Travel

London City Airport to shut as demand for air travel plummets

London City Airport will suspend its operations until the end of April, amid a collapse in demand caused by the coronavirus.

The airport said it will close its runway to commercial and private flights from Wednesday night.

London City is the UK’s 12th busiest airport, handling 5.1 million passengers last year.

Its location close to the capital’s financial district makes it particularly popular with business travellers.

The airport is used for British Airways’ business-class only flights to and from New York.

A spokesman for London City said: “Following the Government’s latest instructions in response to the coronavirus outbreak, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily suspend all commercial and private flights from the airport.

“This will begin in the evening on Wednesday 25 March and is expected to last until the end of April. We will keep this under review.

“At this point in this fast-moving and unprecedented situation, we think this is the responsible thing to do for the safety and wellbeing of our staff, passengers and everyone associated with the airport.”

Related: Tube carriages remain packed as politicians row over service levels

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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