On Thursday evening, for the first time in history, a regular passenger flight with an Embraer 190-E2 landed at London City Airport.

At exactly 17:49 p.m. local time, the fully occupied Helvetic Airways plane landed at London City Airport. The Swiss airline operated flight LX464 on behalf of Swiss. As befits its standing, the airport fire brigade received the machine with water fountains. Following EASA approval for steep approaches, airlines can now fly to London City Airport with the Embraer E190-E2. The steep approach capability of the E190-E2 is made possible by a special software upgrade and the installation of a steep approach switch on the cockpit control panel. The pilots must be specially trained for approach and departure.

This is due to the fact that the runway is very short at around 1200 meters. That also requires a steep approach of 5,5 degrees. Around 70 percent of all scheduled flights in LCY were operated with E170 and E190. Eight airlines - BA CityFlyer, Alitalia, KLM Cityhopper, LOT Polish, Helvetic Airways, Lufthansa and Portugalia - flew e-jets in LCY. The E190-E2 can fly just over 2200 NM (4.074 km) from London City, almost twice as far as the E190.