CEO Alison FitzGerald had sought to extend the airport’s opening hours from 12.30pm to 6.30pm, reports Marco Marcelline

London City Airport’s CEO has said she will not appeal the government’s decision to block her bid for more Saturday flights at the airport.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Alison FitzGerald, who has run the airport since May, said she was “disappointed” with the decision but revealed it would not be appealed.

The Echo understands that the airport had six weeks to lodge an appeal against the government’s 19th August decision to reject a bid to extend Saturday opening hours from 12.30pm to 6.30pm.

The rejection came as the government simultaneously approved the airport’s plan to lift a 6.5 million passenger cap to 9 million per year.

At the time, FitzGerald said: “While we welcome the approval to increase our passenger numbers, we are disappointed with the Government’s decision to reject our proposal to fly from 12:30pm to 6:30pm on Saturday afternoons.

“As the government has recognised in its decision, rejecting our request to extend our Saturday afternoon operating hours will slow down airlines bringing cleaner, quieter next generation aircraft to the airport. Local residents would have had the added benefit of these aircraft operating at the airport throughout the week, not just in the extended operating hours.”

The passenger cap lift was sharply criticised by climate campaigners, including Paul Morozzo, climate campaigner for Greenpeace UK, who described it as a “surprisingly clumsy misstep” that “undermines the UK’s climate leadership”.

Environmental activists and local residents have long-argued that the airport causes significant pollution. Protesters have also stressed that it does not serve the communities living around it who cannot afford a plane ticket due to high levels of poverty in Newham.

In July, nearly 200 air pollution and climate campaigners had gathered outside the Department for Transport to protest against the proposed expansion of the airport, which has a flight path over Leytonstone.

Speaking to the Echo, Leytonstone resident Nancy Leddy, said she welcomed the decision to not appeal, saying it means “we can keep the peace we have on the weekend”.

Slamming the airport’s significant growth over the past few decades, she said: “It started with just propeller airplanes when it opened [in 1987], a sort of a novelty for the high powered executives in the new Canary Wharf. It has grown and grown, bit by bit, and now they fly jets. Lots of private jets.”

She added: “There is no consideration for the hundreds of thousands who have to put up with the noise and pollution. If it was loud music or a bad smell for 18 hours a day, six days a week, it wouldn’t be allowed.”

A spokesperson for City Airport said it did not have any further comment on its decision to not appeal the government ruling.

The Newham airport expects to handle around four million passengers this year, which is down around one million from pre-pandemic levels.

In her interview with the Financial Times, FitzGerald said corporate travellers had not returned in the same numbers as before the pandemic, with one-day trips to European capitals in particular suffering.

As a result, she said the airport was now targeting more leisure travellers seeking short breaks in Europe.

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