London City Airport awaited its first flight in nearly three months Sunday as Britain moved another step closer to fully emerging from its coronavirus lockdown on July 4.
The main air hub for London’s once-bustling Canary Warf and City financial districts was expected to welcome a short-haul flight from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea on Sunday evening.
Airport officials sounded thrilled.
They announced a deep cleaning and posted the results of a survey showing that most people — 72 percent — would like to fly again when it was safe.
“This clear early demand from our passengers to get back to flying is really encouraging,” airport chief executive Robert Sinclair said.
But the first routes will be domestic because of international travel restrictions and only a handful of destinations will be served in the first weeks.
London businesses are also unhappy with the government’s divisive decision to impose 14-day quarantines on most people arriving in Britain.
“Both blanket Foreign Office advice not to travel abroad and the mandatory two-week quarantine for all arrivals into the UK should be limited to the highest risk countries,” the London First business lobby said on the airport’s website.
