Airports
London is the best served city by airports in the world with almost 150 million passengers using its six airports in 2005. In order of size, these airports are Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City; and London Southend Airport.
Heathrow and Gatwick serve long-haul, European and domestic flights; Stansted, Luton and Southend cater primarily for low-cost European and domestic services, whilst London City caters for business passengers to short-haul and domestic destinations.
The closest airport to the city centre is London City, approximately 10 km east of the City of London financial district in the Docklands area. A branch of the Docklands Light Railway links the airport to the City in under 25 minutes.
Two other airports are at the edge of the city but within the Greater London boundary: Biggin Hill, around 23 km southeast of the centre, and London's principal airport, Heathrow, 20–25 km from central London.
Heathrow handles nearly 70 million passengers per annum, making it Europe's busiest airport. On the western edge of the city in the London Borough of Hillingdon, it has two runways and five passenger terminals, with the £4bn fifth terminal opening in 2008. It is connected to central London by the dedicated Heathrow Express rail service, the Heathrow Connect local rail service and London Underground's Piccadilly line, and is connected to the M4 and M25 motorways.
Gatwick is just under 40 km south of central London in Sussex, some distance outside London's boundary. With a single runway and two terminals, it handles approximately 32 million passengers per year from domestic, short-haul and long-haul flights, and is linked to London by the Gatwick Express, Thameslink and Southern rail services, and by the M23. It is the busiest single runway airport in the world.
Southend is to the east of London, and has undergone rapid development to be usable by short-haul passenger flights in time for the 2012 Olympics. It is connected to London via the A127 road, an on airport station with services through Stratford to London Liverpool Street. Passenger numbers have risen significantly from April 2012 when low-cost flights commenced to 13 European destinations.
Stansted is London's most distant airport, approximately 50 km north of the centre, in Essex. With a single runway and terminal, it handles approximately 20 million passengers annually, mostly from low-cost short-haul and domestic leisure flights. It is connected to London by the Stansted Express rail service and the M11 motorway.
Luton Airport is about 45 km northwest of London, connected to it by the M1 and First Capital Connect trains from nearby Luton Airport Parkway station. It has a single terminal and a runway considerably shorter than the other London airports, and like Stansted it caters mainly for low-cost short-haul leisure flights.
RAF Northolt in west London is used by private jets, and London Heliport in Battersea is used by private helicopters. There are is also Croydon Airport, Biggin Hill and Farnborough Airfield.
An airfield at Lydd has been rebranded London Ashford, but currently have little traffic. In August 2009, Oxford Airport, some 95 km from London's City Centre, re-branded itself London Oxford Airport in a controversial move, while Kent International was briefly called London Manston; it is 120 km from London.
In addition, RAF Brize Norton with direct flights to the Falkland Islands is less than two hours away by car.
Read more about this topic: Transport In London