Few pairs of London airports have less in common. Gatwick lies in West Sussex at the end of a motorway spur, handling long-haul, charter and a very large leisure network. London City occupies a strip of the Royal Docks, handles short sectors from a single small building, and is closer to the Bank of England than to any field.
For a chauffeur the two present opposite problems. One is a long, mostly predictable run out of the city. The other is a short, frequently unpredictable crossing within it. Which is easier depends on where you begin and what time you begin, and the answer flips more often than most people expect. Here is how each behaves and what should decide it.
Thirty miles apart, and worlds apart
Gatwick is a genuine departure from London. Once past the M25 the road opens out, the traffic thins and the remaining twenty minutes down the M23 are among the easiest miles in the South East. The airport itself is well organised around two terminals joined by a shuttle, and its road layout was designed for the volume it carries rather than retrofitted to it.
London City is embedded in the city it serves. There is no motorway anywhere in the journey, and the last stretch runs through the Royal Docks on ordinary roads. In exchange you get a terminal so compact that the walk from the car to security is measured in minutes, which for a short flight can save more time than the drive ever costs.
Crossing the river, or leaving the city
From south London and the whole southern arc, Gatwick is straightforward: the A23 or the M23 via the orbital, with no river to cross and no city centre to negotiate. From north or east London the journey begins with a crossing of the Thames, and that crossing is the part we plan most carefully, because the options are finite and each has its own bad hour.
London City reverses the geometry. From the eastern boroughs, the City and Canary Wharf it is quick and often very quick. From south of the river the Blackwall and Silvertown crossings do the work, and from the west the whole of central London stands in the way. A West End address can find the two airports surprisingly close together in time, despite being far apart in miles.
Who each airport is built for
London City is designed around the short business trip: a European city in the morning, home the same evening, hand luggage only. Its runway suits smaller aircraft, its schedules cluster around business hours, and it operates within restricted hours that include a long break across the weekend. Used for what it was built for, it is the most civilised airport in the country.
Gatwick is built for breadth. Long-haul, holiday routes, family travel, checked luggage and departures at every hour of the day. If you are flying beyond Europe, travelling with a party, or leaving on a Saturday afternoon, it will usually be the airport that has the flight, and the ground journey adapts to that rather than the other way round.
At a glance
The comparison from the back of a car comes down to a handful of points.
- From the City, Canary Wharf or east London: London City, comfortably
- From Croydon, Surrey, Sussex or Kent: Gatwick, comfortably
- From the West End: closer than you would think, and hour-dependent
- Typical drive from central London: 70 to 100 minutes to Gatwick, 30 to 60 to City
- Time needed inside the terminal: London City, by a wide margin
- Long-haul, charter and weekend departures: Gatwick only
- Large parties with checked luggage: Gatwick handles it more gracefully
When Gatwick is the easier journey
For anyone south of the river it is rarely close. The drive avoids central London entirely, uses roads built for the traffic they carry, and ends at an airport whose two terminals are clearly signed from a mile out. Sending a family from Wimbledon or Bromley east across the city to the Royal Docks would be a poor piece of advice, whatever the mileage suggests.
It also wins on flexibility. London City's restricted operating hours mean there are windows in which it simply is not available, and its route map does not stretch to long-haul. If your flight is at seven on a Sunday morning, or bound for the Caribbean, or carrying four people with three cases each, the choice makes itself and the extra half hour on the road is a small price.
And it wins when the day contains a risk you would rather not take. Gatwick's frequency on many routes means a missed departure has a same-day alternative. The eastern airport's schedule is thinner by design, so a disruption there can cost you the day rather than an hour. For an unmissable commitment at the far end, breadth is worth the drive.
Arrivals, where the difference is sharpest
Coming home, London City is the gentlest arrival airport in the region. Passengers on a short sector with cabin bags are frequently outside within a few minutes of the doors opening, which means the chauffeur needs to be in position early rather than comfortably. We plan those meets tight, because the passenger will almost always beat the schedule.
Gatwick arrivals run to a longer rhythm: immigration, then baggage reclaim, then a walk to the pick-up area, and the whole thing can vary by half an hour depending on the hour and the aircraft. Give us the flight number either way. It lets us plan around the published schedule, and it tells us which terminal and which hall to be waiting in when you emerge.
