<div id="readability-page-1"><div><div><p>The war in Iran will not hold back plans to turn London City Airport into a major tourist hub, its chief executive has said.</p><p>Andy Cliffe, the airport’s new boss, said he was planning for all scenarios relating to the Iran war and was “watchful of consumer confidence” but had so far seen “no structural change in the market”.</p><p>Neither are there concerns about fuel supply, with London City’s short routes meaning that planes flying in from abroad often do not need to refuel at all.</p><p>London City is therefore pressing ahead with plans to welcome bigger planes to its runway in an attempt to rival Gatwick or Stansted as a holiday airport in the south of England.</p><p>The airport in London’s Docklands has long been known for attracting high numbers of corporate travellers. In part, this is because its short runway means it can only handle smaller jets serving nearby European capitals.</p><p>However, the airport believes it has found a workaround that will now allow it to handle larger planes that can reach as far as the Greek islands. It is hoped this could lure the likes of easyJet and convince British Airways (BA), which already serves the airport, to bring bigger jets.</p><p>Mr Cliffe said: “We’re having conversations with everybody at the moment and with all kinds of airlines, from BA right the way through to low-cost carriers.”</p></div></div><div><div><p>The project comes just as the war in Iran disrupts the travel industry, with reports that some holidaymakers are reluctant to book European getaways. </p><p>However, Mr Cliffe said demand across the airport’s Europe-only routes was faring better than at many bigger bases.</p><p>Leisure traffic has been building in recent years and now accounts for about 60pc of London City’s total, though this is far lower than at an out-and-out holiday hub such as Stansted.</p><p>That is partly because London City’s runway – built on the site of the former King George V Dock and hemmed in by the Thames – is only 1,500 metres long, compared with strips of 3,000 metres or more at Heathrow and other major hubs.</p><p>This has limited London City to regional jets that operate mostly on business routes and prevented the use of the bigger planes favoured by leisure carriers.</p><p>But under a plan backed by Macquarie, the Australian financial giant that took control of London City last year, the airport is seeking to commence flights with the 180-seat Airbus A320neo, a mainstay of global fleets.</p><p>The A320 weighs almost a third more than the heaviest planes that currently fly from London City, making it too big to use the runway at present.</p><h2>‘Huge increase in range’</h2><p>The airport believes it has solved the problem by installing emergency traps – known as an Engineered Materials Arresting System – at either end of the strip designed to stop an A320 from overshooting even if moving at 70 knots (80 mph).</p><p>The traps consist of a sloping surface made of dozens of slabs about a metre across and designed to collapse beneath the weight of a plane and bring it to a halt should one plough over them. Some £20m has so far been spent on the project.</p><p>The proposal to accept larger jets, which faces an upcoming ruling by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), will bring dozens of destinations at the extremities of Europe within range for the first time.</p></div></div><div><div><p>Mr Cliffe said: “We’ll see a huge increase in range. At the moment we get to parts of Spain and the Balearics. We’ll start to hit further reaches of southern Spain and towards the Greek islands.”</p><p>The plans have been drawn up after London City, which attracted 3.7 million passengers last year, was given the green light by Labour to lift its annual capacity to nine million.</p><p>That could turn a boutique terminal where passengers can get from the entrance to their plane in 20 minutes into a significant player in the capital’s airport network.</p><p>Mr Cliffe said: “We will definitely be higher up in people’s consideration from a leisure perspective, but we’re not going to dilute the speed and ease of departures and arrivals, which is part of the essence of City.”</p><p>London City’s biggest airline is now CityFlyer, the commuter arm of BA, which accounts for 55pc of its flights, followed by KLM, Swiss and Lufthansa.</p><h2>‘We want to play a much bigger role’</h2><p>Mr Cliffe said that BA’s main short-haul business, which has a large A320neo fleet, is a strong candidate to commence operations following the expansion. KLM, which is buying new Airbus planes, recently indicated that it was “very positive about operations”.</p><p>Discount airlines such as easyJet, Jet2 and Wizz, which operate the A320, would “absolutely fit in”, he said, but Ryanair would not be appearing as it uses only the Boeing 737 Max model.</p><p>Mr Cliffe said south-east England still had huge pent-up demand for more flights, even with Gatwick, Stansted and Luton already cleared for expansion and Heathrow working to get its third runway plan over the line.</p><p>He said: “The growth story is key for us. It’s why Macquarie invested and continues to invest in the UK, and I think that tells you something about the opportunity in this country.</p><p>“London is a massive aviation system and we want to play a much bigger role, put more routes on and drive more economic development.”</p><p>London City has spent £500m on works including a new taxiway, apron and aircraft stands to accommodate more flights. Further plans will see the replacement of its terminal and construction of more gates later this decade.</p></div></div><div><div><p>A consultation on the proposal to accept larger planes ends at midnight on Sunday and Mr Cliffe said he was hopeful of winning CAA backing.</p><p>Many residents and the council were critical of the Government’s decision to lift capacity at the airport, though they were partly assuaged by the continuation of restrictions on weekend flights.</p><p>London City has pitched the A320neo as a means of reaching the airport’s new passenger ceiling without adding so many flights.</p><p>Mr Cliffe said that with the addition of the Airbus jet, nine million passengers could be carried on fewer than 78,000 annual flights, whereas with smaller planes more than 101,000 would be expected to operate. London City had 47,000 aircraft movements last year.</p><p>He said: “We have consent for more passengers so it’s not about that, it’s about how we deliver that and whether we can safely bring the broader range of aircraft in.”</p><p>Under the plans, the A320neo will fly in slightly lower but take off at the same steep angle to minimise its noise footprint.</p><p>Mr Cliffe was appointed chief executive of London City in March after previously running AGS, the parent of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports, which Macquarie owned at the time.</p><p>He cut his teeth at Manchester Airport Group, where he was in charge of East Midlands Airport, before a four-year diversion into roads running the M6 Toll.</p></div></div></div>

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<p>London City Airport's CEO, Andy Cliffe, stated that the ongoing war in Iran will not hinder plans to transform the airport into a major tourist hub. The airport aims to accommodate larger aircraft, such as the Airbus A320neo, to expand its reach to more leisure destinations. Despite concerns over consumer confidence due to the war, Cliffe noted no significant market changes and emphasized ongoing discussions with various airlines to enhance operations.</p>

Iran war will not kill our expansion, says London City Airport boss