Professional Pilot, October 2018
LCY London City is the closest airport to Londons Canary Wharf and financial districts Challenges with the location include very limited parking a short runway and steep approach descent LCYs shorter runway is not conducive for many max range GA ops Overnight parking here is especially difficult to obtain Airport options When operating to the London area you have STN Stansted LTN Luton BQH Biggin Hill FAB Farnborough LCY City NHT Northolt LGW Gatwick and LHR Heathrow to consider Its about 30 miles into central London from 60 PROFESSIONAL PILOT October 2018 LTN STN and LGW about 32 miles from FAB 18 miles from LHR and 12 miles from BQH A little farther away is OXF Oxford CBG Cambridge and SEN Southend with runway lengths of 5092 ft 6447 ft and 5705 ft respectively And at a greater distance are locations such as BRS Bristol and BHM Birmingham although these options could involve 3 hours surface commutes into central London Choice of London area airport will be influenced by where your final destination is within the region BQH and LCY may be ideal if youre heading to the Canary Wharf financial area and LTN STN and NHT work very well for those heading to the Mayfair district of London FAB on the other hand is often perfectly positioned for meetings in areas to the west of central London Be mindful that airport slots are needed for LTN STN LHR LGW and LCY Prior Permission Required PPR is mandated for operations into NHT and FAB while prior notification is applicable for BQN International Service Providers ISPs recommend operators also consider aircraft size and runway requirements when selecting London area airports LCY has a short 4947 ft runway steep approach and a very small parking ramp limiting operations to certain models of approved GA equipment For those operating larger or wide body aircraft LTN and particularly STN with its 10000 ft runway and generous parking are often preferred options While BQH has a 5971 ft runway access is easy and parking plentiful says Biggin Hill Business Development Dir Robert Walters Were fortunate here in that there are no airport slots or PPRs to deal with Recently we extended operating hours and were close to inaugurating a new ILS approach on runway 03 Parking ramps have been expanded and we have an 800x50 meter 2625x165 ft crosswind runway available to additional overflow parking Know before you go Its important to be aware of any and all restrictions that could impact your planned operation to the London area This summer for example GA night curfews were put in place at LTN while STN severely restricted night ops by way of challenging to obtain night slots LTN airport authorities closed the airport to GA ops from 2230 to 0700 local through September which caused a lot of difficulty says Universal Weather UK GM Jason Hayward Meanwhile STN restricted Reproduced with permission of Jeppesen Sanderson Reduced for illustrative purposes
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