A small London airport is set to be expanded to facilitate flights to destinations across Europe.

London City Airport (LCY), which lies east of the city, is permitted to expand from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers per year, according to the Department for Transport. In addition, three additional early morning flights can be offered on weekdays.

The small airport has just 15 gates spread across two wings and served just 3.4 million passengers last year, a tiny fraction of the 79 million passengers who passed through London’s Heathrow International Airport (LHR) last year.

London City Airport, popular for its proximity to central London, has seen an increase in passenger numbers since the pandemic, according to the airport. However, it has not yet reached its pre-pandemic figures, such as the 5.1 million travelers it handled in 2019.

The airport offers flights to more than two dozen different destinations in the UK and Europe, including major airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa and KLM.

While the airport is allowed to expand, opening hours are not allowed to be extended. Currently, London City Airport is open from 4:45am to 10pm Monday to Friday, 10:45am to 10pm on Sundays and 4:45am to 1pm on Saturdays only.

The airport had requested to close at 6.30pm on Saturdays instead, but was denied this for several reasons, including noise pollution.

“While we welcome the approval to increase our passenger numbers, we are disappointed by the government’s decision to reject our proposal to fly from 12:30pm to 6:30pm on Saturday afternoons,” said Alison FitzGerald, CEO of London City Airport, in a statement. “As the government acknowledged in its decision, rejecting our request to extend our Saturday afternoon operating hours will prevent airlines from bringing cleaner, quieter, next-generation aircraft to the airport. Local residents would have had the added benefit of having these aircraft operating at the airport all week, rather than just during the extended operating hours.”

London has six major airports: Heathrow Airport (LHR), London Gatwick Airport (LGW), London City Airport (LCY), London Luton Airport (LTN), London Stansted Airport (STN) and London Southend Airport (SEN).