hcuk94

Just read this, and couldn't find any threads about it on here - thought it might be of interest:
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/trans...-10022363.html

Maybe it will involve a BA lounge? Wishful thinking...

allturnleft

A bit of shame in some ways; was a delight when it was a tiny airport. It will become Boris Airport lite! I wonder how BA will embrace it; time for a proper lounge?

nobbyclark

Would be nice to have a lounge there but it would need to be pretty big to accommodate the number of parallel BA flights that operate and the attendant number of people eligible to use it.

r00ty

Whilst it's no longer my "local" airport (it was around 5 miles away and a very reasonable taxi ride away until recently). I would also say it's a pity.

The great thing about city was that the size allowed you to stroll up last minute and just roll onto the plane. It didn't need a lounge.

When working in Germany I used to have a 3 hour commute, from my door, to the office. It was seriously good for business travel.

So, I feel this expansion would ruin that particular feature of the airport. Sure, like any business expansion is what they always want. It does ruin the niche position though, sadly.

hcuk94

Agree, but gets pretty rammed now, so I'd say it's welcome even so.

I for one would love to see a lounge. I know the idea is it's not needed at LCY, you can go through in minutes etc etc - but for me it's a part of flying.
I like to leave home or the office in plenty of time, get all the security nonsense out of the way, and then just relax in the lounge until it's time to board. Even if I'm only going to sit and do some work there, it's nice to have the whole airport palava off my mind.

Kgmm77

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I see the development as overwhelmingly positive as its described, with the caveat that promises tend to fall by the wayside when it comes to aviation in the UK.

Increasing stands by c40% and adding a parallel taxiway whilst only increasing peak movements by 15% on the face of it seems to materially reduce "concentration" and increase available contingency. Peak time arrival (Mon & Tues am) & departure (Thurs & Fri evening) delays are now very common and I hope this will address this. The full parallel taxiway in one fell swoop will eliminate backtracking and hugely increase flexibility.

Likewise, whilst the terminal is increasing 3 fold in size, the broad layout & footprint looks very similar.

I personally see no need for a lounge.

sds1493

So long as I can arrive up to 20 minutes before departure and check a bag, there is little need for a lounge. With the expansion, delays should be only in extraneous circumstances, and it's not worth it for BA to provide a lounge for those times.

FrancisA

As usual, contradictory views!

I personally would use a lounge as I do not travel from the city and therefore have to leave in good time to avoid missing flights. For me LCY is just another London airport and its lack of a lounge mean that I avoid it for departures.

It does however offer routes that BA do not fly to from either LHR or LGW, so I for one would like a lounge. It is after all part of the CE product.

Given BA's passenger mix at LCY, would it be too much to hope that those who value turn up and go would continue to do just that, keeping the number of potential lounge users down?

As presumably a very large lounge is not an option, an alternative would be to restrict lounge access to those flying CE on capacity grounds.

I know that's not popular, but most who have criticised it as an option in the past seem to want to turn up and go anyway, so I am not sure why exactly they feel so slighted by that idea. BA have done similar things in the past - it's not that long ago that the GVA lounge was restricted to SCHs and GCHs flying CE at busy times.

Swanhunter

A Gold or GGL only lounge might make sense. I just hope they don't tinker with the very convenient check in times or implement any LHR style conformance.

snuffi

Priority boarding is only for gch isn't it? Perhaps that's a clue for the future, or perhaps it's due to the pokiness of the gate areas and could change.

jacobitetraveller

I wait with bated breath

expansion may be good as long as it doesn't spoil the "smallish" feel to it

lorcancoyle

Good news - I'm someone who can leave home 45 mins before a flight now and not be too stressed (if it's a very early flight) so it's my very local airport.

But they could do with improving security - not a fan of new set-up

oscietra

Looks great{

paul4040

What "larger aircraft" will use LCY given the runway length will remain the same?

Are they thinking of A318s like CWLCY? In unsure what else larger than an A318 you could fit into LCY given the steep approach and short runway.

Dan72

Perhaps BA will move the LCY arrivals to the onsite hotel also envisaged as part of the re-development, would be preferable.