Three quarters of customers ready to fly, says London City Airport
Ahead of restarting services on 21 June, London City Airport has said that over three-quarters of its customers have said they are likely to travel when they are told it is safe to do so.
An anonymous survey of over 4,700 of the airport’s customers showed that 78 per cent of respondents were either very likely or quite likely to fly when given the go-ahead by the government.
Of these, 48 per cent said that they were very likely to fly, while 42 per cent said they expected to fly for leisure purposes over the next three months.
A similar percentage – 41 per cent – said that they were expecting to fly for business over the same period, despite fears over the future of corporate travel.
The survey results came as London City Airport ramped up operations ahead of its first flights since 25 March, when it suspended all passenger flights.
A British Airways flight to the Isle of Man is expected to be the airport’s first service after restarting.
The airport will first begin running domestic flights, including new routes to Teeside and Dundee, with international flights expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Chief executive Robert Sinclair said that the demand shown by the survey results was “really encouraging”.
“It shows a desire to not only enjoy a holiday soon after nearly three months of lockdown, but to get back to business travel as well”, he added.
“We have worked hard to create a safe environment at the airport, so they can get back to flying in confidence”.
He also pushed for the government to agree air bridges with low-risk European nations as soon as possible, saying it would be a “shot in the arm for the industry as well as for the wider UK economy”.
Adam Tyndall, transport director at London First agreed, saying: “Both blanket Foreign Office advice not to travel abroad and the mandatory two-week quarantine for all arrivals into the UK should be limited to the highest risk countries.
“Aviation can play a vital role in the economic recovery – from exports and professional services through to universities and hospitality – but only if the government removes these indiscriminate constraints and reverts to a nuanced, risk-based approach”.