London City is known for being in the middle of London, a few DLR stations away from the financial centre of the UK’s capital.
Inaugurated on October 26, 1987, the airport saw fantastic growth over the years, starting with turbo-prop airliners of yore to today’s modern A220. One of the most famous routes on this airport was BA001/002, covering the flight between London to New York with a stop at Shannon, Ireland (BA001), and then a direct return trip (BA002). This flight was orignally flown by the Concorde from LHR.
However, growth has been hampered by the need to keep the noise as low as possible. For that, a steep approach flightplan was introduced, first being of 7°, now reduced to 5°. In order to keep growing, LCY authorities have reached to the Civil Aviation Authority to make plans to prepare LCY for the A320 Neo. As such, a new RNP is being considered to make the glideslope shallower, which would permit the operation of the bigger A320, compared to the current A220s, E190s and lesser sized commercial airliners.
Things are still in the works, but the future of LCY is looking bright.
P.D: Now all of us will be able to use the A320 Neo (when it comes) without the risk of angering the realism police that sometimes show up on the forum.
That may be true. But the 737 MAX 8 has a lower operating empty weight than the Neo and a higher maximum takeoff weight than Neo if I am not mistaken. Ryanair would be a possible competitor if the MAX werr allowed
Would it be profitable for Ryanair to move some aircraft to LCY from STN? The people that fly off LCY are mostly business oriented clients (I think), and they wouldn’t trade comfort for cheaper tickets.
Yes thats what I thought if the Neo gets certified there then maybe the MAX also have chances. And additionally we can see other carriers not flying there regularly or never can open routes that have never been flown out of the airport
I saw this about wanting to accommodate larger aircraft. Definitely exciting to hear and would be a game changer for London travel especially given its location
A320 NEO carrying 40 pax and their bags going to JFK weighs like around 152k lbs, which is the same as reasonably full A320 NEO going to Zurich or Milan or something. Not inconceivable that it could climb out like a rocket, but I’m not an A320 pilot so I’m not sure.
But would those same noise restrictions be as strict with an aircraft such as the A320Neo, which already has a huge reduction in noise when comparing it to other aircraft? I mean, sure, it’s not silent, but it’s definitely not as loud as some of the other aircraft out there