London City Airport plans extra weekend flights

The changes would see the cut-off time for flights extended to 18:00

Extra flights could be set to take off from London City Airport on Saturday afternoons.

The airport proposed extending its Saturday cut-off time for flights from 13:00 to 18:30 in an application to Newham Council in December.

It said the changes would allow it to introduce "potentially lower fares" but some residents have expressed concerns about noise levels.

A public consultation on the plans is taking place.

• London City Airport plans revealed

City Airport, which is based at the Royal Docks in Newham, previously tried to extend Saturday flight times to 22:00, but backtracked after a public consultation last year.

The consultation received more than 5,000 responses from local residents and showed that the most common concerns were about the effect extra flights would have on noise, air quality and climate change.

Seventy percent of people commenting online about the proposals did not support passenger increases "at all".

City Airport said the changes would enable it to offer "more leisure routes" and bring in flights from "more distant locations".

It also argued that the changes could "incentivise" airlines to invest in quieter and more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Local residents have expressed concerns about rising noise levels

But campaign group HACAN East, set up to oppose the airport's expansion, argues that while these aircraft are quieter during take-off, there are less noticeable improvements to noise levels during the rest of the flight.

Flights taking off from City Airport travel over parts of east London such as Bow and Poplar, Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Barkingside and Romford.

The airport is also proposing that 12 extra Saturday flights be allowed between 18:30 and 19:30 during the summer months, and increasing the number of planes taking off each morning by three.

Although the airport is not seeking to increase its 111,000 annual flight limit, it is hoping to increase the yearly cap on passengers from 6.5million to 9million.

The public consultation will close on 27 February.