British Airways’ CityFlyer subsidiary is set to resume operations from London City Airport in July. According to the airline’s booking engine, flights to Spain and Italy will be the first to resume services. Domestic services will follow ten days after the international resumption.
Yesterday London City Airport reopened, having been closed since March. The airport was closed due to a lack of passengers. Airlines canceled their flights to the premium destination, including the British flag carrier. Rather than remaining open with very few flights like Gatwick, the central London airport took the time to close and adapt to the current situation.
BA CityFlyer’s return
BA CityFlyer’s fleet of Embraer aircraft has lacked from the skies above London lately. The type, alongside an Airbus A318 that also operates out of City Airport, had been sent for storage. Many of the Embraers are currently stored in Norwich, with a handful being sent further afield to the likes of Warsaw.
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However, these aircraft will now return to London’s most central airport over three months since they were grounded. British Airways has already relaunched its Isle of Man Service From City. This is being operated by Loganair and moved to Heathrow during the height of the crisis.
Four international destinations are the first set to be relaunched when BA CityFlyer makes its own return to London City Airport. According to the British Airways booking engine, from the 10th of July, the following routes will operate:
- Ibiza – Daily;
- Florence – Three times per week;
- Malaga – Three times per week;
- Palma de Mallorca – Three times per Werk.
After these international routes, flights within the Common Travel Area will resume ten days later. According to BA.com, the routes will operate Monday to Friday from the 20th of July, becoming daily after the first weekend of operation, these flights will operate to:
- Dublin;
- Edinburgh;
- Glasgow.
Still a speedy experience
London City Airport has said that the new rules in place to cope with the current pandemic won’t have an impact on its speed of service that it is known for.
Passengers should, of course, expect that things will be slightly different. For example, one way systems and perspex screens will become a new norm. The airline has additionally added crowd detection to its terminal, and non-contact automatic temperature screening.
Commenting on the news, London City Airport’s CEO Robert Sinclair, said,
“The restart of some services at London City Airport by our home-based carrier, British Airways, is good news for business and leisure passengers and we hope signals the start of the road towards a recovery… We are looking forward to flights beginning to re-start and working with British Airways to grow passenger volumes and build on their route network in time as confidence returns.”
