Mayor's aid questions airport future over Crossrail
13.10.07
The future of London City Airport has been thrown into question by the decision to build Crossrail, according to the London Mayor's regeneration chief. Crossrail, due to open in 2017, would cut travel times between Canary Wharf and Heathrow to 43 minutes and between the City and Heathrow to about 25 minutes.
London Development Agency (LDA) chief executive, Manny Lewis, said: '[Crossrail] raises questions about London City Airport's long-term viability. We also have an issue about our own housing agenda. We don't want development in the Royal Docks stymied by the rapid growth of the airport, with the noise and environmental impacts.'
The Docklands airport hopes to expand from almost 3 million passengers a year to 8 million by 2030 by doubling the number of annual flights to 143,000, and has added an impressive number of flights this year. However, the LDA is set to refuse to sell the airport a parcel of land it controls at Albert Island that has been earmarked for extra staff facilities.
Mr. Lewis said work had begun on drawing up a vision of a new community in the Royal Docks, if the airport shuts. He added: 'They can't expand without the LDA land.'
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book london city airport hotel or london city airport car parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great london city airport parking and london city airport hotels price comparison pages.
