London City Airport sale expected

Lorna Strickland

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London City Airport is poised for a sale

UK regional airport London City is expected to go on sale this month. Sole owner Dermot Desmond has received several unsolicited bids to acquire the airport, which has prompted Desmond to test the market.

Analysts anticipate the price tag will reach £500m ($945m) with bids expected from Macquarie as it looks to expand its European airports network and Abertis, new owner of London Luton airport, among other investment firms.

Desmond, who also owns a majority stake in Glasgow Celtic Football Club and is part owner of The Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados, bought London City Airport for £23.5m ($44.4) in 1995 from construction firm Mowlem.

The airport is the closest airport to the city of London and expects to significantly increase its passenger numbers as the 2012 London Olympics approaches. Visitors to City have almost quadrupled from 556,000 in 1995 to 2m in 2005.

The largest carrier operating out of London City is Belgian regional airline VLM. Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss and British Airways also serve regular routes from the airport.