Airports of London

The metropolitan area of London, England is served by six international airports and several smaller airports. Together, they make the busiest airport system in the world by passenger numbers and the second busiest by aircraft movements.^[1] In 2011, all six airports handled 133,709,327 passengers. The London airports handle 60% of all the United Kingdom's air traffic. There are 14 domestic destinations served by the airports and 396 international destinations.

International airports

International airports in the London airport system (2011)^[2]

Airport	Passengers[3][4]	Change from 2011[3][4]	Cargo (Tonnes)	Change from 2010	Aircraft Movements[5]	Change from 2011	Percentage of passengers	Distance to London
Heathrow	70,037,417	05 !0.9%	1,484,351	02 !1%	475,176	02 !1.2%	51.88%	22 km / 14 mi
Gatwick	34,235,982	04 !1.7%	88,085	05 !15%	256,987	03 !1.6%	25.36%	48 km / 30 mi
Stansted	17,472,699	06 !3.2%	202,593	03 !0%	143,511	06 !3.2%	12.94%	64 km / 40 mi
Luton	9,617,697	02 !1.1%	27,905	04 !3%	96,797	04 !0.8%	7.12%	57 km / 35 mi
London City	3,016,664	03 !0.8%	-	-	70,781	05 !2.9%	2.23%	11 km / 7 mi
Southend	617,027	01 !1353.9%	6	01 !100%	27,715	01 !8.8%	0.45%	64 km / 40 mi
Total	134,997,486	1.02%	1,802,939	-	1,070,967	0.11%	100%	-

Heathrow

Located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, Heathrow^map1 is by far the largest of London's airports, and considered the international gateway into the United Kingdom. Heathrow has five terminals and two parallel runways. Due to the location in London's western suburbs, Heathrow cannot expand (especially since the Cameron ministry scrapped the proposals for a third runway on 12 May 2010^[6]), and as a result consistently runs at 99% capacity. This has led to Heathrow being one of the worst rated airports in the world, with lengthy border control queues being a recent problem.^[7] The airport is connected to Great Britain's motorway network via the M4 and M25 motorways.

In April 2012, Heathrow announced that for the first time in history it handled 70 million passengers in a calendar year,^[8] making it the third busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger numbers, after Atlanta and Beijing. It also comes second behind Dubai International Airport in the list of the busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger numbers, as well as the busiest airport in United Kingdom and the busiest in Europe, again, both in terms of passenger numbers.

Heathrow serves six continents around the world, and is the base for the flag carrier British Airways in Terminal 5. While it does serve short-haul flights, it is London's hub for long distance flights, with it being the most popular destination for the whole of the United States of America, with 13 million passengers. However, because of its high capacity rates, Heathrow has failed to serve cities in the newly industrialized countries, like China, falling away from European bases like Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Paris.

Gatwick

Located in West Sussex, Gatwick^map2 is the second busiest airport in the London metropolitan region, and is the busiest single runway airport in the world. It is currently the second busiest airport in the United Kingdom after Heathrow, and the 10th busiest in Europe. It is the second base for British Airways, serving Europe and the Caribbean. It is also the base for low-cost carriers like Monarch, easyJet and Flybe.

The airport consists of two terminals, North and South, is connected to the motorway network via the M23, and has its own railway station, with Gatwick Express serving Victoria station in Central London.

Stansted

Located in Essex, Stansted^map3 is London's third busiest airport, being the fourth busiest in the United Kingdom, behind Manchester Airport, 26th busiest in Europe, and is one of the primary operational bases for Europe's largest low-cost carrier, Ryanair. Stansted destinations are largely in Europe, however in the past it has served destinations further afield, like Kuala Lumpur. It is the home of Harrods Aviation, allowing VIP aircraft to land there, such as Air Force One carrying the President of the United States, Barack Obama, in 2009.^[9]

Luton

Located in Bedfordshire, Luton Airport^map4 is London's fourth largest airport, the fifth busiest in the United Kingdom, and the 42nd busiest in Europe. It is the headquarters of the low cost carrier easyJet.

City

Located in the London Borough of Newham City Airport^map5 is situated in London's disused Docklands, and is the closest to Central London. As a result, no large aircraft (e.g. Boeing 747s or Airbus A380s) are permitted to use the airport, which initially prevented all long-haul flights. However, since 2011, British Airways introduced a flight to New York JFK, via Shannon, using an Airbus A318.

The City Airport, only being a couple of miles from Canary Wharf, is often used by businessmen, with many destinations to Northern Europe and across the United Kingdom. It is unable to expand much due to the docks on either sides, and noise pollution for nearby residential areas.

Until the extenstion of the Docklands Light Railway in 2006, City Airport had poor connections to London, and still is rather poorly connected to the London road network.

Southend

Located in Essex, Southend Airport^map6 expanded commercial air transport operations to destinations in Ireland in 2011, and to Europe in 2012 when easyJet commenced operations using the brand new terminal and train station. Southend claims it only takes 15 minutes to get through arrivals from plane to train with hand luggage. It was once the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom.

Other civil airports

A number of other airports also serve the London area.

Open airports

The following are mainly used by general aviation flights.

Closed airports

Airports are listed at their current borough, although the area may have been outside of London at the time of construction.

Royal Air Force stations

There were several Royal Air Force stations in London. This list excludes those that are classed as non-flying stations.

Operational

• RAF Northolt^map32, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, also handes civil flights

Non-operational

Station are listed at their current borough, although the area may have been outside of London at the time of construction.

Proposed airports

Thames Estuary

Due to London's high capacity, in particular London Heathrow, Boris Johnson, London's mayor, and Sir Norman Forster have both brought up plans to have a new airport built, either on a man-made island in the Thames Estuary, or on the Isle of Grain in North Kent. Foster's proposed Thames Hub Airport would be very similar to the design of Hong Kong International Airport and Qatar's Hamad International Airport. The plans to have an airport able to handle 110 million passengers a year would require the closure of Heathrow, and probably make the new airport the busiest in the world.

The plans have met with opposition from some people living nearby warning the airport would create a significant increase in bird strikes.^[10] Other people and local businesses, recognising the depressed levels of economic activity in North Kent, have been supportive and argue that London needs a new airport in order to be able to compete in the world.

Traffic and Statistics

Passengers Numbers

Year	Aircraft movements	Percentage change	Passenger numbers	Percentage change	Cargo tonnes	Percentage change
2001	1,074,773[12]	1	113,790,381	2	1,649,437
2002	954,570[13]	11.2	117,138,188	2.9	1,682,693	2.0
2003	967,270[14]	1.3	120,493,239	2.9	1,667,803	0.9
2004	1,005,256[15]	3.8	128,933,753	7.0	1,795,326	7.6
2005	1,038,241[16]	3.2	133,836,827	3.8	1,788,671	0.4
2006	1,060,831[17]	5.4	137,192,958	2.5	1,717,360	4.0
2007	1,087,703[18]	2.5	139,950,593	2.0	1,724,040	0.4
2008	1,077,448[19]	0.9	137,106,041	2.0	1,743,028	1.1
2009	1,003,616[20]	6.9	130,307,938	5.0	1,563,783	10.3
2010	954,371[21]	4.9	127,353,419	2.3	1,808,005	15.6
2011	1,072,126[5]	12.4	133,709,327	5.0	1,802,939[22]	0.3
2012	1,060,967[5]	1.0	134,914,412	0.9	1,805,761 [23]	0.2
2013	1,067,992[5]	0.7	139,652,261	3.5	1,760,690 [24]	2.5
2014	1,098,605[5]	2.9	146,631,158	5.0	1,819,587 [25]	3.3

Busiest routes

In total, there were 30 international destinations from London, and another 3 domestic routes, that handled more than 1 million passengers in 2011:

Destination	Number of passengers
Ireland, Dublin	3,705,696
Netherlands, Amsterdam	3,026,082
USA, New York JFK	2,700,613
UAE, Dubai	2,506,613
Spain, Madrid	2,496,921
Turkey, İstanbul	2,376,284
Switzerland, Geneva	2,218,593
Spain, Malaga	1,814,682
Germany, Frankfurt	1,678,536
Spain, Barcelona	1,661,301
Denmark, Copenhagen	1,656,818
Switzerland, Zurich	1,642,959
Germany, Munich	1,546,441
Italy, Rome Fiumicino	1,530,810
France, Paris-Charles de Gaulle	1,526,030
Hong Kong, Hong Kong	1,412,749
Spain, Alicante	1,302,237
USA, Los Angeles	1,299,118
USA, Chicago	1,207,424
USA, New York Newark	1,197,847
Spain, Palma de Mallorca	1,189,761
Canada, Toronto	1,186,783
Portugal, Faro	1,186,358
Sweden, Stockholm Arlanda	1,185,848
Hungary, Budapest	1,145,011
France, Nice	1,134,396
Singapore, Singapore	1,069,706
Portugal, Lisbon	1,069,055
USA, Boston	1,031,320
India, Delhi	1,003,598

Heathrow Airport is a major hub for flights across the North Atlantic. In 2011, 11% of all north Atlantic flights originated or terminated at Heathrow, more than Paris and Frankfurt combined, and Heathrow is the European terminus for 11 of the 25 busiest north Atlantic routes.

The busiest long-haul route in the world is between London (Heathrow and Gatwick) and New York (JFK and Newark), with a total of 3,898,460 passengers travelling between the two cities in 2011.

Maps

References