The owners of London City Airport have injected £130 million of new capital to stabilize the airport’s finances amid a prolonged slump in business travel.
The move comes as the airport struggles to recover from the pandemic, with passenger numbers still lagging behind pre-Covid-19 levels.
The new capital was provided by a consortium of Canadian pension funds – AIMCo, OMERS and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan – and Kuwait’s Wren House. The money will be used to reduce debt, pay interest and strengthen cash reserves, giving the airport breathing space as it prepares for refinancing talks on more than £700 million of loans due in March 2026.
London City, which is heavily dependent on business travel, has lagged behind larger airports such as Heathrow in terms of recovery. In 2023, London City welcomed 3.4 million passengers, up from 5.1 million in 2019. Despite an expected increase to 4 million passengers in 2024, this is still 20% below pre-pandemic levels.
The airport’s efforts to increase passenger numbers have also been hampered by the government’s decision to block the expansion of weekend services, despite increasing the annual passenger cap from 6.5 million to 9 million. Reaching this new limit is expected to be a challenge without additional weekend flights.
A London City spokesperson said: “We have seen annual passenger growth since the pandemic, with leisure travel now accounting for almost 60% of passengers through our airport. London City is a profitable company with supportive long-term shareholders.”
This cash injection marks a new chapter in the airport’s ownership, which included a sale by Irish property magnate Dermot Desmond and a subsequent £2 billion takeover by a Canadian-led consortium in 2016.