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London City Airport Expansion Approved

London City Airport has been approved for a $450 million dollar expansion including new parking and taxiways.

After being blocked from approval by the former London mayor, Boris Johnson, the U.K. government has finally approved an expansion plan for London City Airport (LCY). The expansion will cost an estimated $450 million. Upgrades include new parking spaces for aircraft, expansion of terminal capacity, and a new taxiway that will accommodate larger and more modern planes so more connections can be made between London and the rest of Europe. Improvements will also be made to the Docklands Light Railway that connects the business district to the airport, and bus and taxi access will be improved as well.

“Making it easier to visit and do business in the City of London will help drive forward our economy and further strengthen the city’s status as the world’s leading financial center,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in a statement, reported by Bloomberg. “London City Airport’s ambitious growth plans will boost international connections, strengthening the City of London’s links to destinations across the world.”

Former mayor Johnson’s objected to the plan due to land purchasing issues for the expansion—the new mayor, Sadiq Kahn, approved the expansion within his first two weeks. The airport has increased its passenger count by 50 percent in the last five years.

There’s also a debate underway in the U.K. government about whether to add a new runway at Heathrow Airport (LHR) or Gatwick Airport (LGW). New Prime Minister Theresa May’s administration is expected to make a decision when they return from recess in September.

[Photo: London City Airport]

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2 Comments
J
jlionw July 29, 2016

Is this for the C-Series so that it can do NYC-LCY?

S
Sydneyberlin July 28, 2016

THAT is urgently needed- who's ever traveled from this sh*&hole of an airport will know how simply awful and run down this place is, not to mention the ridiculous ways this airport tries to force you into overpriced black cabs by kicking Uber out onto the (often rainy, it's London) parking lots. Speaking of urgently needed- that's more than true for Heathrow's expansion too, make it three additional runways if you ask me (and I currently live RIGHT under the flight path but couldn't care less- any screaming child on the street makes way more noise than a landing airplane and the airplane is more pleasant too).