London is well-known for having more airports than virtually any other major city, with six international gateways from which thousands of planes depart each day.
While even one such airport in the United States would be amazing, all six of London’s major airports are remarkably well-connected by a mix of metropolitan and regional train services. As a result, residents of central London can be confident that they will be able to commute to and from the city’s major airports with ease.
However, when one looks deeper into these amenities, an interesting issue arises: which of the six London airports is best connected to the city by public transportation? While this may appear to be a simple question, various complexities make it challenging to decide which facility is best connected.
Many people believe that the best-connected airport is the one with the most efficient train links to the city center. However, the answer is slightly more complicated.
London is a huge city with dozens of boroughs and a vast metropolitan area. Taking a London Underground line from one side of London to the other takes around an hour (depending on the service), and the Greater London Area has dozens of various transit systems that serve the surrounding counties and suburban communities.
As a result, we will try to establish which London Airport is best connected to the city as a whole via public transit. This talk will only cover rail-based ground transportation, as bus services to and from airports are widely available.
The six airports are spread throughout the London area.
London’s six major airports are evenly distributed throughout the neighboring counties, with two of them, London City Airport (LCY) and London Heathrow Airport (LHR), being within Greater London itself. Both London Luton Airport (LTN) and London Stansted Airport (STN) are located to the north of the city, serving London as well as outlying communities in neighboring counties.
London Gatwick Airport (LGW), the city’s other major gateway, is located south of the capital and services a region extending from South London to the coast.
London Southend Airport (SEN), the final facility officially classified as a London Airport, is so far east of the city that some may question whether it should even be considered one of the metropolitan area’s airports. Most will argue that it serves largely as a smaller regional hub for travel to and from the counties east of the metropolis.
Let’s begin by eliminating the airports that are the least linked to London by public transportation.
It is fairly easy to rule out London Southend Airport (SEN) as the city’s best-connected airport. The sole means to get to and from the airport is via train, which departs from Southend Airport Station.
According to the airport’s website, up to six trains run each hour during peak hours, which may seem excessive to Americans unaccustomed with the outstanding efficiency of European railway infrastructure.
From Southend, it takes around 40 minutes to reach Stratford Station, a key transportation hub in East London, and an hour to reach Liverpool Street Station in central London.
Passengers can access the Elizabeth Line, the London Underground’s Jubilee Line, the London Overground, and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) from Stratford, while Liverpool Street station provides connections to the Elizabeth Line and three separate London Underground lines.
However, the airport’s exceedingly weak link to West London rules it out of consideration here. If you’re coming from the western side of the city, you may expect to spend up to two hours getting to and from South End.
The Elizabeth Line is not a London Underground line. It is an independent high-capacity urban rail line managed by Transport for London (TfL) that will open in May 2022, according to the operator.
London Stansted Airport (STN), located northeast of London, faces similar challenges as Southend. The airport is located distance from the city core and is only accessible via regional rail services.
Again, these trains only serve Stratford and Liverpool Street, with just four fast trains departing the airport’s station per hour.
Furthermore, Stansted and Southend rail stations do not accept Oyster cards or contactless payments, which are utilized by the majority of stations and lines across London. For these reasons, we can cross Stansted off our list.
Gatwick and Luton are likewise not the best connected with public transit.
London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and London Luton Airport (LTN) are two airports that serve London and are reasonably well connected to the surrounding metropolitan area.
Luton Airport Parkway, a railway station connected to the airport by a shuttle train known as the DART, is served not only by regional rail services from East Midlands Railway but also by Thameslink, a Crossrail service similar to the Elizabeth Line.
At any given time, there are over five trains per hour from Luton directly to St. Pancras railway station, as well as Thameslink services that serve communities throughout South London, providing one-seat connectivity beyond central London to the opposite side of the metropolitan area.
Passengers can easily reach all of the city’s urban train systems from the various Thameslink stops located throughout Central London, including all London Underground lines, Crossrail, the London Overground, and the London Trams.
Transport for London reports that Gatwick Airport is served not only by Thameslink, but also by the Great Western Railway (GWR), the Southern Railway, and the Gatwick Express.
While GWR services connect to destinations outside of the city, Southern and Gatwick Express both provide quick access to Victoria Station in the center of London, from whence passengers can take the Victoria Line, Circle Line, and District Line.
Our choice for the best-connected airport in London via public transit may not come as a surprise.
The final two airports to consider when determining the best-connected airport in London by public transportation are those served by the city’s major metropolitan rail networks.
For starters, the Docklands Light Railway serves London City Airport, providing unprecedented access to key London transportation hubs such as Bank, Canary Wharf, and Stratford. The airport is the nearest to London’s city center.
Heathrow Airport is incredibly well connected to the entire metropolitan area. The facility provides connection to Paddington station via Heathrow Express, as well as the Elizabeth Line and London Underground.
The Piccadilly Line allows passengers to easily reach places in Central and North London, while the Elizabeth Line provides quick access throughout the metropolitan region. Getting from Heathrow to most of London in roughly an hour is quite simple.
Heathrow is London’s best-connected airport via public transit, as expected given its size and importance. London City Airport, although being the closest to Central London, does not have efficient access to North and West London because it only has a DLR station and no genuine subterranean line.
This is most likely due to the facility’s primary purpose of serving business travelers who need easy access to the city’s major business sectors, such as adjacent Canary Wharf.
Future initiatives that increase London’s airport transportation linkages may change our verdict on this subject, but for the time being, Heathrow remains the city’s best-connected airport.