London City Airport has announced all commercial and private flights will be temporarily suspended from Wednesday evening (26 March) due to the coronavirus outbreak.

This latest measure comes after the announcements from the UK Government on Monday night (23 March) and is expected to last until the end of April, but this will be kept under review, the airline has said.

While commercial traffic will temporarily cease from the central London hub, the airport has indicated to the government that “the aerodrome can remain open and available to support emergency flights or the military or other government agencies”.

CEO Robert Sinclair said: “In these exceptional times, this is the right and responsible course of action to protect the safety and wellbeing of our staff and passengers, and our city.

“At this time of national crisis, we stand ready to keep the aerodrome open and to work with the emergency services and Government to support the relief effort in any way we can to ensure that people and communities get the vital care they need.

“The fundamentals of our business remain strong. The airport is backed by very committed, long-term investors and, once confidence returns to the market, the airport and our staff will be ready once again to quickly return to normal operations.”

Staff will continue to be employed by the airport during the temporary suspension and “future decisions around re-opening will be informed by Government guidance”.

London City is the UK’s 12th busiest airport, handling 5.1 million passengers last year.

Visit gov.uk for the latest coronavirus travel advice.