City Airport and AIG: Uncertain Times

After a tip off from an anonymous source some months alleging that redundancies were already occuring at London City Airport, it appears the current staff base continues to be anxious about who they will be working for in the future. We asked Rupa Haria, PR assistant at London City Airport to confirm or deny the alledged redundancies over 2 months ago - but to date we have had no response. Cllr Christine Bowden, Deputy Mayor of Newham was also asked by residents in Newham to look into the issue of redundancies at London City Airport - but once again no response has been received to date.

In an article in the Telegraph entitled "London City airport jobs in the air as AIG battles for survival" written before the US federal reserve came to the rescue of the ailing AIG, a major shareholder in LCA it raised possible consequences for London City Airport.

What is of greatest concern is that City Airport consistently use jobs for the carrot and stick approach with Newham Council and other government contacts - this is despite their utter failings in providing the type of job growth that was promised over 7 years ago. If redundancies have occurred already - isn't the stick and carrot of job creation just yet another smokescreen of disingenous claims being made by London City Airport? Shouldn't they be concentrating instead on retaining the staff they have and avoiding the alleged redundancies that have already taken place? Perhaps that is a utopian thought when in reality the business only cares for profit making for it's shareholders.

And here's more food for thought: such moves as installing self 'check in' stations don't increase jobs or the need for additional staff - they reduce the need for staff. Yet more hypocrisy.

It's just like a cappucino - the froth has come off. But they want you to fly to Moscow, Dubai and New York to look for it.

London City Airport is indeed struggling it seems - apart from the reports from residents of the noticeable reduction of flights in and out of the airport over the past few weeks, and the alledged 18 redundancies, it seems that the 'froth has come off' for the airport. The PR spinners charge a lot of money for coming up with terms like the 'froth has come off', hardly value for money that one. Austrian is also pulling out of LCA in August.

However, the airport is banking on Willie Walsh of BAs proposed New York transatlantic service from the airport to grow into routes to Moscow and Dubai. This is no surprise to objectors to the expansion - LCA will indeed be trying to get the 747s in soon, perhaps they will get the government to remove whole areas of housing, just like the proposal of flattening Sipson for the 3rd runway at Heathrow.

The New York route with the proposed introduction of the beast of a A318 is of course yet to be approved by the London Borough of Newham. But you wouldn't think so by the statements of the airport and Willie. Strangely - residents were assured by a council official that if the aircraft were approved to operate from the airport - there would be no more than 2 departures and 2 arrivals a day.

With the spotlight growing on Newham's handling of the current application to expand and of the breaches of the section 106, which have displayed exactly the type of committment the airport and council has to the community - we can confidently say that LCA should not be as confident as they were a year ago as to getting an easy trip on any of it. After all, they'd expected to had 'pushed through' the current application and have the extra services in March 2008.

So hold on to your seats residents in South and East London...London City Airport wants to morph into a transatlantic airport - full of A318 jets - flying to New York, Moscow and Dubai. Cloud cuckoo land indeed. Yes a 'mini Heathrow' is the dream of LCA.