The Emirates Air Line, London’s cable car system sponsored by the Dubai carrier, is to be closed for maintenance work for one week from Monday.
The work that will be carried out is a statutory requirement and is in line with annual essential maintenance programmes that take place on cable cars around the world, a statement said.
The nature of the work means that daylight hours are needed to deliver this safely.
It will include electrical testing, comprehensive weight testing for each of the 36 cabins and a full inspection of the sheave wheels that the cable passes through at the top of the three helix towers.
Transport for London’s head of the Emirates Air Line, Danny Price, said: “Since opening nearly two years ago the Emirates Air Line has carried over 3.4 million passengers and has had consistently high levels of customer satisfaction.
“We want to ensure that it continues to do so and performing this routine maintenance work is a crucial part of that.
“We apologise for any disruption this causes passengers. By carrying out all of this vital work now we will not require any further planned closures this year.”
According to official figures released last year, the 1.1km Thames river crossing has been forced to close for more than 216 hours and has struggled to attract a sufficient number of passengers to use it as a regular mode of public transport.
TfL said since opening, customer feedback has been consistently high with the Emirates Air Line receiving an average score of 93 out of 100, for both overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend the service to others.
Under the terms of the deal with Emirates, London received £1m on the date of execution of the sponsorship deal, a further £2.5m in April 2012 and £6.85m on commencement of operations.
The deal is structured so that TfL will receive £2.85m ever year for the next nine years.
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