Taking off: New routes on way for City Airport as passenger numbers rebound
Both British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa have reportedly restored their flights to key financial hubs from London City Airport, as bosses eye the return of business travel.
Zurich, Frankfurt and Rotterdam flights will start taking off again this month, Bloomberg reported, according to the airports chief operating officer Alison FitzGerald.
“We’re seeing some early signs of good load factors, some early bookings,” she said, adding that, “Hopefully frequencies will also increase.”
Flights departing the City are set to surge by more than 70 per cent in September, to some 260 trips a week by the end of the month.
However, air traffic is still around eight per cent below pre-pandemic levels, the chief operating officer explained.
The airport, a hotspot for City folk and Canary Wharf dwellers, is focussed on short flights and has relied solely on leisure journeys since restrictions eased this summer.
“It’s a cautious lift given where the airlines are financially,” she said. “They need to make sure the demand is there.”
How the pandemic has impacted the demand for business travel is not yet known, but it is clear that executives in the City are itching to get back to face-to-face meetings and client lunches.
Lufthansa will kick off flights to Frankfurt from 16 September. While British Airways will add Rotterdam from 20 September.