What is this second smaller runway next to London City Airport?

Question

I was looking at London City Airport (EGLC) on Google Maps today when I noticed the remains of a very small runway marked 10/28 just across the water from City Airport's main runway. It can be seen here.

To my surprise I couldn't find any mention of this small runway after searching online and looking into the history of the airport. Using the Google Earth historical imagery feature the earliest image I could find that included the runway was 2008, so I assume it was built some time between 2006 and 2008.

Can anybody tell me what this short runway is for?

God! Nice shot! I admire you being able to spot things like this! :> — trejder, Oct 20 '19 at 08:48

score 39 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 18 '19 at 16:10

39

Good Spot! That was a temporary runway for the Red Bull Air Race:

https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airfield-london-redbull-airstrip-1429.html

You can see "RB" at the eastern end on your satellite imagery

answered Oct 18 '19 at 16:10

Dan

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According to the English wiki the River Thames was used as a race location for the 6th round on July 29 in 2007 and for the 5th round on August 2 and 3 in 2008. – PerlDuck Oct 19 '19 at 14:31
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12 years on and that's looking like it's in pretty rough shape already. – FreeMan Oct 21 '19 at 20:04
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The page says London City was closed during the race anyway, which makes me wonder why they didn't simply use it. – Jan Hudec Oct 22 '19 at 17:09
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@JanHudec Maybe because of LCY's rule: steep approach and steep prices ;-) – PerlDuck Oct 23 '19 at 07:11

What is this second smaller runway next to London City Airport?

1 Answers1