10 Years and Counting!
On August 5th 2014, I ventured on my first solo trip and filmed my first ever Flight Review video. I flew from London Gatwick to Edinburgh Airport on a British Airways Boeing 737-436 (G-GBTA) as I'd never flown a Boeing 737 at that time and I wanted to fly the 737-400 with British Airways before they retired and the day of Plane Spotting in Edinburgh went off perfectly and would be the leading catalyst for my adventures to come from that day.
10 Years later, on August 5th 2024 I find myself doing the exact same thing again! Flying to Edinburgh with British Airways! Although this time its from London City Airport to Edinburgh on an Embraer ERJ-190 as the BA 737s are now history and, since March 2020, BA doesn't do a regular London Gatwick service to Edinburgh. This is how my 10 Year Anniversary flight went!
Flying from London City in 2024!
I made my way to London City Airport on the TFL Dockland's Light Railway (DLR), it took me straight to the front door of the Terminal building. I couldn't get many photos due to the small terminal being very busy and armed security walking around, but I did go over to the BA check in facility to get a boarding pass for my flight to Edinburgh. I had prepaid for Seat 27A to enjoy the full effect of a steep take off at LCY!
I passed through security pretty quickly, until my bag was pulled aside for further checks which it quickly cleared after a good 10 minutes of waiting due to other bags being ahead of mine. Despite this I did find LCY quite efficient, especially as they'd introduced the new scanners which are being rolled out across Europe.
The main airside area gives you some amazing views of the Apron and the Runway that runs along the River Thames. Whilst these days its more or less mainly BA Cityflyer Embraer E-190s, there are some other airlines using turboprops and regional jets. I grabbed a bit of lunch from rushing over across London and enjoyed a very expensive tea and toasted sandwich from one of the local cafes whilst watching an hours worth of aircraft movements as it was getting to the mid-afternoon rush.
Whilst London City Airport is mainly aimed at the business traveller market, they do still cater to families and leisure travellers with children by providing this small child's play area which I thought was a nice touch to meet the diverse market they want to claim a portion of.
My flight was scheduled to depart from Gate 6, it was running about half an hour late due to delays getting out of Ibiza on its previous rotation. It wasn't a major delay but the ground team did apologise for the delay. Boarding began 10 minutes before our original departure time, so the flight crew were obviously keen to get us out as quickly as possible!
BA Cityflyer BA8712 (LCY-EDI)
Tonight I was going to be flying on a very familiar aircraft: G-LCYR, an Embraer ERJ-190 delivered brand new to BA Cityflyer in August 2012. This was the first BA Cityflyer plane I ever flew on back in May 2016 and its my third time flying on this very ERJ. Kind of glad to be seeing this on my anniversary trip!
I boarded through the rear door as I was due to be in 27A for this flight, the last row on the ERJ, only to find someone in my seat with a boarding pass saying he was due to sit in 27A, I checked my e-pass when I checked in the previous day and saw I also had Seat 27A as I had prebooked and paid for… I then looked at my paper boarding pass and saw that, despite checking in and paying in advance, I had been moved to Seat 24A… Not a cool move there BA!
Just two months before this flight, G-LCYR had been refitted with the new BA Cityflyer interior. The planes are now denser and configured for 106 passengers (from 98 passengers) but I found the seat still comfortable and with enough legroom for a flight of about an hour, I'm not so sure about them for a longer flight but I'll find out eventually. The seats are the "slimline" design with a small extra tray designed to hold a tablet device or smart phone, however I didn't notice a USB charging point which has been included on the new A320 cabins.
We started taxiing off the stand at London City, and backtracked parallel to the Runway as we headed for the threshold of Runway 27, which would give us a departure heading Westward. We passed the student accommodation buildings for the University of East London's Docklands campus, once at the end of the taxiway we awaited for another BA Cityflyer Embraer ERJ-190 to depart ahead of us. Once he'd darted off into the sky- it was our turn!
Once we lined up on the runway, the pilots powered up the Embraer ERJ-190 and we darted out of LCY! The climb out gave a really amazing view of the ramp at London City as it was peak time for the evening flights for the business travellers leaving London. Before making our turns toward the North, we continued to climb out of Central-West London, the lack of clouds giving some brilliant views of the city as we climbed.
The crew began the service promptly after take off as we took a routing that would see us cross England heading North from London towards Luton, passing the M-25 (London's unofficial boarder) before making a direct track North passing Bedford, crossing directly over Nottingham, Sheffield, Bradford and Carlisle before we would start our arrival around the Scottish Boarder.
As its a short sub-1hr flight, most the passengers were simply relaxed as they were looking forward to getting home from London or preparing for a Summer break "Stay-cation" in the Scottish capital. I'm a bit of an "Odd-Ball" and was only going to be in Edinburgh for 5 hours as I was going to be catching the famous Caledonian Sleeper train back to London that evening… but that's another story.
Being near the back was great to experience the take off of the ERJ from LCY Airport, but on a short flight you don't get too long for the inflight snack service, which is brilliant on BA Cityflyer in Euro Traveller as a full bar service is offered. I opted for the crisps with a Johnny Walker & Cola… I also asked for a Speedbird Brewdog as its something I love to enjoy on a BA flight given its exclusivity to flights & branded lounges. Wouldn't normally get both, but as it was celebrating 10 Years since that all important first trip.
I did require a quick toilet visit, which allowed me a quick "Loo Review" snap for this report for those wondering what the BA Cityflyer toilets look in comparison to the Airbus A320s and Boeing 777s… It'll come as no surprise its a very tight and cramped space, but it hadn't been used on this flight much, so it was reasonably clean! A quick galley shot was also doable, so I made the most of it being quiet down the back end as well.
During boarding they had announced it would be a full service and I did see quite a few people in the que as I was waiting to board… this snap of the Euro Traveller cabin before I returned to my seat showcased how full this flight was. LCY flights are often more costly compared to London Heathrow flights, but let's be honest here- a lot of these passengers were likely not paying for the flight bookings… their employers/companies were, and also likely not requiring to pay the taxes on the flight as this would be a "business expense".
Our arrival into Edinburgh quickly commenced and we started our arrival over the Scottish boarder just after passing Carlisle. We began to head slightly North-East towards Edinburgh, taking us away from Lockerbie and Glasgow area, passing the Southern Uplands, we passed the Eastern side of Edinburgh city itself and made a big 270-degree turn over the Firth of Fourth. We came in lined-up for Edinburgh Airport passing directly over the small island of Inchkeith before flying into the Scottish mainland directly headed for Runway 24.
We arrived into a cloudy Edinburgh Airport and taxied off the Airport for the short taxi to our stand. Whilst BA tends to use the jet-bridges for their A320s, the ERJ-190's don't use the jet bridges and its an open disembarkation or boarding regardless, due to the size of the small regional jets. We parked a few gates down from one of the many British Airways A320 operated flights from London Heathrow. We all had to exit the plane from the forward door as they weren't going to use the rear door.
I quite enjoyed the new seats on this BA Cityflyer plane, all though it was a bit of a nuisance not having the seats evenly lined-up to the windows as this image shows how badly mis-matched they are in the Euro Traveller section, I don't know if this is a problem in Club Europe or towards the front of the plane where there is still a slightly larger gap between seat pitch. Whilst this wasn't a big issue on a 1-hour flight from London to Edinburgh, imaging having this on a 3-4 hour flight if you like to enjoy the views, it would do my neck in!!!
I had enquired for a quick flight deck visit before landing, but I was told it wouldn't be possible- likely due to the delays and the pilots wanting to make a quick turn around back to London City, which is more than fair enough. Once I exited G-LCYR, I did manage to sneak one last picture of my Embraer from this evening before entering the bustling Terminal.
There are quite a few options to get from Edinburgh Airport to the Edinburgh City itself, but my favourite method is to use the Airlink 100, I've used it regularly for almost a decade in Edinburgh trips, its never let me down and the "Open Return" can be valid for up to 30 days, so you can use it for the start of your holiday to Edinburgh and getting back a few days later. Very reliable and the coaches work a treat!
I did a little bonus feature at the end of this Flight Report if you want to see how Caledonian Sleeper compared to BA Cityflyer and how I rounded off my big 10 Year Anniversary day!
Flying to/from LCY must be a thrill with the buildings nearby and the short runway.
Service looked great, way better than most of what you get in the continent back in Y class.
Thanks for sharing and congrats on the 10 year anniversary!
Thank you! Flying from LCY is brilliant in good weather, however it must be a right pain on a day when the weather isn't favourable! 😀