[Anonymous]

[pheighdough]

I see that there is a change to the airspace around London City that will see new arrival and departures routes being introduced on 4 Feb. There is a concept being introduced called Point Merge.

There is a link on the NATS website: http://www.nats.aero/news/airspace-change-to-go-live/

This looks like a more systemised approach and rather than fly low for a long period of time, the flights will be higher.

I’m not planned to fly from LC anytime soon, but I would appreciate if anyone notices anything different

[LuganoPirate]

Good news. It was fine flying at 2,000 ft on a clear calm day and enjoyable to fly over and try and spot familiar landmarks. However in bad weather you’d often get a lot of turbulence so it was rock and roll until you started the climb over the English Channel. Something I did not enjoy!

[ConstantFlyer]

Good. I hope it improves things for passengers flying to or from the only real London airport, as opposed to those serving East Slough, South Crawley or West Essex.

[MarcusGB]

I used to fly weekly from LCY. However, CityJet aircraft are now so old that there are numerous defects that arise and they have become unreliable. Few weeks ago a Captain described on defect as “Terminal for this flight”, and we had to wait 2.5 hrs at Schiphol until 9pm for an inbound aircraft, to take us very late to LCY. This meant the next a.m. flight was cancelled fro Amsterdam the next morning, great for travellers!

The Airport ceased becoming comfortable and easy “Arrive and fly in 30 minutes”, many years ago! You need at least 90 minutes to be sure to check in your own bag, with very few counters left, Security backs way past the scanning gates at times with up to 40 minutes to get through. There are too many flights now, no taxiway, and expansion has been refused. gates are often all taken.

The Airside is crowded all times of day including the previously quiet 11-2pm, with seats all full, far to many unused restaurants, and lacking in space. Arriving- it is better with self scan passport gates that work far quicker than LHR (?!!!), and baggage within 15 mins max.

In bad weather, winter, winds or fog, many planes are cancelled by All airlines, including BA, Lufthansa, Swiss and Cityjet, Luxair, where people often use them to connect to Intercontinental connections, and miss them. So weather wise it is unreliable, and unlike LHR that may have delays but you get off eventually. Certainly you need at least 90 minutes to be sure to get through to your gate these days, so LHR can be much more reliable.

I fly much less from there now, for these reasons.

[Daytripper]

Marcus. It’s a shame you have had negative LCY experiences with CityJet. I can’t comment as I (regularly) fly BA from LCY in their new Embraers and have only occasionally sampled Cityjet and their older planes.

I’m sorry, but it’s utter nonsense to suggest that one needs to arrive at LCY 90 mins beforehand to check in a bag. Furthermore, I’ve never had to wait in the kind of security queues you describe.

As a BA gold card holder, the lack of BA LCY lounge (save for JFK flights) frustrates me hugely. BA shouldn’t get away so lightly for the lack of a lounge (pipe up BT forum, I’m sure BA is listening). However, I wholly disagree with everything else you say about LCY.

And as for the weather – in my experience LCY suffers no better nor worse than any other London airport from the vagaries of the London climate.

[AspirationalFlyer2]

LCY is great for those that of us that live in East London (and nearby areas), as it avoids the (often difficult and time consuming) journey across London to either Heathrow or Gatwick. It’s my “local” airport, which is easy to access using the DLR or a taxi.

I’ve personally never had any problems at check-in, which has always been quick for me. The security lines can be huge relative to the size of the airport/facilities at peak times, although I don’t recall waiting longer than 15 minutes.

The BA fleet at LCY is great in my opinion. If I am transiting through a European airport, I always try and fly back home to LCY (which is often slightly more expensive, but worth it). I’ve used LCY as both the starting and finishing points for flights to Hong Kong and Tokyo, connecting either with Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines. Expansion would be great, but it still works well for me most of the time.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello MarcusGB – If all goes according to plan, Cityjet will not be disappearing from LCY.

It’s acquiring 15 Sukhoi Superjets to replace its ageing Avro RJ85s.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/102151/cityjet-to-upgrade-london-city-fleet

[MarcusGB]

As previously indicated, i used LCY weekly at various times out and back.
Over a period of 2 years from 2013-15, the airport became far more crowded. A recent trip in December for a flight about 2pm I arrives at 12.30pm. I was checked in at a desk (Platinum for Flying Blue), and went through to Security, passing through the scan gates for the Boarding pass. I was through with quite a queue in 20 minutes, with all 4 lanes operating. 30 Minutes later, there was an announcement apologising for the delays due to numbers of passengers going through Security. They indicated that a 30-40 minutes wait was possible, and it backed to the escalators from the ground floor.

As people came through, there were a handful of seats free only in the whole airport, vastly overcrowded. This was the middle of the day, the previously quietest time of the day. in North London, It is a great option, but no doubt it has changed. The times to enter and fly need to be vastly increased and prepare in case delays are possible.

It is not “Utter nonsense”, but Fact, as staff there have told me as have at least 10 other colleagues and friends, that the same changes and experiences they have seen too.
However, the arrivals are better with the E passport gates, and delivery of luggage the same.

Weather does affect flights more easily than LHR due to the sharp decent, (for which aircraft must be equipped with certain capabilities to do so). I have waited 8 hrs due to fog when LHR flights were leaving one November, and many delays of flights coming in, and cancellations with winds, and rain. Sometimes, aircraft were diverted to Southend and buses organised to bring their passengers to LCY, not the other way round. Delays at STN, Luton, LHR, but not as many or no cancellations as LCY.
It is not uncommon in the winter months or poor weather. Fact.

Good to see Air France France sold off Cityjet, but they lost routes and lose loyalty with other Airlines such as BA expanding routes and frequency, and FlyBe also coming in. It is a pity KLM did not fly their own Embraer’s in from Amsterdam. The “Terminal” problems with the flight a few weeks ago on Cityjet, was really the last straw, having put up with delays, technical problems, cancellations, and dirty aircraft, with poor service. I agree BA is far better, as is any other Airline with Embraer’s

This has been my weekly experience since 2012 years, and i use it less so in the last year. Confirmed by others i work with and friends also, and several staff (who are left from the cut backs), at CityJet.

[Author]

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