Planes at London City Airport 21/05/15

Today we head to the east end of London, and to one of the less well known but easiest to reach airports of the region, London City Airport. This airport primarily handles the domestic and regional services aimed largely at the business traveller demographic, exploiting mainly the proximity of the airport to the Canary Wharf financial district and its connection via the DLR.
Today's slew of aircraft is largely made up of BA CityFlyer Embraer ERJ jets on services across Britain and Europe, but also included are large numbers of Irish based Cityjet services flown by the ageing Bae-146. Other airlines include Flybe Dash 8 Q400's and a Blue Islands ATR-42 from Jersey. Catch of the day though was British Airways flight BA003 to New York JFK via Shannon, operated by Airbus A318-112 G-EUNB, one of only two A318's in the BA fleet.
Proposals for an airport in the London Docklands first arose in 1981, when the then Chief Executive of the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), Reg Ward, felt that a major part of the area's regeneration as a central financial hub of both Britain and Europe would be the presence of an airport in the local area. Development quickly gathered pace and by November of the same year the airport project had the backing of regional carrier Brymon Airways.
To prove the feasibility of an airport in the Docklands, June 27th, 1982, saw Brymon Captain Harry Gee land a de Havilland Canada Dash 7 on Heron Quays, adjacent to where the current airport site is. After a favourable opinion poll amongst local residents, an application for planning permission was submitted.
However, it wasn't until early 1986 that planning permission was finally accepted and construction of the airport could begin, with Charles, Prince of Wales laying the foundation stone of the terminal building, designed by R Seifert and Partners, on 2nd May, 1986. The first aircraft touched down on the 31st May, 1987, and commercial services began operating on October 26th of the same year, followed by the official opening a month later by Queen Elizabeth II.
The airport originally consisted of a 3,543ft single strip running directly east/west (09/27), but, unlike most airports, it had a glidepath slope of 7.5° (for noise abatement reasons), which made the types of aircraft operated limited to the Dash 7 and the smaller Dornier Do 228. In 1989 the airport submitted a planning application for an extension of the runway to 4,948ft, this extension opening on the 5th March, 1992, with the addition of the glidepath being reduced to 5.5°, still steep for a European airport (the slope of an airport glidepath is normally 3.0°). This allowed for the first STOL jets to arrive at the airport, including the British Aerospace Bae-146.
London City Airport features some very unique approaches, most prominently from the west on Runway 09, which takes approaching aircraft directly over the centre of London and within a few thousand feet of the new skyscrapers of Canary Wharf before a steep descent towards the runway, flying past luxury apartments and other dockyard buildings on the way into land. Runway 27 approach from the east flies down the Thames Estuary over the port facilities at Tilbury Docks. In both cases however, the airport is infamous for its sudden and sharp gusts that blow off the Thames, with the result of some spectacularly bumpy crosswind landings, even on a good day like today!
Further expansions to the airport have included a now direct connection to Canary Wharf and the City of London via the Docklands Light Railway, bringing the airport to within 15 minutes of the city at a frequency of a train every 6 minutes in the peaks. This connection opened on the 2nd December, 2005 and has since become one of the most convenient and efficient airport connections in the world.
In September 2009, the airport played host to its first international service with British Airways Business-Class only service to New York JFK. The service utilises two Airbus A318-112's configured to 32 lie-flat beds, becoming a spiritual replacement for Concorde as a fully Premier transatlantic service (although about 1,000mph slower). However, due to the constraints of the runway, the A318 has to depart with half-tanks and fly to Shannon in western Ireland, where the aircraft is fully refuelled and passengers go through US Customs checks, meaning that upon arrival at JFK the aircraft only has to taxi to the Domestic Terminal with the passengers not having to queue at immigration checks like everyone else. The return flight does not require a stop at Shannon. These flights have also adopted Concorde's former flight numbers of BA001 to BA004, and operate twice a day with one departure at 09:15 and the other at 16:00.
Today this airport continues to provide a major part of the city's international transport scene, both with connections to Europe, but a super-luxury alternative for the United States.
Enjoy!