A UK airport will be permitted to have 50 per cent more flights operating into and out of it before the end of 2009, it was announced on July 8th 2009.

London City Airport in London Docklands is located closed to the main site for the 2012 Olympic Games, and today's announcement will likely augment development in this part of the world prior to the sports event in three years time.

London City Airport Flights

London City Airport flights presently total 80,000 a year but under the new terms, the site will be allowed to handle up to 120,000. As a consequence, 3.9 million passengers are expected to pass through it each year - 600,000 more than do at present - a spokeswoman for the airport stated.

She added that while the airport would not to be expanded in order to accommodate these 40,000 additional flights, approximately 950 new employment opportunities would still open up.

London City Airport has now been in operation for over two decades. From inception it was intended as a convenient facility for businessmen and women working in the UK's capital city and, these days, connects up with more than 30 other airports across Europe.

London City Airport Airlines

London City Airport's airlines include British Airways, Air France and Dutch carrier KLM.

In related news, one of these airlines, British Airways, has recently started selling tickets for a new London City Airport service between London and New York. British Airways flights between London City and John F Kennedy airports will ultimately happen twice a day and will be carried out using twin-engined Airbus A318 airliners -the largest types certified to use the hub.

"In the harshest trading environment airlines have experienced, we believe it is more important than ever to embrace the future and innovate", Willie Walsh - Chief Executive Officer of British Airways - stated, adding: "That is what this historic new route is about."

Flight prices have been set between £1,901.10 and £5,625.10.

British Airways itself was in the news in recent days when it asked more than 30,000 of its workers to forgo pay.