London City Airport expects traffic decline

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London City Airport expects traffic decline

By Sandra Arnoult
ATW's Airports Today, March 2009, p.3

London City saw a 12% increase in the number of passengers in 2008, with a record 3.3 million travelers moving through the Docklands airport. But Chief Executive Richard Gooding is expecting a downward trend in traffic that could be as much as a 10% in 2009. "It's entirely a product of global, financial meltdown," he told AT during a recent interview at LCY.

The airport completed a major capital investment program in 2008 that included new aircraft parking stands with a connecting pier and an extension/refurbishment of the departure lounge. It also introduced self-service check-in kiosks. Over the past four years, traffic has grown "well ahead of others and ahead of a normal growth trend," Gooding said.

But now he says LCY is braced for a year of no growth. "We've managed in boom times. We have to do difficult things in tough times. This is a year of being careful about capital investment," he noted. Even so, he remains optimistic, having weathered the uptick as well as the downside of aviation, and said the airport will begin plans for a terminal expansion: "We want to be ready when the recovery occurs."

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London City Airport expects traffic decline

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