London City Airport suspends all flights until at least the end of April

London City Airport is suspending all commercial and private flights as of Wednesday evening. London’s regional airport announced on Wednesday that it’ll close for all operations at least until the end of April as a result of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The airport said that following the government’s instructions, it will shut its operations down beginning Wednesday evening. The closure applies to all commercial and private flights.

“At this point in this fast-moving and unprecedented situation, we think this is the responsible thing to do for the safety and wellbeing of our staff, passengers and everyone associated with the airport”, London City Airport said in a statement posted to its website. “During this period, we will continue to follow official guidance and work with the authorities to understand the situation and how to best respond”.

Sign up for the free TPG U.K. newsletter for more airline news

While the airport said on Wednesday that it will close at least until the end of April, it will keep the timeline “under review”.

London City, which is located in London’s Royal Docks, carries predominantly domestic and regional flights with carriers such as British Airways’ CityFlyer, KLM, Swiss, Aer Lingus, LOT Polish, Lufthansa and more. In 2019, more than five million passengers flew to, from or through London City.

British Airways historically has operated its famed BA1 and BA2 flights from London City, which flew to New York (JFK) via Shannon, Ireland (SNN) via a single-aisle A318 aircraft. However, as of earlier this month, British Airways said that it was ending the route — at least temporarily.

The airline suspended all of London City Airport operations last week.

At this point, all other London airports — including Heathrow and Gatwick — remain open, though operations have been reduced.