LONDON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- All flights into and out of London City Airport were cancelled on Monday after an unexploded World War II bomb was found nearby in the River Thames on Sunday, affecting thousands of passengers.

The Metropolitan Police said the airport in east London was shut at 10 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday as officers worked with the Royal Navy to remove the bomb.

The closure led to the cancellation of more than 100 departures, and affected up to 16,000 passengers, according to a spokeswoman.

The bomb was discovered under George V Dock by construction workers just south of the eastern side of the terminal during planned work at the airport.

The bomb was a 500kg German fused device, Newham Council said, warning that work to deal with it would last until Tuesday.

A series of road closures were put in place and passengers were unable to remove vehicles from the airport car parks.

The airport is a favorite of business travellers and is undergoing a 552-million-U.S.-dollar expansion so it can welcome an extra two million passengers a year by 2025.