London City airport is about to be put up for sale, according to recent reports.
US-based Global Infrastructure Fund (GIP), owner of London City airport, said that it is in the process of appointing advisers to sell the airport by the end of the year.
In 2006 GIP acquired the London City Airport for around £750 million from Dermot Desmond – the Irish financier who shelled out only £23.5 million for the airport in 1995 from UK construction group Mowlem.
The Financial Times said in a report that the sale could raise up to £2 billion.
The London airport is only seven miles away from the city’s traditional business district and nearly two-thirds of the airport’s passengers are business travelers.
A British Airways CityFlyer Embraer 190 preparing to take off from London City Airport.
London City Airport is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, about 6.9 miles east of the City of London and a rather smaller distance east of Canary Wharf. It has a single 1,500-metre (4,900 ft) long runway and served 3.6 million passengers in 2014.
It is a relatively small airport and only features one single, two-storey passenger terminal building.
Michael McGhee, director for transport at GIP, told the FT that conditions for the sale are very favourable, adding that “market demand for quality airports is very high.”
According to McGhee, GIP does not plan on selling its stakes in Edinburgh or Gatwick airports.