The owners of London City Airport have injected £130m of new equity to financially stabilize the airport amid a long-term decline in business travel.
The move comes as the airport struggles to recover from the pandemic, with passenger numbers still below pre-Covid levels.
The new capital was provided by a consortium of Canadian pension funds – AIMCo, OMERS, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan – and Wren House in Kuwait. The money is being used to reduce debt, pay interest and boost cash reserves, giving the airport breathing room as it prepares to refinance talks on more than £700 million of loans due in March 2026.
The City of London, which relies heavily on corporate travel, has lagged behind major airports such as Heathrow in its recovery. In 2023, the City of London welcomed 3.4 million passengers, down from 5.1 million in 2019. Despite an expected rise to 4 million passengers in 2024, this is still 20% below pre-pandemic levels.
The airport’s efforts to increase passenger numbers were also hampered by the government’s decision to prevent the expansion of weekend services, despite raising the annual passenger limit from 6.5 million to 9 million. Reaching this new limit is expected to be difficult without additional weekend flights.
A City of London spokesperson said: “Since the pandemic, we have seen passenger numbers grow year-on-year, with leisure travel now accounting for almost 60% of passengers through our airport. City of London is a profitable company with long-term supportive shareholders.
The cash injection marks another chapter in the airport’s ownership, which included a sale by Irish property tycoon Dermot Desmond and a subsequent £2 billion takeover by a Canadian-led consortium in 2016.