London enjoys a banking-led business travel recovery
British Airways and Lufthansa resume services to European financial centres.
By Bloomberg News, September 7 2021
London City Airport, a favorite of regional business travelers, is seeing a tentative reawakening as British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa AG restore flights to key financial centers.
Services to Zurich, Frankfurt and Rotterdam are resuming this month, the airport’s chief operating officer, Alison FitzGerald, said in an interview
“We’re seeing some early signs of good load factors, some early bookings,” FitzGerald said. “Hopefully frequencies will also increase.”
The number of flights from London City is set to increase more than 70% during September to about 260 per week by month’s end, based on data from Bloomberg NEF. Still, traffic remains about 80% below 2019 levels, according to FitzGerald.
Back to business
The airport, which offers easy access to the City of London and Canary Wharf financial districts, is almost wholly focused on short flights because its truncated runway is limited to smaller aircraft. It has relied on leisure journeys that resumed earlier in the summer season when Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns eased, FitzGerald said.
While demand for business travel in the aftermath of the pandemic remains uncertain, FitzGerald said executives are seeking out face-to-face meetings with clients, and more customers will combine business and leisure trips made possible by flexible working patterns.
Swiss' regional arm Helvetic is now flying the Embraer E190-E2 between Zurich and London City.
Lufthansa will resume services to Frankfurt from September 16, after the group’s Swiss arm restarted Zurich operations last week, using the latest version of the Embraer regional jet series that dominates London City.
The 110-seat E2 model was recently cleared by European regulators for the airport’s steep approach.
British Airways will add Rotterdam, home to Europe’s busiest seaport and offices of Unilever and Royal Dutch Shell, from September 20, after mothballing the route at the start of the pandemic. Amsterdam is already being served by KLM, London City’s biggest carrier after BA.
A Bloomberg survey of 45 large businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia showed that 84% plan to spend less on travel post-pandemic. Demand is also being held back by constantly changing U.K. travel rules, causing carriers to take a conservative approach to reopening, FitzGerald said.
“It’s a cautious lift given where the airlines are financially,” she said. “They need to make sure the demand is there.”
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