is there a 2nd runway at LONDON CITY airport

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Member for

13 years 2 months

Posts: 60

as part of my week's holiday at London airports at end of January and as im going to be spending a day at London city on mon 27th , my first time .I have been looking at google satellite for areas around the airport and came across a 2nd runway north of the runway. across from the Albert Dock water. its runway config are RW10 and RW 28.

never heard anything mentioned of this before.

can anybody enlighten me of this runway..is it in use etc.. I understand map might not be up to date etc ..

thanks pete

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coolmore/

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Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 337

I have a vague recollection that the runway was for the Red Bull Air Race.

Member for

18 years 6 months

Posts: 2,343

I assume the area highlighted in red on the first picture below is what you are looking at, right?

TheMightyOz has already correctly identified...it is/was a tempoary runway used for the Red Bull Air Race.

The second picture I have included below shows it very clearly. This was taken in 2007.

Here is a link to the original source of the second image: http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Gallery/London-2007/Red-Bull-Air-Race-London-2007-021238611392828?GImageId=1238611352476#/image-3

An interesting question that comes from this though...are the operations of LCY impacted in anyway as a result of the Red Bull Air Race?

The Red Bull Air Race is usually held over a weekend, and I know that LCY closes for 24hrs (Sat 12:00 to Sun 12:00); is there a rule that all the Red Bull flights have to be completed during this time when the main airport is not in use, and if so...why don't they just use LCY's runway instead of having their own one?

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Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

Good questions, hope we get some answers.

The third runway in the middle is good for floatplanes! ;)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 4,887

On a hunch, I think the reason they build a seperate runway is because the Red Bull air races require a lot of (temporary) support infrastructure. Not just maintenance areas for the planes, but also VIP stands and chalets, media areas, visitor areas and a 100 foot tall fountain spewing Red Bull... ok, maybe not the fountain. All this stuff can not be placed at the LCY platforms. There might be enough space, but it takes several days to build and then dismantle the flying circus. This would tie up the already cramped LCY ramp space and badly impact operations.

Member for

15 years 5 months

Posts: 337


An interesting question that comes from this though...are the operations of LCY impacted in anyway as a result of the Red Bull Air Race?

The Red Bull Air Race is usually held over a weekend, and I know that LCY closes for 24hrs (Sat 12:00 to Sun 12:00); is there a rule that all the Red Bull flights have to be completed during this time when the main airport is not in use, and if so...why don't they just use LCY's runway instead of having their own one?

I was at the motor show on one of the weekdays when there was either practice or qualifying going on for the Red Bull Air Race, and there seemed to be regular airline flights in and out occurring as well as the Red Bull guys doing their stuff, so I presume it can't have had a huge impact. On a side note, this year's UK round of the Red Bull Air Race is being held at Ascot Racecourse.

Member for

13 years 2 months

Posts: 60

thanks all for clearing up on this..

will take a look at this place to take photographs from here though think sun will be in direct view..hoping for sun and not snow or rain..w