Summary
- London City Airport is convenient for passengers wanting easy access to the center of the British capital.
- Star Alliance has a high representation at the airport, with three carriers including LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, and SWISS.
- SkyTeam has two members that fly to London City Airport, KLM and ITA Airways.
Situated in East London’s Gallions Point Marina, London City Airport (LCY) represents a convenient option for passengers prioritizing easy access to the center of the British capital. While most flights here are operated by BA CityFlyer, the remainder of the facility’s traffic sees an exciting variety of carriers.
Star Alliance
Grouping the airport’s remaining airlines by the alliances to which they belong, the Star Alliance has the best representation at London City Airport, with three carriers present. One of these is LOT Polish Airlines, which links the facility with Vilnius (VNO) in Lithuania. According to Vilnius Airport, these flights previously ran as part of a Public Service Obligation contract from May 2019 to September 2023.
Next on the list is Lufthansa, one of the founding members of the Star Alliance. The German flag carrier flies to London City Airport from its Frankfurt (FRA) hub, with these flights operated by its regional CityLine subsidiary. The route sees three rotations per weekday, timed to fit business hours.
Photo: London City Airport
Third and finally, we have SWISS, which links London City Airport to two destinations in Switzerland. The carrier operates two rotations to Geneva (GVA) per weekday, with Zürich (ZRH) seeing as many as five on certain days. As pictured above, the Swiss flag carrier deploys its Airbus A220 aircraft on these routes.
SkyTeam
Moving on to SkyTeam, this particular alliance has two members that fly to London City Airport. The first of these is the Dutch flag carrier KLM, which joined the group in September 2004. Despite competition from budget airlines and high-speed rail links, the KLM Cityhopper operates up to nine daily rotations to Amsterdam (AMS).
Needless to say, London to Amsterdam is a very competitive market, a key reason for this being the ability for passengers to connect to onward destinations at the Dutch capital’s Schiphol Airport. Indeed, as Simple Flying explored last year, KLM’s vast network and Schiphol’s suitability as a connecting hub mean that around 35% of the passengers who use the airport do so in transit between flights.
Photo: Jake Hardiman | Simple Flying
Italian flag carrier ITA Airways is the other SkyTeam member to serve London City Airport. The airline operates three rotations between the East London facility and Milan Linate Airport (LIN) per weekday, spreading these flights throughout the day. Interestingly, data from FlightRadar24.com showed at the time of writing that these were being operated by an Eastern Airways Embraer E190.
Other carriers
There are also two carriers serving London City Airport that don’t currently belong to any of the major airline alliances. The first of these is Loganair, which, despite its Scottish connections, doesn’t fly to Scotland from London City. Instead, its only flights from the facility serve the Isle of Man (IOM) up to twice daily.
Finally, Luxair has a significant presence at London City Airport, operating as many as six daily rotations from the facility to its hub at Luxembourg Findel Airport (LUX). It also offers a direct connection to Antwerp International Airport (ANR) in neighboring Belgium, with London City Airport’s website showing that these flights run four times a week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
What do you make of London City’s current network? Have you ever flown to or from this airport? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Sources: FlightRadar24.com, London City Airport, Vilnius Airport