Pjack94

I have just finished watching the TV series about Crossrail and the new Canary Wharf station on BBC2.

I made me think if Crossrail will be able to reach LHR from the city etc in 40 odd minutes will this make LCY redundant as there are arguably superior services and frequencies from LHR?

layz

No

You can get London Pride in ET and UK domestic at LCY but not LHR

Serious answer: also no.

Expanded: it will have some effect but remember LCY is still closer and also has better check in deadlines. It might mean the loss of some LCY services but that's not a bad thing as it'll keep congestion down. The airport is getting overcrowded.

Business heavy routes will still definitely appreciate the lack of conformance and the short check in times only LCY can offer.

Although Crossrail will be extremely useful it'll still have it's issues:

- It'll likely be very crowded in peak periods (anyone who's taken the tube to LHR will know the feeling)
- The current plan is T5 won't be served directly, you'll need to change at Heathrow Central
- Taxis from Canary Wharf to LCY are cheap and quick and a lot of people prefer a cab than public transport.

shorthauldad

If you had the choice of flying from mainland Europe to LHR or to LCY which would you pick?

(From a s/h perspective) the arrivals process at LCY beats LHR by miles (or perhaps that should be 'by hours'). I flew MUC-LCY quite regularly until LH killed it off a few years ago

irishguy28

LCY has its own market and it generally allows far shorter periods of airport "down time" than LHR does.

The only services at LHR that could be deemed "superior" are the lounges, restaurants and, if you're into that sort of thing, the shopping.

And by the way, do we need another Crossrail topic?

shorthauldad

See also: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...il-lhr-t5.html

Pjack94

If I needed to be city end of London and the schedules were what I needed then I would choose LCY, but then if I needed to be in the west end and crossrail could get me from LHR in 30 mins then I would probably choose LHR.

Alan Smith

Makes me more likely to use LCY.

One change to LCY, one to LHR, Zero to Stansted and Zero to Gatwick. Easy choice really.

Skipcool3

No.
All the while that LCY concentrates on doing what it is good at -
The ability to turn up around 45 mins before departure, clear security, grab a drink / snack if required, and be on a plane and away.

Who wants to spend hours and hours at LHR?
Not me.

shorthauldad

Don't forget that at LHR you could still be waiting for a free stand or a jetty-driver 30 mins after landing ... or Border Farce ... or your bags.

Tim1975

IMHO, cross rail will not kill LCY, an expanded LHR with no capacity contraints will not kill LCY.

What will kill LCY is the realisation that that bit of land between the docks will be worth more with offices on it than an airport. With rising land prices in docklands I think we will reach that point eventually (but not for decades).

layz

You can do 45 minutes at LHR too and with a but of luck on your side grab a quick drink or snack from the lounge. Happened to me once after major traffic on the M4, although I wouldn't make a habit of it.

LCY is more impressive. Travel HBO and you still have a chance catching your flight turning up 10 minutes before departure. 10 minutes is a risk but it happened to me very recently. I was held up in the office, knew there was a good chance of missing my flight but decided to go for it anyway. Arrived at LCY with less than 15 minutes to departure, showed someone in security my boarding pass, they let me through, ran to the gate and boarding still hadn't commenced. Flight was only a few minutes late leaving too.

Although I generally support the conformance idea in a large airport like LHR the flexibility to be able to give it a go if running late is a great advantage of LCY.

irishguy28

At that stage, they can cut LCY from its dock, float it down the Thames, and turn it into (mini) Boris Island International Airport...

Hoch

I think the lack of space to grow is more likely to hurt LCY rather than Crossrail.

H

irishguy28

Interesting comparison!!! However, I don't think they're competing so I'm not sure what lessons we can draw from that (unless LCY wants to start shuttles to LHR??? )

Hoch

I don't think they compete either. But in my view, if anything kills off LCY it is less likely to be Crossrail.

Careful. BoJo just announced that he'll stand as an MP at the next election.

H