The UK’s business travel is beginning to gain momentum as airlines including Flybe and British Airways are adding new routes and increasing frequencies to offer customers more choice, according to the latest figures from London City Airport (LCY).
The airport, which has the highest percentage of business travellers compared to any airport in the UK, recorded its busiest ever week this month.
During the week starting November 9, a total of 84,758 passengers travelled through LCY – a 27 percent increase on the same period last year and a 5.5 percent increase on the previous record, set in July 2013. Thursday – November 13 – was the busiest day ever at LCY, with 15,899 passengers flying through – 1.3% higher than the earlier record set on May 23, 2013.
More than 60% of London City’s passengers travel on business.
Declan Collier, CEO at London City Airport said: ‘The signs are very encouraging. Employers are growing in confidence, releasing travel budgets, and airlines are growing in confidence, adding new routes and increasing frequencies to offer customers more choice.’
‘Just last month, Flybe launched services out of London City, boosting connectivity to the UK regions in a move that was welcomed by the Government and illustrating the increasing appetite for airlines to pursue business travellers. Meanwhile, our largest airline partner British Airways is continuing to fill its planes with more and more passengers and expanding its offering to meet demand.’
‘It is now more important than ever that we are allowed to grow. Our current infrastructure is constrained and with demand continuing to increase, we must develop that infrastructure to continue to offer the convenience, speed and customer experience that we pride ourselves on and for which people choose to travel from LCY, in turn supporting more than 2,000 jobs on campus and driving investment in the Royal Docks and wider East London area.’
London City Airport serves more than 45 routes across Europe and New York. New routes launched this year include Hamburg, Guernsey, Belfast, Inverness and Exeter.
The only airport actually in London, London City Airport caters to around 3.4 million passengers (63% travelling on business, and 61% inbound) and 70,000 movements annually. The airport has permission to increase its operation to 120,000 movements per annum – carrying six million passengers – which it intends to do by 2023, it said.
