Edinburgh Airport owners Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) have put London City Airport up for sale.
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Michael McGhee, GIP’s director for transport said current market conditions are favourable and demand for quality airports is “very high”.
GIP bought the airport for an estimated £750m in 2006 from Irish financier Dermot Desmond.
London City has seen passenger numbers more than double from 2 million in 2005 to an expected 4.1 million this year.
He did however insist that there are no plans in place within the group for the sale of its other holdings in Gatwick or Edinburgh. It is just 22 minutes from Bank station and is closer to the financial centre at Canary Wharf.
It is majority-owned by US investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which has appointed advisers to work on a deal for the airport, according to the Financial Times. However, its short single runway limits the type of aircraft that can use the airport and therefore – apart from a flight to New York JFK – it serves mainly European destinations.
The record numbers were up almost 30,000 on the previous best of 379,020 set in March, and an 18.8% increase on July 2014, with the airport set to welcome more than four million passengers in total this year.
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These plans were passed by Newham Council in February, but blocked by London mayor Boris Johnson the following month due to noise concerns. “It is business as usual at the airport – the sale process will have no impact on its operation, on its plans for growth or on the appeal it has mounted against the refusal of planning permission for the City Airport Development Programme (CADP)”.
