BA celebrates silver anniversary at London City Airport
Image courtesy British Airways
The airline’s flights from the east London airport are operated by its subsidiary airline BA Cityflyer.
On 5th November 1999, British Airways’ Manchester-based franchise partner British Regional Airlines started a three per day weekday operation from Sheffield to London City. Since then, more than 27 million customers have flown on British Airways’ livery – including former subsidiary airlines such as BA Connect - to and from the capital’s most central airport.
BA Cityflyer began flying from London City in 2007 and has since flown to more than 50 destinations across Europe. Cities such as Frankfurt and Geneva have been some of the longest-serving routes, with Edinburgh being the most flown-to destination, closely followed by Glasgow, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
Today, BA Cityflyer is the largest airline flying from London City Airport and flies direct to 26 short-haul destinations – the furthest of which is Mykonos.
BA Cityflyer’s CEO, Tom Stoddart, said: “Not only is London City easily accessible from across the capital, but it’s a quick and seamless journey through the airport, from check-in to gate in 20 minutes. We’re proud to offer this experience to our customers, and reaching this quarter-century milestone is a testament to our team’s hard work in growing our operation over the years.”
Alison FitzGerald, CEO of London City Airport, said: “We are delighted to celebrate 25 years of our special relationship with British Airways and its subsidiary BA Cityflyer, which represents a huge milestone in the history of London City Airport as our largest serving carrier.
“As London’s most centrally located airport offering an unrivalled customer experience, we are excited for our passengers to take advantage of this fantastic anniversary offer to fly to a range of exciting holiday destinations.”
BA Cityflyer today employs more than 500 colleagues, one of which is Tracy Gani who flew to and from London City as cabin crew with British Regional Airlines 25 years ago. Today she is the airline’s Compliance Manager and said: “It was an honour to serve on board the Sheffield to London City Airport service 25 years ago and it’s amazing to see how far we have come since then as an airline. I have worked across many BA subsidiary airline teams since starting my career as cabin crew with British Regional Airlines and am proud to have played my part in BA Cityflyer’s history.”
