London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Boris Johnson’s Emirates Air Line cable car fails to find new sponsor

Boris Johnson’s Emirates Air Line cable car fails to find new sponsor

But much-criticised project linking Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Victoria Dock is expected to survive

When Boris Johnson chose to build a cable car linking two of the lesser frequented spots of east London dockland, eyebrows were raised. After the then mayor’s pet project opened in time for the 2012 Olympics, the controversial sale of naming rights to the new Emirates Air Line at least stemmed the losses.

Now, though, that lucrative deal is about to run out – and no sponsor can be found to step in, even at a fraction of the price.

However, with the cash-strapped capital reliant on emergency government support to run its tubes and buses since Covid struck, Transport for London (TfL) bosses have been left under no illusions that now is not the time to ditch the prime minister’s unwanted cable car.

Boris Johnson at the launch of the £60m Emirates Air Line in 2012, when he was London mayor.


Commercial teams at TfL last year sent invitations far and wide to find a sponsor successor to Emirates, hoping for less than a quarter of the £3.6m a year paid by the cash-rich Gulf airline over the last decade.

But not one company – not even the payday loan firms represented by agencies – took the cut-price opportunity to associate its brand with the service linking Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Victoria Dock, 1,100 metres away.

Last week, after a deadline for submissions passed on Tuesday without a single expression of interest, TfL formally ended the search for a sponsor, leaving a potential multimillion drain on the capital.

According to a well-placed source, senior TfL executives messaged last week: “Storm Eunice was our last hope.” Unfortunately for TfL, while the high winds tore a hole in the nearby Millennium Dome, the cable car was left unscathed.

The mayor, Sadiq Khan, has been forced to raise bus and tube fares, and TfL has been ordered to make £400m cost savings and raise revenues by central government, as part of a series of funding settlements, including a £200m short-term deal agreed on Friday.

Boris Johnson said the service would be a valuable transport asset, but at one point it had only four regular commuters.


Nonetheless, the “dangleway” is set to survive, at least as long as Khan’s predecessor survives in Downing Street. Johnson argued that the Emirates Air Line, which cost about £60m to construct, would create thousands of jobs and be a valuable addition to the transport network.
Advertisement

At one point, however, it was revealed to be used by only four regular commuters, freedom of information requests showed.

Many tourists have since Instagrammed their trip and more than 13m journeys have been taken over its lifetime – roughly the same number of journeys made in three normal days on the tube.

Emirates Air Line briefly appeared to have an important transport function when it offered free travel to key workers who needed to reach the Nightingale hospital, based at ExCeL London, at the start of the pandemic in 2020, although the hospital was mothballed for lack of use.

City Hall is being moved from central London to the Crystal building, near the cable car’s east terminal.


It will have fresh patrons ahead, as London’s parlous finances have forced the mayor to move City Hall itself, which isbeing relocated from beside Tower Bridge to the Crystal development near the cable car’s east terminal.

The Department for Transport said any decision on the future of the cable car was for the mayor to take.

TfL said it would look to “other market engagement methods” to find a sponsor. Josh Crompton, TfL’s head of cable car, said: “We know our customers love the unique experience and the spectacular views the cable car offers … We remain committed to building on the success of the cable car with a new partner later this year.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
×