London, Feb 13 (IANS): The London City Airport reopened on Tuesday after an unexploded 500kg Second World War bomb was safely removed from the area.

The device was discovered in a bed of silt, 15m underwater at the King George V Dock on Sunday during planned work at the east airport, reports the BBC.

All flights were cancelled on Monday after an exclusion zone was put in place, with the closure affecting up to 16,000 passengers and nearby residents being evacuated from their homes.

A total of 261 arrivals and departures had been scheduled for Monday.

The bomb is due to be detonated in a controlled explosion in Shoeburyness later on Tuesday.

Royal Navy divers worked through Monday night to move the 1.5m-long German bomb down the Thames.

London City Airport's Chief Executive Robert Sinclair said it would be "business as usual" on Tuesday.

Between September 1940 and May 1941, the Germans dropped about 24,000 tonnes of explosives on London - but 10 per cent of them did not detonate, according to historians.