BEST EVER BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND FOR LONDON CITY AIRPORT

London City Airport today revealed that it has just its experienced its busiest ever Bank Holiday weekend with 45,000 passengers passing through the gateway between May 25th and the 28th.

Friday,May 25th, was also the airport’s single busiest day ever, with a total of 19,496 passengers either departing from, or arriving to, London City Airport.

The most popular route over the weekend was Amsterdam, with 5,218 passengers travelling between London and the Dutch city, many of which for Bank Holiday downtime. 

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Dublin also received a boost in passengers as the third most popular route during the long weekend (3,780 passengers), with an influx of London-based Irish citizens returning home on Friday to cast their vote in the referendum on the 8th amendment of the country’s constitution.

The latest figures point to further passenger growth in 2018, driven by an increase in leisure travellers, as well as continuing strong demand from businesses.

Robert Sinclair, CEO of London City Airport, said: “Many people associate London City Airport with business travel only. While this is an incredibly important core market for us, we are also seeing passengers who value our speed and convenience, using the airport for leisure travel, particularly during off-peak periods and weekends.

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“Our bumper Bank Holiday points to this trend and demonstrates consumer confidence to fly, providing a shot in the arm for the airport’s passenger numbers, hot on the heels of CAA confirmation that we’re the UK’s most punctual airport, and in readiness for the summer getaway.”

The top five routes over the Bank Holiday weekend (accounting for 44% of all passengers) were:

1. Amsterdam: 5,218 passengers

2. Zurich: 4,001

3. Dublin: 3,780

4. Milan Linate: 3,733

5. Edinburgh: 3,434

For the summer ahead, the upward trend in passenger numbers looks set to continue over the airlines’ seasonal schedules. 

British Airways hot spots include Bergerac, Malaga, Granada, Skiathos, Santorini and Mykonos, while city breakers can unwind in Lisbon and Porto, operated by TAP Air Portugal all year round. Amsterdam’s popularity is set to continue with frequent services available on KLM, British Airways and Flybe.

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To accommodate the increased summer traffic, the airport is using technology to prepare behind-the-scenes. 

Recent improvements to outbound baggage capacity mean that London City can now process over 5,500 bags per hour, which is crucial for leisure travellers with bags to check-in.

Through rigorous analysis of data, the airport has also improved aircraft turnaround times, helping the airport achieve an On Time Performance of 81.6% in 2017 – the best in the country, according to data collected and recently published by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).