London City Airport is considering applying to raise the limit on its flight and passenger numbers, sparking fresh controversy over airport expansion in the capital.
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of the airport, told journalists that he was thinking about expansion as the airport will be close to its existing cap within four years.
The airport is limited to no more than 6.5 million passengers and 111,000 flights annually - it currently handles 80,000 flights a year. It has already increased passengers passengers by 50% since 2012 and expects to reach five million passengers next year.
Any application would be made to Newham Council. A £480m City Airport Development Programme is already under way at the airport to upgrade facilities.
A London City Airport spokesperson said this expansion would be complete in 2022.
'The very high levels of demand which the airport is experiencing at the moment is one of the reasons why we are in the early stages of master planning, to consider the options to guide future growth. No plans have been finalised,' he added.
A campaign group has already vowed to fight 'tooth and nail' against City Airport's expansion plans.
John Stewart, chair of HACAN East, the campaign group which gives a voice to residents’ under London City flight paths, said: 'The preservation of the current cap is the reddest of red lines for residents and I suspect for many local authorities.
'It is difficult see the logic in what Sinclair is saying. Over the last two years flight numbers at London City have fallen. There has been a slight rise in passenger numbers due to the use of larger aircraft.
London City has been primarily a business airport with over 60% of its custom made up of business travellers, the highest percentage by some distance of any UK airport. Mr Sinclair said in the interview that the airport now wanted to ‘reposition’ itself to attract more leisure passengers.
The news comes hot on the heels of the Government's approval of Heathrow's fourth runway plans, which could be operation by 2026.
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