City Airport expansion plan cleared for take off

London City airport has been granted the rights to increase the number of early flights from the airport, as part of an expansion plan, but a bid to extend weekend operating hours has been rejected.

The airport’s operator was previously refused planning permission in July 2023, but following an appeal, will now be able to raise its annual passenger cap from 6.5 million to 9 million.

But while it will be permitted to handle three additional early weekday flights during its first 30 minutes of daily operations, the operator has failed to convince the UK government to allow the airport to remain open an extra 6 hours on Saturdays.

Local campaigners and Newham council opposed to the increase in flights, argue the air and noise pollution would affect people living nearby and that it could potentially increase carbon emissions.

Angela Rayner, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, and Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, announced their decision to allow the airport to press ahead with their plans on Monday.

It said there was unlikely to be harm from any extra noise pollution caused by additional morning and weekend flights, and that it was right to respond to forecast growth in demand of flights. It also said the decision to expand the airport was “in line with national policy” on the climate crisis.