BA to expand operations at London City Airport
15.03.07
British Airways is expanding its operations at London City Airport by more than 70 percent, the airline announced yesterday. A new subsidiary, BA CityFlyer, will run 250 flights a week from the Docklands airport to six UK and European destinations from the end of this month, up from BA's current 144 flights a week.
From March 26, BA CityFlyer will launch new direct flights to Glasgow and Zurich, each served four times a day, and increase frequencies on its London City to Edinburgh route to eight daily. It will continue to operate flights to Frankfurt, Madrid and Milan from the Docklands airport.
BA has been operating at London City since 2003. It is reported to be planning further expansion at the airport, with the launch of a further six or seven routes should slots at the capacity-constrained airport become available.
The expansion 'is a bold bid to win the lucrative domestic and Continent-hopping business market serving nearby Canary Wharf and the Square Mile', according to news reports. One newspaper suggests that BA 'plans to dominate the Docklands hub', as they do London's Heathrow, and even says that BA could launch a takeover bid for the airport's biggest airline, VLM.
BA plans to keep five of the aircraft formerly used by its regional arm BA Connect, sold to Flybe last week, to operate the new services between London City and Edinburgh, Glasgow and Frankfurt. After its expansion, BA CityFlyer operations at the airport will account for about 20% of the hub's passenger capacity. VLM currently operates just over 100 flights each weekday from the airport.
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