London City Airport has placed a contract worth ”19m ($37.7m) with builders Carillion, for the construction of additional aircraft parking stands.
This contract is the largest to be let since the airport was originally built and represents the first major capital programme under new owners AIG and GIP, who took control in December 2006.
Announcing the investment, London City CEO, Richard Gooding, said: ”Our new shareholders said at the outset that they had faith in the growth and development of the airport.
”This contract shows that they are willing to invest more to bring the growth forward.” The airport is targeting 2.8m passengers for this year and 3m for 2008.
The contract calls for the construction of a 20,000sq m (65,617sq ft) concrete platform, supported by piles and built over the King George V dock to the east of the existing terminal, to provide four aircraft stands, bringing the total up to 18.
In addition, a sound screen will be incorporated into the platform to minimise any effect of aircraft operations on neighbouring houses. Construction is expected to start in June, and the new stands will be in service during summer 2008.
In another move, the airport has confirmed that Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) will introduce a new double-daily weekday service non stop to Oslo, Norway, on Tuesday 28 August, with limited flights at the weekend.
The new route will be operated by SAS Braathens, the Norwegian arm of the SAS Group, using an 82-seater Avro RJ70, 4 jet engine aircraft, with a flight time of 2h20m.
The additional flights mean that SAS now serves all three Scandinavian capital cities from LCY, with double daily services to Stockholm and three daily services to Copenhagen.
SAS operates a one way fare structure, meaning that customers can mix and match the airports they travel from ” flying out of London City and returning via Heathrow, for example, according to which airport is most convenient for their home or office.