David Learmount / London
London City Airport (LCY) managing director Richard Gooding confirms that the organisation has received offers to purchase the downtown commercial aerodrome. Gooding says that the offers were unsolicited, and owner Dermot Desmond has appointed bankers Morgan Stanley to examine them.
Asked whether Desmond, who acquired the airport from construction group Mowlem in 1995, had let it be known that bids were welcome, Gooding said that LCY’s situation is “totally passive”, but that the offers were being examined. He voiced the opinion that there is increased interest in airport ownership since Budapest airport, Hungary was put up for sale recently and Grupo Ferrovial of Spain mounted a takeover bid for the British airports group BAA.
LCY, unsuccessful when Desmond bought it, is doing good business now, and on 13 May the first Airbus A318 107-seater medium range jet carried out successful airport compatibility trials there for the first time. If airlines decide that A318 operations from LCY will be profitable, the aircraft’s greater range would extend the number of major European hubs reachable non-stop from the short-runway airport, according to Gooding.
Source: Flight Daily News
