London City Airport to resume flights at end of June
London City Airport has today announced that it will reopen for commercial flights from the end of June after being closed for the past three months.
On 25 March, the airport elected to suspend all of its passenger operations due to the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
Now, however, it has announced its intention to return to service, with further details to be announced with its partner airlines later in the month.
London City said that domestic flights would be the first to resume, with international flights to begin again in July.
However, it cautioned that its international restart would depend on the UK government’s quarantine measures, details of which are due to be announced this afternoon by home secretary Priti Patel.
Under the current plan, all those entering the UK by plane, boat or train will have to quarantine for 14 days in a fixed location.
However, there have been reports that authorities are considering “air bridges” to other nations with low infection rates to get round implementing blanket measures.
London City’s chief executive Robert Sinclair said: “While there are many challenges ahead for the UK aviation industry, it is our hope that by outlining the steps we are taking to make the airport safe, and by incorporating the views of our regular travellers into our plans, we will give people the confidence to fly from our airport to destinations across the UK and Europe”.
The airport will take a number of measures to protect passengers, including using temperature checks at both departures and arrivals, and providing staff with facemasks and visors.
It will also deploy rigorous and thorough cleaning regiments, including the use of an anti-bacterial surface treatment which will begin to kill all germs upon contact and lasts for up to 12 months.
Passengers will be asked to observe social distancing rules wherever possible in the terminal.
London City is the latest member of the aviation sector to announce its comeback plans, with carriers such as Easyjet preparing to begin flying again on 15 June.
However, the details of today’s quarantine announcement will be a crucial factor in determining the manner in which they restart.
Airline chiefs such as Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary and IAG’s Willie Walsh have lashed out against the plan.