LONDON

Where ships once docked, aircraft now land and take off. This is the unusual view that greets guests at a hotel near London City Airport, as Spencer Bennett describes.

AIRPORT: LONDON CITY AIRPORT

HOTEL: DOUBLETREE BY HILTON LONDON EXCEL

CityJet Avro RJ85 EI-RJX in the special Leinster Rugby promotional livery rolls to a halt while a British Airways Embraer 190 waits to backtrack to the threshold of Runway 27.
Richard Vandervord
The DoubleTree by Hilton London Excel is close to London City Airport.
DoubleTree by Hilton London Excel

London City Airport nestles within the docklands area of the English capital and was opened in November 1987 by Queen Elizabeth II. The airport has grown gradually, handling 133,000 passengers in its first year and reaching 4.5m in 2017. Only multi-engine, fixed-wing types with special certification for short take-offs and landings are permitted to operate here. The largest aircraft currently flying from London City Airport (IATA code LCY) is the Airbus A318 used by British Airways for a business class only service to New York John F Kennedy International.

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