Helvetic Airways E195-E2 Lands at London City Airport

‍DALLAS — London City Airport (LCY)  just reached another milestone in its history. It welcomed the first commercial service of an Embraer E195-E2, the largest aircraft to land at LCY to date.

HB-AZI was flown by Helvetic Airways (2L), operating LX456 from Zurich on behalf of Swiss. It touched down at 12:01 pm on London City’s runway 09 and was adorned with a special “E195-E2, Largest Aircraft in LCY” livery on the rear of the fuselage.

London City Airport has been seeking to attract aircraft of this size and larger. The airport has been constrained by the aircraft types that can operate there due to weight and noise restrictions, limited runway length, and the size of the parking bays. However, LCY has recently aimed to capitalize on its little extra space by adding parking stands and extending its taxiway on reclaimed land.

Furthermore, with the increased thrust provided by aircraft such as the Embraer E2 and Airbus A220’s large engines relative to their size, aircraft with larger capacities are now within reach of LCY’s target clients. The most common aircraft seen there is the Embraer E190, which typically carries close to 100 passengers. 

However, with the introduction of the A220-100, that new maximum capacity increased to 125, and now with the E195-E2, it has been further raised to a theoretical 150. The 2L E195-E2 can accommodate 134 passengers. 

This increase in potential passenger figures, and consequently revenue, could assist the airport in realizing its full potential. It is no secret that it has faced financial challenges since its opening in 1987 and has only made measurable profits in recent years.

Other Aircraft Operations at London City

London City Airport does not want to stop with aircraft the size of the E195-E2. They have also floated a proposal to have Airbus A320neo operations. This is said to be possible with the use of its similarly powerful engines, as well as amendments to the airport’s use of steep approaches. The A320neo can offer LCY an additional capacity increase into the 175+ seat range. 

Critics have suggested that an A320neo full of passengers would only have a range of roughly 600 miles or 1,000km when flying from LCY, given the airport’s weight restrictions. However, this is negated by most of the airport’s services being within this distance anyway. While nothing has been formally agreed upon regarding A320NEO operations, it will be interesting to see how proposals like this progress.

Regarding E195-E2 operations at the airport, though, only two airlines that fly there have them: 2L and KLM (KL). The latter has not announced plans to use their examples on their routes to London City just yet. However, they may commence operations with their E195-E2s in the future.

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