infrastructure
Any changes to Sunday operations which will stay as 12.30pm to 10pm
Any change to the restrictions in the last 30 minutes of operations which are capped at 400 per annum for late departing or arriving aircraft.

How do the proposed changes support East London?

In a first for a UK airport, London City will only authorise cleaner, quieter new generation aircraft to operate in any newly extended hours on a Saturday, and in any new flights in the first half hour of the day.
This will lead airlines to replace older fleets with new generation aircraft to benefit from increased flexibility at the airport. In turn, local residents will experience the benefits of quieter aircraft throughout the week as the airport becomes home to one of the most modern aircraft fleets in the UK. 
East London and Newham in particular face stark challenges with the cost-of-living crisis. As part of the plans, the airport will offer a new Community Fund of £3.8 million over ten years to be distributed directly to local good causes via the established Trust.
The growth in passenger numbers to 9 million annually, plus increased operational flexibility, will create almost 2,200 additional jobs across London – 1,340 of these at the airport itself. 
The plans include further enhancements to the airport’s Sound Insulation Scheme (SIS), already one of the most generous in the UK.
We also plan to create a Transport Fund which could help improve bus connections between the airport and the Elizabeth Line, as well as morning DLR operations, to benefit staff, passengers and local residents. 
View the Planning Application Submission Documents

Tell us what you think

The London Borough of Newham is considering the application and carried out its own consultation period on the proposals from 1st February 2022 for 30 days.