American Reacts to Why Are There So Many Airports In London? 

In case you're wondering about his rude comment about City airport, it's because it's right in the heart of London and is mainly used by business travellers.

Pre pandemic, Gatwick for decades held the title of the busiest single runway airport in the world. It is planning on bringing it's emergency runway into full use by moving the main one a the required minimum distance away (they are currently too close to use at the same time) as it had grown to it's maximum limits.

RAF is the shorthand for Royal Air Force. Fun fact when the 50th anniversary came around nobody was planning anything, so an RAF Pilot stole a Hawker Hunter and flew under Tower Bridge. Edit: here is a link Tower Bridge Fighter Jet Incident | Tales From the Bottle ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-x1DbN_S2h2o.html

in london is a bit of a misnomer, apart from city airport that is on the thames, the rest are on the outskirts, or even further.

Most American airlines fly into London Heathrow and London Gatwick, London Stanstead and London Luton are mainly used by European and UK package holiday charter services to Europe. London Southend used to do the air ferry services (carrying cars and passengers to Europe) on specially adapted aircraft, but I don't know if that still happens. London city airport is more of a business persons airport with flights connecting main European cities to London's city centre business/financial areas. I have flown to various places in the US on five occasions on US carriers, twice from London Heathrow, twice from London Gatwick and once back in the 1980s from London Stanstead.

Heathrow is mainly long haul and has many terminals. Its not INSANE to have that many airports if you take into account a. he size of the London, b. the high population density in SE England, our proximity to the continent of mainland Europe. London airport in the very early days was Croydon. I flew out of Stanstad as a small child in 1961. It was just Nissan Huts. I spent two days there with my family awaiting a RAF flight out to Aden in the Yemen.

I suggest that Steve studies the role of the Royal Air Force in 1940, in particular in the Battle of Britain, in which Winston Churchill described their contribution in his speech which contained the ever-memorable words ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so owed by so many to so few’. The ‘Few’ were those young men who flew the fighters which fought off what Germany thought would be its final and devastating aerial campaign to bring Britain to its knees. Because of those valiant young RAF pilots, some of them from other lands, we hung on until two other major powers were later on finally attacked themselves and forced to join in. THAT’s what the RAF was - and is.

There is a 7th technically, Farnborough in Hampshire (33 miles SW of London) where I live, its a business/private airport where royals and celebrities often fly to and from

My dad used to work for British Airways at Gatwick and lived nearby in Staines, he remembers his whole house shaking when Concorde flew over.

About 10 years ago, there were talks to add Cardiff Airport to the roostermix too. The talk was about making Cardiff to an extention of Heathrow and call it Terminal 4 or 5 whatever number they were on at that time. They talked about building a trainline from Cardiff Airport to Heathrow, more or less a second high-speed rail like Heathrow Express, but since nothing had happened I guess that is off the table now.

Stanstead being an ex-military base has, I understand one of the longest runways in the UK. It is, also, I understand our 'Hijack' centre. So any aircraft taken by terrorists is guided here where it can then be dealt with. I also understand that when President Obama, Trump, and Biden visited the UK, Air Force One landed and was stored here.

LCY is a great airport, lots of tourist city break destinations? LGW definitely a favourite, not too big? Easy to get to...

Gatwick is very popular too :)

Biggin Hill airport is not a mere RAF base only a small part of it is still dedicated to the RAF. It is now a airport for Private aviation & large business jets my Stepson works there in immigration & has seen many celebrities & Royalty that have flown in & out. ❤️🇬🇧

It's crazy I live very close to London Stansted airport but I don't live in London I live in Essex, so weird 🤣 but M11 motorway + great train and bus links are there to shuttle you into London in absolutely no time! 👍

I love Jay Foreman's videos. Both his shows Unfinished London and Map Men are so well done.

RAF Royal Air Force. I've flown and arrived at both Heathrow and Gatwick. All my flights are long-haul flights from New Zealand. As such they are most likely to land at Heathrow.

Actually flying Newark to Birmingham (if it is still running) is the best route into the UK from the US. I found both have the minimal delays on the ground ie your not taxing on Long island forever or have the 2 hour preflight cut off at Heathrow. Last time I travelled Newark-Birmingham we caught a 200+ mph jet steam and thus had a ground speed faster the the speed of sound! It also took me 10 minutes from aircraft seat to collecting my bags in Birmingham.

Although all these airports are named as London, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton are not exactly in London.

Heathrow and Gatwick are the main airports for long haul flights (as well as short haul) - so would likely be the places you'd enter the UK. Luton and Stansted service short to mid haul flights to Europe and North Africa. Southend and London City also have flights to Europe.

Of course the flying bus is real!!!

From Southend here! I love the fact that I have an airport right on my doorstep. The only problem is that they only fly to a handful of destinations 😢

Technically Gatwick, Luton and Stansted are not in London. They're linked by motorway's which allow them to be very easily accessed from London, they should really be termed South East England airports. Also South East England has a population of 18 million people, that and the proximity to mainland Europe makes that many airports quite sensible!

Why? For a variety of reasons. 20 million people is one reason. Also remember that London Stansted, London Luton, London Southend, Farnborough, London Gatwick are nowhere near London, they are just called “London”. Only London City is near London, ie. you could walk to the City. Both Heathrow and Northolt are still a fair distance from London. After you operate into these airports it doesn’t take you long to realise they are managed and run by wankers. The reality is Heathrow is the only airport has a large number and variety of connections which is why it is so popular (It;s still a really shitty airport). The rest are just termini of parking and shopping concessions who offer point-to-point flights.

Well if its London, well we hope The Lord Mayor of London does not put "ULEZ three" out to these areas, which are outside of London. The Lord Mayor of London has NO authority in West Sussex, Bedfordshire or Essex. Stanstead airport is in Essex Luton airport is in Bedfordshire Gatwick airport is in West Sussex

Heathrow and London City are the main airports for scheduled and business flights. Gatwick is mainly tourists and charter flights. Those 3 are the "London Airports" (maybe Battersea Heliport). Luton has nothing to do with London, it's a marketing ploy. Stanstead is a cut price airline airport for cheap flights (MUCH more expensive when you include getting there) and was mainly a business charter airport and boneyard. Southend is again nothing to do with London and was a freight airport and another boneyard/storage airport though it used to host car ferry flights back in the day. There was also Manston, an old RAF base some 74 miles from London which tried (briefly) to jump on the bandwagon, but shut in 1999. It is now used as a storage area for lorries heading to Europe after the Brexit controls came into force.

In the 70s, my aunt and uncle lived on the estate that was built on part of what had been Croydon Airport, the Roundshaw estate. When we went to visit, my cousins and I would go and play on the fields at the back of where they lived. At the time, we had no idea we were playing on what used to be London's main airport, and people would have flown all over the world from the very ground we were playing on!

Southend FTW, heathrow = International stanstedn = english holiday destinations the rest cheap flights to scotland and cornwall.

New York has 6 too. Los Angeles has 5. San Fancisco has 4. Miami and Boston also have 4.

The London Airports form the largest “City Group” of airports in the world by some margin.

I’m British born and bread and only knew Heathrow , Gatwick and Stanstead

Flew to and from Kai Tak, Kong Kong in 1959 and 1962 from Stansted in Bristol Britannias. Days when flying was more about going on an adventure...both times sitting backwards.

You would be familiar with Heathrow as it is the main long haul airport. So if you fly to and from the USA or Australia, for example, it would most likely be Heathrow. The other airports tend to be mainly, but not exclusively, short haul and domestic flights. By which I mean flights to Europe and within the UK. Of course we have large airport in other city's ie. Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds etc.

RAF The Worlds first independent Air Force (1918) That's 30 years before the USAF came in to being by the way!

Apart from Heathrow, the rest are generally for us Brits to go on holiday to Europe, US people would not have heard of them as they would have to change flights in Europe somewhere to fly into them, but would be a cheaper journey than flying direct to Heathrow and apart from City airport are a way out of London, all about 40 miles but with good train links... I love Stanstead, small and clean, but furthest from me

Good old Gatwick, perfect for the south Londoner. Excellent frequent high speed train service to Croydon and the City, unlike Heathrow which is hell to travel to/from!

Amazing how STANSTED , LUTON and SOUTHEND are not actually near London ! RAF = Royal Air Force. There are 40 airports in the UK. ( DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL)

Biggin Hill a Battle of Britain airfield became an international airport, Northolt or RAF Northolt is still in use by the RAF this is where Diana Princess of Wales was brought back after the crash in Paris and also where HM The Queen was brought back after her death in Scotland. Hendon has a RAF Museum and the Police college.

When he said that London City Airport is only used by *wankers,* he was referring to its use by city *bankers.*

Wow London Southend airport is up the road from me I thought it might be on the list

LCY has a very steep approach in order to minimise its noise footprint. Very few pilots are qualified to land there. The tall buildings at Canary Wharf are scarily close to the aircraft coming in to land from the west. Fortunately our predominantly westerly winds mean that they usually land from the east.

Oxford is 52 miles from London, not 61 and Oxford Airport is now London Oxford Airport.🤭

Next you be saying, Newcastle Airport is in London.

Not all airlines fly in to all of the airports so you may not have a choice .

Always makes me laugh when they talk about "London Luton". Luton is a LONG way from London. Stansted isnt that near either

The older word you're looking for is aerodrome, a very British word, like aeroplane. I grew up when they were still called that.

Surprised you haven't heard of Gatwick. The smaller ones like Stansted and London city are for short flights (UK & Europe) and smaller planes.

What an excellent historical video...👍

The UK seems to have a thing for calling any airport that's within a 100 miles of London as "London ........ Airport", and I'm sure as time goes on all UK airports will be called "London"!!!!!

I use Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton it all depends on the best deal or destinations. In fact by Luton and Stansted more often than Heathrow cause L and S are for low-costs.

11:40 I've used London City, and although I don't work in the City, some people say I'm a bit of one.

Some context that this video is missing, is what each airport is used for. Heathrow and Gatwick are the main airports that serve cross-continental flights. Coming from outside Europe, all flights to London will land at either Heathrow or Gatwick, mainly Heathrow. Stansted, Luton and Southend are all mainly used for vacation flights to Southern Europe as well as low budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet, with Stansted also having a big focus on cargo and being the main cargo hub for London. London City Airport is in the Canary Wharf business district close to the city centre, and mostly serves business class travel to other cities in Western Europe (City airport's small runway means only smaller jets can land there, which don't fly as far). For travel between European countries, low-budget airlines usually fly to either Stansted, Luton, or sometimes Southend depending on which airport the airline is using as its London hub. Other European flights are split roughly evenly between Heathrow and Gatwick. Cross-continental flights mainly land at Heathrow, with Gatwick providing extra capacity as Heathrow is already at capacity and hardly able to accomodate additional long-haul flights.

Its all about bad planning really and lack of decision making. Plus the layout of the south of England with so many towns around London meaning less space for airports and a big demand from those areas. Heathrow and gatwick also never had enough space reserved for expansion. It is a crazy situation

Well it doesn't get any better than Jay Foreman on RU-vid. If you want some really interesting UK insights with perfect comedy look mo further. That aside, really enjoyed your channel so far and appreciate the sincerity in all of the videos you do.

Because this is the hub. Graphically we are perfect for stops and starts.p

Britain had over 300 aerodromes (airports) in in WWII

London Stanstead Airport it where the Jumbo Jet with the Space Shuttle on its back, landed on its Tour of the UK, and its my local Airport for some International destinations, but if I want to travel to the USA I tend to use Londons Heathrow Airport.

Surprised you haven't heard of Gatwick. It's my usual airport. I can understand why the others aren't as well known though.

There are 6 airports but technically they are not all actually in London. London City and Heathrow are the only two that are actually inside the M25 motorway, which goes round the greater London area. The others are all outside this. Also, you generally get different airlines and destinations from each airport. To fly to America you most probably can only fly from Heathrow or Gatwick. London City Airport is located closest to centre of London. It has a single short and narrow runway and a vert steep angle of approach and departure for planes. As result there is a lot of restrictions on the planes that can actually us it ( in terms of noise and their physical ability to be a land and take-off safely on its runway).

Northolt is near where I live and is a joint RAF and private airport. Gatwick is used now for long haul flights as well as short haul. It has a decided rail station attached to it that will get you into central London relatively quickly.

R.A.F aka the raf is the Royal Air Force

I should imagine the reason a lot of Americans / non British might not know Gatwick despite it having routes to many long haul destinations and 35 million passengers a year, is that it is mainly a base for only UK and European airlines (BA, Easyjet, Wizz & Chartered airlines for package holidays, like Tui.). So if an American was for instance to fly to the UK on an American carrier, they always fly into Heathrow. Gatwick is mainly (not exclusively) used by tourists coming in from Europe, and UK tourists flying long haul. City Airport since its small expansion now offers flights to a number of European holiday destinations - a great airport if you live in East London, not just for banker wankers!

Er, the first official aerodrome in Britain was in Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. It was known as " Shellbeach Airfield" and was Moved to Eastchurch in Kent and used by the military during WWI and WWII.

I flew from Gatwick to Cuba and a year or so later southern Ireland via Heathrow 😊 so not always long haul.

The Brits kept the original orthography of the words they adopted. They call airplanes aeroplanes which in Hellenic🇬🇷 means: Αεροπλάνο / aeroplàno > aeroplane Aèras = air Plàno (verb) = floating So, the vehicle floating into to air. Also, aerodrome Αεροδρόμιο / aerodròmio > aerodrome Aèras = air Dròmos = road, path. The road for the aeroplanes to land!

London doesn’t have six airports. Gatwick is in Sussex. Much like Tokyo Disneyland is in Chiba. It is only called London Gatwick for overseas customers.

Steve, another airport is Northolt close to west London. However it is a Royal Air Force airport used, for example if the Prime Minister or King Charles III was on a trip. Gatwick is used for many American flights. City Airport is very close to the financial Canary Wharf. I flew out of Heathrow in 1960 before the terminals we know today were built, the "terminal" being a small temporary building. I was the only Economy Class passenger on a DC8 of Japan Airways and flew to Paris Orly Airport just for the fun of it! The other passengers were four Japanese ladies in Business Class so I had the whole of Economy Class to myself.

I used to be a systems auditor, and I spent half my time going to airports and flying overseas. I have flown from all those airports, and my least favourite are Luton (the nearest one to me) and Stansted. They just can't seem to handle large queues. My favourites are Heathrow and Gatwick. London City Airport is somewhere in the middle

London has 2 airports, Heathrow & City, the others are:- Luton, in Luton! Duh! Gatwick, in Crawley. Stansted, near Cambridge. If you know anything about the location of those last three, you wouldn't ever call them 'London' airports!

Los Angeles has six airports as well. 1. LAX 2. Hollywood Burbank 3. Van Nuys 4. John Wayne (Orange County) 5. Long Beach 6. Ontario

There are only two airports literally IN London... the fact that they lay claim to Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Southend is (IMO) dumb... yes, they are CLOSE to London, and have transport links to London, but they are not in the city, and it's just daft that London "claims" them.

RAF Royal Air Force Heathrow only 2 runways long delays Gatwick one runway the busiest in the world very busy Summer time. Luton avoid if possible, Standard easier but facilities limited, City Airport very crowded small terminal.. Best Airport Southend easy convenient unfortunately limited destinations..

Blame the war. Lots of RAF bases. And not very much available land so you can’t just build runways willy nilly. The main London airport used to be at Croydon. It’s now a branch of IKEA.

Hi Steve. Now there's a blast from the past I originally come Hendon. I know the aero drone well me my brothers and sister and friends used to play there all the time. O what fun we had. And watching the plane's take off and land. it was used as a military base to. by the RAF I think but not sure. From 🇬🇧 an old cockney gal. 😄👍👍

Most cities get by with one or two main rail termini......London has twelve plus another three hundred and thirty rail statIons plus two hundred and seventy metro stations - six airports is peanuts.

"only used by w%nkers' lol. I've used City Airport, oops. It's the best airport I ever flew from. Bittersweet as thanks to that airport Skyscrapers have a lower height limit. London is the busiest airspace in world I believe and a major hub for international flights so it makes sense there's so many airports.

React to the battle of Stalingrad 1942/1943 dramatic world war 2 combat by HCT

Forget the London names on lots of airfields, I live on the Romney Marsh on the Kent coast we have an airport called Lydd. The owners have grand plans to expand airport into an international gateway. They have changed its name to London Ashford airport which is a joke considering we are 14 miles from Ashford and 59 from London. Without a major infrastructure project of roads and runways its just a pipe dream especially as there are strict planning laws as the Romney Marsh is designated an SSSI. A site of special scientific interest the only planes to use Lydd are mostly private single prop planes and the coast guard search and rescue helicopter

Only two of London's airports are actually in London, Heathrow and City. Heathrow and Gatwick are the largest airports with the most air traffic and the easiest to access via train from central London. Stansted and Southend airports are in Essex, Luton is in Bedfordshire.

Heathrow is the main airport for long haul flag carrier airlines. And the more prestigious independent ones such as Virgin Atlantic. Gatwick is the home of the long distance package holiday companies such as TUI Stansted is the home of the budget short haul carriers.. Mostly flights around Europe. Luton is similar City airport is for high rolling Buisiness travelers who absolutely need minimum distance from airport to the boardroom and are prepared to pay stupid figures for that. Most of the flight there are domestic or near Europe

If you think of all the R.A.F Aerodromes all around Britain during ww 2 then after the war many became airports

How do you figure there are 6 airports in London? Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Stansted and Southend are many, many miles from London.

RAF = Royal Air Force. It's like the USAF.

I live about 9 miles from Heathrow but I never fly out from there if I can help it. Gatwick or Luton at a push but Heathrow is just a huge headache to fly from.

I used to work in greenford london, RAF northolt was a main airport for bringing in the primemister, there was the A40 direct road to london, but they took them through the town streets with the motor bike out riggers and the blacked out cars, we guess reason for this was should something happen, plenty exit routes, where if you on a dual carriage way, could me 3 miles before next exit route, so we saw alot of the elite peole pass our shop

We flew to florida from Gatwick not Heathrow Also raf is royal Air force. There's a base right next to me civilian village.

London Heathrow and London city are in London ,Luton Stansted and Gatwick are over 35 miles from London , but technically there is one more a helicopter airport at Battersea , technically the closest to the centre of London,

RAF is the first air force in the world👍

I came by chance just 1 click and I find very Interesting. Very Interesting Video. Ty. Ty

Stansted must be the airport in the world that people have the most trouble spelling! Even looking at these comments when the word appeared several times in the video, the extra "a" sneaks in often!

The idea that Luton & Stansted are London airports is simply ridiculous. They have damn all to do with London.

Because its the centre of the world.

my mum and dad used to watch the international flights takeoff from Croydon airport. they caught the bus to the aerodrome

Flying bus! 🤪

Are these questions from Americans sometimes stupid?? 😂 If so why??😂

When you say in London. Stansted isn’t Luton isn’t Gatwick isn’t and Heathrow on the edge of it. Only one in London is city airport

I live near Biggin Hill and it's still used for short flights. It has an RAF heritage museum there.

RAF means Royal Air Force like the USAF stands for United States Air Force.

I flew into BigginHill on a private jet it still does private services 🛩️👍🏻

Stansted is used also when a US president visits the UK, and it is also the chosen airport for landing plans when it has kidnappers on board.