BAE Systems: London City Airport will survive credit crunch

Smaller hubs like London City Airport will have a greater change of surviving the credit crunch compared to the holiday airports, claims BAE systems.

Deputy vice president of sales and marketing and asset management, Stewart Cordner, said that because smaller airports tend to specialise in niche routes they have are better suited to the current economic climate than larger holiday airports.

"I think there is a certain element of survivability in there, inherent in the regional aircraft side of things," he said.

London City Airport saw its fourth consecutive year of double-digit percentage growth: it is now handling over two per cent of all London passengers, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

"Stansted for example - the summer season is over, winter season it will drop down, you get to a ski season but London City should be survivable," added Mr Cordner.

According to the CAA, the biggest growth in passenger numbers at the London airports was at Gatwick, which served a million more passengers in 2007 than in 2006.

Posted by Graham Greenaway on the 24/10/2008 16:42:45
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