Emirates Airlines to build cable car across London’s Thames River

The skyline of London is already studded with iconic landmarks – the London Eye, the (leaning tower of) Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral. But now, Dubai’s Emirates Airlines wants to contribute to this vista by paying for the installation of the UK’s first urban cable car.

The £60 million ($93 million) project, of which Emirates will pay £36 million in a 10-year sponsorship deal, will be completed and open to the public in the summer of 2012, in time for the London Olympics. The Air Line, as the cable car is appropriately named, will span the Thames River in south London, connecting the ExCel London convention center and the O2 Arena, two future Olympics venues. At capacity, the cable car will be able to transport 2,500 riders via 34 gondolas along the one kilometer route.

So, in less than one year’s time, if you don’t mind participating in an enormously expensive advertising campaign, you will have one more option to experience spectacular views of London.