Your London City Airport Chauffeur, Met at Arrivals
Book a London City Airport taxi alternative that’s actually fixed-price: a Mercedes chauffeur, meet-and-greet inside the single arrivals hall, your flight tracked from touchdown, and 60 minutes’ free waiting time as standard. No queues, no surge, no surprises. The same fixed-price chauffeur service runs from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, and between any two London airports.
| 15+ Years Operating | 50,000+ Transfers Completed | 5★ Google Rating | 009161 TfL Licence |
London City Airport sits inside the Royal Docks, closer to central London than any other London airport, and the routes on this site reflect that range: from 3.6 miles (Greenwich, the shortest and cheapest run we do) to 119.7 miles (Southampton Cruise Terminal, the longest). MILE5 has run fixed-price London airport transfers for 15+ years and over 50,000 journeys, and this hub is where every London City route starts.
Distance is not always a good guide to journey time here: with the A13, A1020, Lower Lea Crossing and Limehouse Link as the main spine into town, a 4.5-mile run to Stratford can take 25 minutes in traffic while a straighter 8-mile run into the West End moves faster. For the closest destinations, the DLR station attached to the terminal is genuinely competitive on price, and we say so rather than pretend otherwise; it’s a poor option once you’re carrying more than hand luggage or heading anywhere outside the Docklands, the City or Stratford. A pre-booked MILE5 car carries a 5-star Google rating and includes the meet-and-greet, the 60-minute wait and the airport’s own drop-off charge in the price you’re quoted, so there’s nothing left to work out at the kerb.
Where MILE5 goes from London City Airport
Every London City Airport transfers route sits under one of three destination hubs, each with its own from-price and its own full list of routes.
| Where you’re heading | From | |
|---|---|---|
| Five-star and boutique hotels across the City, Mayfair, Knightsbridge and the Docklands – London hotel transfers from London City Airport, hotel by hotel. | £69 | View |
| Districts across the capital, from Canary Wharf and Greenwich out to Notting Hill and Chelsea – London City Airport to central London transfers, one page per destination. | £64 | View |
| Essex, Kent and the wider South East, plus cruise terminals and Windsor – long distance and UK-wide transfers, for when the day trip or the journey home is further afield. | £149 | View |
All prices are fixed, all inclusive, and start from the amounts shown. Final quote depends on exact postcode, vehicle choice, and any additional stops. No surge pricing, no hidden fees.
Popular routes from London City Airport
These are the eight routes we’re asked for most, from the shortest hop on the whole site to a cruise-terminal run at the other end of the scale.
| Route | Distance | From (E-Class) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| the run to Canary Wharf | 4.3 mi | £70 | Book |
| chauffeur service to the City of London | 7.7 mi | £85 | Book |
| pick-ups in Greenwich | 3.6 mi | £64 | Book |
| the O2 transfer prices | 4.4 mi | £70 | Book |
| transfers to Stratford | 4.5 mi | £71 | Book |
| transfers to Windsor | 67 mi | £261 | Book |
| arriving in Cambridge | 55.4 mi | £236 | Book |
| arriving at Southampton Cruise Terminal | 119.7 mi | £367 | Book |
Who Uses a MILE5 London City Airport Chauffeur
London City is the closest airport to the centre and the one with the most unusual timetable: it closes overnight and shuts on Saturday afternoons. The people who book a chauffeur here are usually short on time, not on options. Here is how a MILE5 London City chauffeur transfer works for each type of passenger.
Solo Business Traveller
You land at City with a meeting in Canary Wharf or the Square Mile inside the hour. The DLR is quick for the Docklands; a chauffeur is quicker to the door, and the E-Class cabin is a place to take the call you would otherwise take on the platform.
London City to Canary Wharf is 4.3 miles from £178 and London City to the City of London 7.7 miles from £85. Firms with regular City Airport traffic use a MILE5 business account for monthly billing and multi-booker access.
West End and Hotel Arrivals
Anywhere west, north or south of the river usually means two or three changes on the DLR, Jubilee and Tube with luggage. London City to Mayfair is 10 miles and from £95, 35 to 45 minutes door to door.
Hotel guests use our London City hotel transfers, from £69, with the correct entrance for every major London hotel already in the driver’s notes.
Family and Group Arrivals
Four cases and a pushchair on the DLR at Bank is nobody’s idea of arriving. The V-Class seats up to seven with a full luggage load, child seats are fitted before pickup, and your chauffeur is inside the compact arrivals hall with a name board.
For Greenwich (3.6 miles, from £64), the O2 (from £70) and Stratford (from £71), the car costs more than DLR tickets but keeps the whole family and the luggage in one vehicle.
Cambridge and Long-Distance Passengers
City Airport is a long way from a motorway, which is exactly why a direct chauffeur matters for anyone heading out of London. London City to Cambridge is 55 miles from £236 and London City to Southampton Cruise Terminal 120 miles from £367, booked to your named terminal.
The full list is on our London City long-distance transfers page, from £149.
Connecting Flight Passenger
City to Heathrow or Gatwick for an onward long-haul crosses the whole of London, and there is no direct rail link to either. A chauffeur tracks both flights and drives it directly, timed to the second arrival rather than the first.
Every London airport pairing is on our airport to airport transfers page.
Event Delegates and VIPs
ExCeL is next door, the O2 is across the water and Canary Wharf hosts the conference calendar. Delegates need a chauffeur who knows the correct entrance and treats the arrival time as fixed.
Quiet S-Class cabins for the journey in, discreet drivers for high-profile guests, and group bookings arranged through one account with consolidated invoicing.
What years of London City routes have taught us
London City closes overnight and shuts at 1pm on Saturdays, which catches out more travellers than any other single fact about this airport. There is no late flight to meet after the evening cut-off because there simply isn’t one scheduled, and the first DLR train of the day does not cover the earliest departures either way, so a pre-booked car is the only reliable option at both ends of the operating week. We build that into how we schedule drivers rather than treating it as a footnote.
Groups travelling together are better served by one V-Class than two smaller cars: a V-Class to Greenwich is £91 for up to seven people with luggage, about £13 a head.
The £8 drop-off charge introduced at London City in January 2026, plus the Congestion Charge on central-London routes, are absorbed into every MILE5 fare. Heathrow also sits inside the London-wide ULEZ, while Gatwick is outside it; our Mercedes fleet is ULEZ-compliant, and the Congestion Charge on central-London routes is built into the fixed price rather than added afterwards.
London City’s weekday business traffic still drives its peaks, so the crunch points are predictable: Monday mornings and Friday early evenings, when half the City and Canary Wharf seem to be flying at once. Weekends run quieter, partly because the Saturday 1pm closure and the later Sunday start naturally rule out the leisure rush other airports see. Book a short-notice weekday trip early if you can; London City runs fewer flights overall than Heathrow or Gatwick, so there is less slack in driver availability at the exact hours everyone wants one.
We tell regular flyers to book the return leg at the same time as the outbound, not because the price changes, but because it guarantees a car is held for you rather than sourced last minute once you land. The compact single terminal also means security and check-in are genuinely quicker than at a bigger airport, worth knowing if you’re cutting it fine for an early meeting; walk-boarding adds a couple of minutes at the gate end, but it rarely eats into the time saved at the front of the journey.
Arriving at the terminal
London City has a single terminal in the Royal Docks, London E16, so there is no hunting for the right building or the right floor. Your driver waits inside the compact arrivals hall with a name board, watching your flight so a delay doesn’t mean an empty pickup slot – no queueing at the London City Airport taxi rank required. Check live London City arrivals and departures before you travel, and see our full London City Airport guide for everything else about the terminal itself, from security to facilities.
Two things catch most people out before they reach us. London City still runs the 100ml liquid rule while Heathrow and Gatwick allow two litres, and the airport asks you to arrive no more than two hours ahead, which is why it pays to know how early you actually need to get to London City.
The DLR station is attached directly to the terminal building, with the Elizabeth line reachable at Custom House via a change at Canning Town. For the Docklands, Canary Wharf, Stratford and the City, that’s a genuinely quick way in; for anywhere west, north or south of the river, it usually means two or three changes with luggage, which is exactly where a direct car earns its keep.
★★★★★
★★★★★
“I made arrangements with MILE5 to take us from Heathrow to Vauxhall. I couldn’t be happier with the service provided by our driver, Shehzad. His welcome was personable, professional, and very reassuring. I felt like I had made my first friend in London.”
C Williams – Google Review
★★★★★
“Mile5 has been great! On time and friendly drivers. We started with one booking and have put forward another for tomorrow.”
Anne Cullen McCarty – Google Review
“Great service, easy booking and driver was very helpful. I will continue to use and recommend in the future.”
Jack McGee – Google Review
- Fixed price
- Meet and greet
- Flight tracking
- 24/7
Your chauffeur, waiting inside London City arrivals
Fixed price before you pay, flight tracked, Mercedes E-Class, S-Class or V-Class. No surge pricing, ever.
Written by Ian Silva, MILE5’s lead content author. This guide draws on MILE5’s 15+ years and 50,000+ airport transfers, plus first-hand research into terminal logistics, fleet operations, and London airport routes.
Common London City Transfer Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them
Most London City transfer problems are not caused by traffic. They are caused by decisions made before the flight lands. These are the ones our chauffeurs see most often.
Mistake 1: Forgetting the airport’s opening hours. London City closes overnight and shuts on Saturday afternoons, so there is no late flight to meet and the first DLR train does not cover the earliest departures. If your flight is at the edge of the timetable, book the car to the flight, not to a train that may not be running yet.
Mistake 2: Assuming the DLR works for every destination. For Canary Wharf, Stratford and the City it is quick. For the West End, Kensington, anywhere south of the river or any hotel, it is two or three changes with luggage, at Bank or Canning Town in the peak. A pre-booked London City chauffeur is one car, one fixed price, to the address.
Mistake 3: Booking a ride-hailing app and expecting the car at the door. App drivers cannot wait on the terminal forecourt. They collect from the car park, which means a walk with your luggage and a phone call to find the car. A MILE5 chauffeur is inside the compact arrivals hall holding a name board. You walk to him, not the other way round.
Mistake 4: Trying to book a journey under three miles online. Our online quote tool has a three-mile minimum, so ExCeL and the Royal Docks hotels cannot be priced on the form. Message us on WhatsApp for those hops and we will confirm a fixed price by reply.
Mistake 5: Booking the wrong vehicle for the luggage. An E-Class carries three passengers with two large suitcases and a cabin bag. Four people with four cases or a pushchair need the V-Class. Tell us the luggage count when you book and we will confirm the right car rather than send one that does not fit.
Mistake 6: Treating a short distance as a short journey. Canary Wharf is 4 miles but Mayfair is 10, and the Limehouse Link and the Embankment in the evening peak can double a journey time. Your chauffeur plans the route on the day, your flight is tracked, and 60 minutes of free waiting is counted from actual landing, so nothing about a delay changes the price.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does a MILE5 transfer from London City Airport cost?
Prices start from £64 for the shortest routes and rise with distance, up to around £367 for the longest cruise-terminal run. Every route has its own fixed E-Class, S-Class and V-Class price on its own page – see the hub pages above for the full list.
Is it easy to book a taxi or chauffeur from London City Airport?
Yes. Book online in a couple of minutes, or call or WhatsApp us directly, and your driver is confirmed and waiting inside the arrivals hall before you land.
Is MILE5 cheaper than a London City Airport taxi at the rank?
It depends on when you fly. At quiet times a rank cab or an app will usually undercut a fixed fare; at the peak landing windows, when meters run long in traffic and app pricing surges, a fixed MILE5 price is the more predictable option, and it’s locked in when you book, not when you land.
Does MILE5 still pick up if my flight is delayed?
Yes. Every driver tracks your flight and adjusts their arrival automatically, and the 60-minute complimentary wait starts from your actual landing time, not the scheduled one.
Which destinations does MILE5 cover from London City Airport?
Every hotel, district and long-distance London City Airport transfers route on this site, from Greenwich three miles down the road to Southampton Cruise Terminal 120 miles away. Use the three hub pages above to find your specific route.
Is the DLR cheaper than a MILE5 transfer from London City Airport?
For the Docklands, Canary Wharf, Stratford and the City, yes, the DLR usually wins on price. For anywhere else, or if you’re carrying more than hand luggage, a direct door-to-door car is worth the difference.
Does the price include London City’s drop-off charge?
Yes. The £8 airport drop-off charge, along with the Congestion Charge on central-London routes, is built into every fixed fare – there’s nothing extra to pay on arrival.
Can I book a bigger car for a group?
Yes. The V-Class seats up to seven with luggage, so a group can travel together in one car rather than splitting across two.
Every route on this hub connects into MILE5’s wider network – see transfers between London’s airports if you’re routing via a different terminal, including the Heathrow to London City Airport route for connecting passengers moving between the two.
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