London City Airport Airbus Trials

Trials are currently taking place at London City Airport involving a twin-engined Airbus A318 medium-sized airliner, in advance of a new British Airways London-New York service that begins later this month. The Airbus A318 will be the largest aircraft to use the inner-city hub, which has now been in operation for 22 years and which is used by over three million passengers each year.

London City Airport Airbus Flights

The aircraft using London City Airport over the years have gradually been ramped up in terms of size and performance and the range of types now operating out in and out of it includes airliners such as the BAE 146, Dornier 328 and Embraer 170. The A318, though, will dominate over all of these and the new, exclusively business-class London City Airport Airbus flights get underway on September 29th 2009.

Landing approaches into London City Airport are carried out at a 5.5 degree angle of descent, in order to comply with noise regulations. This minimises the variety of aircraft that can use it, as does the length of the runway which - at just over 50 feet shy of 5,000 feet - is short compared to other European airports. In preparation for landings under these conditions, an Airbus A318 recently carried out a series of practice runs into and out of a UK military base: RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

British Airways Airbus

London City Airport's runway length means that airliners using it are only permitted to take off within designated weight limits. Because of this, the new British Airways Airbus service will involve a 45 minute stop at Ireland's Shannon Airport, during which time passengers will be able to pass through US immigration facilities. They will then be carried non-stop from Shannon to New York's John F Kennedy (JFK) Airport, while the return journey will be entirely non-stop.

The Airbus A318 is a scaled-down derivation of the Airbus A320 airliner, which first flew in the year that London City Airport opened - 1987. London City itself was in the news in recent weeks when new terms permitting a 50 per cent boost in flight volumes emerged.

Please click on the highlighted link to view Airport International's coverage of London City Airport's flights surge.