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Airports Commission: all expansion models on the table but suggests 2 hubs, not only Heathrow, for London

May 17, 2013      The Airports Commission has produced its 4th discussion paper  - this one on “Airport Operational Models.” It looks at all options, including developing a single, massive hub airport and building new runways near London to produce two hubs. The paper accepts that Heathrow cannot be expanded in the short term and that politicians must consider the UK regions when they decide which airports to develop. It also indicates the uncertainty that Heathrow would ever get permission to build another runway. The paper puts the option of a complete airline alliance (Star Alliance or SkyTeam) moving in its entirety from Heathrow to another airport (Gatwick or Stansted) to take pressure off Heathrow. The FT thinks the Oneworld alliance, in which BA is key, would want to stay at Heathrow. The Airports Commission paper considers having several airports competing with each other, rather than one key UK hub, would make it easier for new airlines to enter the market. It appreciates that in future, with more use of long distance planes, Britain could be relatively excluded from being a global hub because hub airports in the Gulf area would benefit.    Click here to view full story…

Nearly 40,000 people form a 25km human chain surrounding site of proposed new Nantes airport

May 12, 2013 

A huge number of protesters from across France organised themselves into a human chain in the early afternoon on Saturday. There are likely to have been almost 40,000 though the authorities give a lower attendance figure. The human chain surrounded the site of the proposed new Nantes airport, at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, with its two planned runways and new passenger terminal. The airport has been intended as a replacement for the current Nantes airport. Large numbers of people had come long distances to be there, many travelling overnight by bus, and then shared their picnics in a good natured event with a festive, but determined, spirit. The opponents of the new airport say that it is not needed, the economic arguments don’t stack up, it will increase carbon emissions, and will destroy valuable farmland and biodiversity. At the moment, the project is considerably delayed, but it is still going ahead. Its opponents want it stopped, and they show no sign of reducing their intense opposition.    Click here to view full story…

Commons Transport Committee wants a 3rd Heathrow runway + perhaps later a 4th runway

May 10, 2013      The House of Commons Transport Committee gathered evidence on airport capacity at the end of 2012, to submit to the Airports Commission. They have now produced their report “Aviation Strategy” in which they say they reject “calls for a new hub airport east of London and urge the Government to permit the expansion of Heathrow where a 3rd runway is long overdue.” Its Chairman, Lousie Ellman, said “We recognise that demand for air travel across the UK is forecast to grow, believe that aviation should be permitted to expand and accept that more capacity is necessary to accommodate sustainable aviation growth.” Also “We conclude that a 3rd runway at Heathrow is necessary, but also suggest that a 4-runway proposal may have merit, especially if expanding to locate 2 new runways westwards from the current site could curb the noise experienced by people affected under the flight path.” It mentions establishing “a national scheme to ensure adequate compensation for people affected by noise from expansion at Heathrow.” The report also want HS2 to go to Heathrow; better rail links to Gatwick and Stansted; advantages for regional airports; and reassessment of APD and its effects (which demonstrates how much industry lobbying has influenced the report). HACAN said the Committee’s report was predictable.   Click here to view full story…

“London First” calls for more intensive use of Heathrow runways with mixed mode in submission to Airports Commission

May 9, 2013     ”London First” is an aggressively pro-growth, pro London business lobby organisation, whose stated mission is to “make London the best city in the world in which to do business.” It has sent in a submission to the Airports Commission, calling for expansion of Heathrow and the ending of runway alternation. This would mean both runways being used for much of the day, in “mixed mode”. London First believes that fitting some 10% more fights into Heathrow will solve the UK’s economic ills, and takes a dashingly cavalier attitude to the impact of the extra noise on the quality of life of Londoners overflown. They appear to either not understand how aircraft noise impinges on the lives of those under flight paths, or deliberately seek to underplay the problems, and exaggerate the small reductions in noise that aircraft manufacturers have achieved. They use noise figures from the time of Concorde to give the impression there has been a huge noise reduction. London First also recommend that Gatwick and Stansted be allowed to compete more effectively, and have better rail services, to take some business from Heathrow.     Click here to view full story…

Heathrow considering a range of runway options including long & short 3rd runway, and 4 runway airport at Haddenham or White Waltham

May 3, 2013    ”Aviation Week” has reported that Heathrow is considering at least 10 expansion options which are being whittled down. These “Heathrow 2025: Masterplan Options & Indicative Layouts” documents – seen by Aviation Week – were produced by the Mott MacDonald consultancy. Four of the options are a short 3rd runway north of the airport, at Sipson – or a long 3rd runway there. Another two options are for a 4 runway airport (each the same design) either at Haddenham or at White Waltham. Haddenham is about 15 miles east of Oxford, and building a vast airport there, in countryside, would mean the virtual removal of two villages, Chearsley and Long Crendon. White Waltham is a small general aviation airfield about 15 miles west of Heathrow and close to Maidenhead. The 4 runway airport design could potentially handle 140 million passengers and 800,000 air traffic movements a year, (compared to some 70 million passengers and around 480,000 movements now) – so that is just under twice Heathrow’s capacity today. The current designs are early drafts developed last year, and Heathrow will be “making its considered submission to the Airports Commission in July.”     Click here to view full story…

Airport capacity in London is currently underused, says new London Assembly report

May 1, 2013     The London Assembly’s Transport Committee has published a report – “Airport Capacity in London” – which suggests existing airport capacity in London, including at Heathrow and Gatwick, could be used more effectively. Their research shows Stansted (summer 2012) was only 47% full; Gatwick was 88% full; Luton was 49% full. At Heathrow there is terminal capacity for 20 million more passengers, so if larger planes were used, there is ample surplus capacity – though landing slots are 99% filled. To encourage passengers to switch from Heathrow, the report says improving transport access from central London to Gatwick, Luton and Stansted is needed – for example, by better rail connections and actively promoting public transport. The report questions the alleged “need” for additional hub airport capacity, as the vast majority of passengers using Heathrow few direct, point to point, rather than transferring. The report also notes that 75% of flights from Heathrow are short haul and that London remains the best connected European city to 23 fastest growing economies. The Transport Committee hopes its report will inform the Airports Commission, and says the Commission must examine whether better use of existing airport capacity could be an intelligent cost-effective alternative to building new airports or runways.     Click here to view full story…

Huge rally held against Heathrow expansion – if allowed it would face opposition on a truly massive scale

Over a thousand people attended a rally in Barnes, against the possible expansion of Heathrow. The rally was organised by Zac Goldsmith, and attended by Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Boris said he thought the Conservatives “would be utterly nuts to go into the next election with the possibility of a Heathrow third runway on the table.”  [However, unfortunately Boris thinks the alternatives offered by Gatwick, Stansted and two sites in the Thames Estuary should be concentrated on.  Worryingly, he seems to favour expansion at Stansted, and have little concern about aviation's carbon emissions].  Boris told the rally that a 3rd runway at Heathrow was “just too difficult to deliver – 15 years at least it would take to bring about. “Above all you would be inflicting noise pollution not just on west London but on huge parts of London that don’t even know they are going to be affected. That is not the right way forward for the greatest city on earth.” Zac said the opponents of a 3rd runway will continue to make clear their opposition to further expansion, and he wants “ministers to be left in no doubt that if they give expansion a green light, they will face a campaign on a truly massive scale.”            Click here to view  full story …..

New CE Delft report finds: “claims about the economic benefits of connectivity are not founded on solid evidence”

April 22, 2013    An important new report, by CE Delft, has been published. It was commissioned by WWF, RSPB and HACAN, and its purpose is to assess whether it is true – as the aviation industry continually proclaims – that better “connectivity” will create greater economic growth for the UK. The report found that claims about the economic benefits of connectivity are not founded on solid evidence. The Airports Commission currently has a discussion document on aviation and connectivity, and this report – The Economics of Airport Expansion- is a contribution to this debate. The CE Delft report found there is a correlation between aviation activity and economic growth, However, there does not appear to be any evidence for a causal relationship between connectivity and economic growth. Causation and correlation are not the same thing. They also found that increasing connectivity is more beneficial for developing countries or regions than for developed economies, such as that of the UK. They also found that extra connectivity in cities that are already well-connected, like London, does not necessarily deliver measurable or substantial economic benefits. CE Delft also looked at some of the economic arguments being used by proponents of airport expansion and found them to be miscalculated and exaggerated, distorting the aviation debate.      Click here to view full story…

In its submission to the Airports Commission SSE rebuffs claims that the UK faces an airport capacity crisis

April 20, 2013    Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) has rebuffed claims that the UK is facing an airport capacity crisis which is damaging the UK economy. Contrary to aviation industry pleading for more runways, SSE says there simply isn’t the demand for more business flights or more routes to emerging markets. The SSE comments appear in their submission to the Airports Commission discussion paper on ‘Aviation Connectivity and the Economy’. The submission demolishes the connectivity arguments in a concise and devastating manner. SSE makes it clear that it is the corporate interests of the UK aviation lobby rather than concern for UK Plc that is driving calls for additional runways, highlighting specific examples to back this up. Heathrow, for example, flew more people to Miami last year than to the whole of mainland China, and more people to Nice than to either Beijing or Shanghai. SSE also reminds those caught up in the whirl of aviation industry spin that London continues to be independently ranked as the best city in Europe for doing business and as the city with the best transport links with other cities and internationally. Their submission is well worth reading - a load of common sense and useful analysis. Click here to view full story…

Cabinet minister (Defence Secretary) Philip Hammond calls for 2nd Gatwick runway

April 12, 2013    Philip Hammond (the Defence Secretary) has become the first Cabinet minister to call publicly for expansion at Gatwick – writing in the Surrey Herald. He is opposed to expansion at Heathrow, opposes a Thames Estuary hub, and also opposes the idea of a large hub airport at Stansted, as it would do economic damage to the Heathrow area. Last year he was enthusiastic about the Heathwick idea – a joint hub with Heathrow and Gatwick linked by high speed rail (an idea rejected by both airports). Now he has publicly said he wants a 2nd runway at Gatwick, followed later by a 2nd runway at Stansted. Mr Hammond is MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, an area affected by planes from Heathrow. Mr Hammond’s comment has been criticised by Brendon Sewill, chairman of the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign (GACC), who said: “I doubt if he has walked around the area — if so he would see there is no room for a 2nd runway.” Mr Sewill said expanding Gatwick would be another example of the “short-term solutions” that had blighted British aviation policy for 60 years.     Click here to view full story…

Lydd Airport expansion plans given government approval

April 10, 2013    Plans to expand Lydd airport have been approved by the government following a pubic inquiry. This tiny airport, on Dungeness and close to a nuclear power station, has ambitions to handle half a million passengers per year, and wants an extended runway and a new airport terminal. Shepway District Council gave permission for the expansion in 2010 but the application was called for a public inquiry. Now both Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government (Pickles) and for Transport (McLoughlin) have approved the development – subject to environmental, noise and traffic conditions. The safety issue of an airport so close to a nuclear facility have not been examined fully or properly at the inquiry. The main opposition group, the Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG) has fought tenaciously on the nuclear issue for years, and the European Commission has already started infringement proceedings under the pilot mechanism relating to the Nuclear Safety Directive. The government is also liable to legal challenge due to infringements of the EU Habitats Directive.    Click here to view full story…

Short haul flights clogging Heathrow runways with some 25% to short haul destinations

April 8, 2013     A new study HACAN of flights using Heathrow has revealed that out of the top 10 destinations, by number of flights, only one, New York, is long haul. The rest are European or British destinations. Based on number of daily flights, New York, with 61 flights a day, tops the table. It is followed by Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and Edinburgh. Overall around 20 – 25% of flights from Heathrow are to short haul destinations. That is around 100,000 flights (out of a total now of nearly 480,000 annual flights). Although the mix is slightly different in 2013 from earlier research in 2006, the proportion is about the same. Of the European flights, some 45% are over distances of less than 500km, which could be made by rail. Many of these journeys have the potential to transfer to high-speed rail. Due to the rise of Eurostar, flights from Heathrow to Paris have fallen from 60 per day in 2006 to 35 now. And Brussels flights have decreased from 30 to 19 in that time. It makes much more sense to use Heathrow for long haul flights, especially to the new “growth” economies.    Click here to view full story…

Airports Commission publishes discussion document on Aviation and Climate Change

April 5, 2013     The Airports Commission has published its 3rd discussion paper, on Aviation and Climate Change, through which it will assemble advice and opinion on which to base its airport decisions. The consultation period lasts till 17th May. In a thoughtful document, covering a wide range of issues in relation to aviation and climate change, it sets out the usual range of issues (carbon emissions, role of international negotiations though the EU ETS and ICAO, the role of biofuels in future, role of operational improvements, impact of aviation’s non-CO2 impacts) but it also looks at the effect of both carbon constraints on future aviation growth and the effect of UK airport capacity constraints on overall emissions. It looks at the likely consequences of more long haul flights from the UK being taken from European hub airports, and the CO2 and climate effects of this happening more (“carbon leakage”). The Airports Commission has the problem of attempting to decide on CO2 issues at a time when the future of the ETS is uncertain, and effective progress by ICAO is not likely to be swift. Therefore UK policy on aviation carbon emissions is also on hold, with even agreement on non-CO2 impacts undecided.    Click here to view full story…

New flight path maps from 2M, for 3rd and 4th Heathrow runways, show huge areas and up to 3 million people affected by noise

April 2, 2013     The 2M group, which represents some 24 local councils and between them some 3 million people, have released likely flight path maps for 3rd and 4th Heathrow runways. 2M estimate that while some 1 million people are affected by Heathrow noise at present, with 2 more runways, that would rise to 3 million people. Their indicative flight paths for arrivals and departures show the large areas which would be affected by aircraft noise if a northern and a southern runway were to be built . The approach across London to a northern runway would cover Mayfair, Belgravia, Sloane Square, South Kensington, Earl’s Court, West Kensington, Hammersmith, Chiswick and Brent. That would include all these parks (which cannot be soundproofed): Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens. The areas which would be affected by approaches to a southern runway would be Streatham, Balham, Tooting, Wandsworth Common, Earlsfield, Southfields, Putney Heath, Roehampton, Richmond Park, Richmond town centre, Isleworth, Hounslow Heath and Bedfont. The leader of Wandsworth Council commenting on blighting the lives of 3 million people and spoiling the quiet enjoyment of huge parts of London: “The price is far too high and the benefits far from certain.” This will definitely be a key political issue at the next election.    Click here to view full story…

Cardiff Airport is bought by the Welsh government for £52m (over-priced?)

March 27, 2013      The current owner of Cardiff Airport, Abertis, which bought the airport from local councils in 2005, has now managed to sell it to the Welsh Government for £52 million. That price is well above market value when compared to recent transactions involving UK airports. The airport was valued at about £34 million in 2010. It has been making large losses and losing passengers for many years. The Government is desperate that it gets more passengers and gets back to making a profit. Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones said it would not be operated by the government and would be managed “at arm’s length” and “on a commercial basis”. Cardiff’s passengers have declined from around 2 million in 2007 to just over 1 million in 2012, as many have chosen Bristol airport instead. Bristol airport is now concerned that Cardiff would now unfairly benefit from state support.  The airport’s board will try and get in a commercial operator and hopes to attract long haul and transatlantic flights. Only recently there was news that Swiss airline Helvetic will pull out of Cardiff, 2 years after the Welsh government spent £500,000 marketing Wales in Switzerland.  Click here to view full story…

Heathrow lobbying hard for a third runway again – several possible options for location

March 25, 2013      Heathrow Airport (BAA as was) is now lobbying hard for a 3rd runway, in a new campaign. It is adamant that there is a lot of unmet need, that the UK must retain the largest hub airport, that having a huge hub is vital and so on. Heathrow states that: “More hub capacity is urgently needed and whilst longer term demand forecasts are inherently uncertain, the more immediate demand case for a 3 runway hub is very clear. The longer term forecasts also show that any potential demand case for a 4th runway is highly uncertain and may not materialise.” They are working on a range of plans for a 3rd runway, rather than just the northern option, include putting the M25 in a tunnel under a runway, keeping the existing terminals and filling in reservoirs to build runways to the west of the airport, or almost doubling the length of the current 2 runways to in effect create 4. They are likely to submit plans for these to the Airports Commission. However, DfT forecasts of future passenger demand have fallen continuously over the past decade and are likely to still be over-estimates for the period between now and 2030 as capacity constraints mean passengers are shifting to other European hub airports and the focus shifts further east, to the Middle East.    Click here to view full story…

Comments on the Government’s new Aviation Policy Framework from GACC, SSE, HACAN and others (they are not impressed)

March 25, 2013      Comments from NGOs and airport groups to publication of the government’s new Aviation Policy Framework document on Friday have not been complimentary. GACC at Gatwick said it was “turgid, vapid and verbose” and is so wordy because “it contains a paean of praise for the aviation industry which reads as if written by a PR agency, and most of which could be applied equally to any other industry.” Also GACC is disappointed that “several measures to make life better for local residents have been dropped.” SSE at Stansted said “the new framework is noticeably lacking in any meaningful measures to control noise, air pollution or climate change, adding to condemnation by airport community campaign groups and national environmental organisations across the UK. Top of the list of failures is the framework’s adherence to discredited methods for measuring aircraft noise disturbance – not least in rural areas with low background noise”. There are more comments from HACAN, WWF, FoE and AEF.   Click here to view full story…

Government publishes its Aviation Policy Framework; disappointingly weak and vague on noise, climate change, air pollution …

22nd March 2013     The government has published its Aviation Policy Framework, which takes the place of the Air Transport White Paper of 2003. There is not much to celebrate in it. It remains curiously uncritical of the alleged economic benefits of air travel to the UK. It is lamentably weak on climate change, weak on noise, weak on air pollution and more of a discussion document than a policy document. Friends of the Earth commented that it “could have been written by the aviation industry – it encourages more flying, while only requiring ‘cost-effective’ action to tackle climate change.” The Framework sets out only general aspirations for aviation to make a “significant contribution to tackling” its climate change challenge, without indicating any national policy measures that might achieve this aim. On noise the Framework acknowledges some of the shortcomings of the current system for monitoring community annoyance from aircraft noise and the 57Leq threshold choice, yet makes no specific proposals for revising it or recognising that annoyance is caused at lower noise levels. The Framework provides scant and inadequate policy guidance on environmental impacts of aviation for the Airports Commission, which needs this information to inform its decisions this year on airport capacity.  Click here to view full story…

No change to Air Passenger Duty in the Budget.                It continues to rise at the rate of the RPI

The Budget document states:   2.157 Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates                                   – As announced at Budget 2012, APD rates for 2013-14 will rise in line with the RPI from 1 April 2013. (Finance Bill 2013) Budget 2013 announces that APD rates for 2014-15 will rise in line with RPI from 1 April 2014, as set out in Overview of tax legislation and rates. (Finance Bill 2014) The Government has no plans to vary APD rates by levels of airport congestion.

The Treasury expects to get, from APD: year 2013/14 £2.9 billion; 2014/15 – £3 bn; 2015/16 – £3.3bn; 2016/17 – £3.5bn; 2017/18 – £3.8 bn.  http://cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget2013_complete.pdf  Budget document. Pages 86 and 103

CAA data shows 2012 air passenger numbers at UK airports up very slightly on 2011 and still 8% below 2007 peak

March 19, 2013      The CAA has released data for all the UK’s airports for 2012. There were 0.6% more air passengers in 2012 than in 2011, but the 2012 figure was still about 8% lower than the peak in 2007. The number of UK air passengers was up by 1.3 million for the London airports, but only up by 0.1 million for the regional airports. UK airports handled almost 221 million passengers during 2012. Heathrow had slightly more passengers, due to use of larger planes. Gatwick grew faster than Heathrow (passengers up by 1.7% and 0.9% respectively) while Stansted had a fall of -3.2%. Provisional data from the CAA’s 2012 Passenger Survey (covering 5 main airports) shows that business passenger numbers fell by 4%, holiday passengers grew by 4% and passengers travelling to visit friends and relatives (VFR) were flat compared to 2011. Most UK air passengers go to Europe – 59.7%. About 9.2% go to North America; about 9% are on domestic flights, and about 13.9% are to long haul destinations other than North America. During 2012, air transport movements at UK airports declined by -1.3% on 2011 and down 15% on the 2007 peak of 2.5 million.   Click here to view full story…

Town Hall demonstration in Luton against night flights

March 14, 2013    Dozens of campaigners concerned about the proposed doubling of night flights at Luton airport rallied at Luton Town Hall and handed in a 1,000-signature petition calling for planning controls to limit any further increase in night noise and disturbance to people’s sleep. The event was a huge success and shows just what people power can do.  To the chant of “What do we want? No More Night Flights! How do we get it? Planning Controls!” the protestors made the point that Luton Borough Council needs to act responsibly in order to limit the continued growth of an airport which campaigners claim is in the wrong place for any further expansion. The airport wants to almost double the number of passengers, up to 18 million per year, and has set such a high night noise quote and noise cap that it could double its night flights to 16,000 per year and still be within its so-called limits.   Click here to view full story…

Airports Commission publish their second discussion paper on “Aviation connectivity and the economy”

March 12, 2013    The Airports Commission (= Davies Commission) has published ‘Aviation connectivity and the economy’, the second in a series of discussion papers through which it hopes to invite submissions and build the evidence base from which to assess the UK’s airport capacity needs. The paper looks at how the aviation connectivity of the UK contributes to the UK economy. It examines the drivers of connectivity and how well connected the UK is to the world and how it performs in comparison to other European countries (or if the UK is falling behind its neighbours). It considers whether aviation connectivity supports economic growth by facilitating trade, investment and innovation and it looks at options for measuring connectivity. The deadline for consultation is the 19th April.   Click here to view full story…

Many MPs want Sir Howard Davies to name his favoured airport site by the end of 2013, rather than in 2015

March 10, 2013    The Sunday Telegraph reports that MP Zac Goldsmith says ministers are now considering asking Sir Howard to choose one airport option, when he makes his report at the end of the year, rather than deciding this two months after the 2015 election. Zac (who bitterly opposes Heathrow expansion) says this would enable Sir Howard and his Commission to spend the time in 2014 and 2015 in working out how to deliver the preferred option. Zac said: “I cannot think of a single MP who supports waiting until after the election before forming a policy.” Any suggestion that a decision on airport expansion was being brought forward would anger the Lib Dems, who oppose any increase in runway capacity. There are so many complex arguments and so much detail to be digested that a measured and fully considered decision on a new runway/runways cannot sensibly be taken so fast.  Click here to view full story…

New study shows that global emissions trading is essential to close aviation’s emissions gap in 2050

March 4, 2013     A new authoritative study by Professor David Lee shows that only adoption of a global ‘market-based measure’ (MBM) can bring the ICAO goal, and aviation industry’s shared goal of 2020 ‘carbon neutral growth’ by 2050 within reach. The total impact of all other CO2 reduction measures currently on the table (improved technology and fuel efficiency of aircraft, improved operational efficiency and some use of biofuels) is shown to be insufficient. The report comes just before the March meetings of ICAO’s Council and its High Level Advisory Group, charged with advising on a resolution to address global emissions for ICAO’s triennial Assembly next September. Projections of future aviation emissions show by 2050 the cuts ICAO and IATA aspire to will not be met, without MBM, such as the ETS. The study demonstrates that claims from industry, ICAO and some governments that current measures being discussed will be sufficient to tame aviation emissions are false. It shows definitively that pricing carbon via a global MBM is the only way to arrest aviation’s climate impact – already at 5% of the global total, with traffic growing at 4-5% a year. The ETS, on which progress has been halted for a year, needs to be protected.    Click here to view full story…

Manchester Airport Group confirms Stansted takeover deal – and Ryanair cuts its Stansted flights

March 1, 2013     The Manchester Airport Group (MAG) has now completed its £1.5bn acquisition of Stansted, from Heathrow Airport Holdings. MAG already owns Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports. Stansted’s main traffic is budget airlines such as Easyjet and Ryan Air flying to Europe, and Ryanair accounts for around 70% of its traffic. MAG wants to return Stansted’s passenger numbers to what they were 5 years ago by 2018, as it is now 47% below capacity and has been losing passengers for years. MAG wants to improve the shopping experience at the airport to encourage passengers to spend more before they board flights. They also intend to lobby transport chiefs about improving rail links between Stansted and London in the medium-term. On the day of the take-over Ryanair announced that it had been planning to expand its routes from Stansted by 5% from April, but would now cut them instead by some 9% or 1 million passengers per year, allegedly due to a 6% increase in charges (or the recession?) Click here to view full story…

John Stewart, Chair of AirportWatch, on secret blacklist – which may have been why he was barred from the USA

February 27, 2013    John Stewart, a leading campaigner against Heathrow expansion, Chairman of HACAN and of AirportWatch, has found his name on a “blacklist”, fuelling claims that such secret files have been more widely used than thought. John believes this list may be behind the reason why he was barred from the US in 2011, on a speaking tour, with no reason given. He has no criminal convictions, does not belong to a trade union and worked in retail before taking up peaceful campaigning. When his plane landed in New York he was escorted off it by armed guards and sent home. John has been told by the GMB union that he was on a blacklist previously thought to have only contained names of alleged “troublemakers” and trade unionists from the building industry. The Standard comments: “If this is true, the problem becomes very disquieting indeed. It’s hard to think of anything more inimical to the modern spirit of openness and transparency than the existence of a secret blacklist circulating between employers and institutions. And if it includes people whose only offence is to hold views or conduct campaigns that some companies or institutions find troublesome, it becomes downright frightening”.   Click here to view full story…

British Medical Journal: Experts call for stronger action on airports and health

February 23, 2013    In an editorial in a February edition of the BMJ, Professors Jangu Banatvala and Mala Rao give a stark warning once again about the direct health impacts of aviation arising from noise, pollution and the spread of communicable disease – as well as the indirect health impacts arising from greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on climate change. The impact of noise is well documented. In particular it results in poor performance at work from interrupted sleep and impaired learning development in primary school children living near airports. Stressing the importance of Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) before any policy decisions are made on major developments, so making sure that profits do not take precedence over health, Professors Banatvala and Rao say that the Government’s record on airports is ‘disappointing’. The editorial now calls on the Department of Health and the newly designated Public Health England to make their voices heard. ‘So far they have not.’    Click here to view full story…

How climate change policy and Government forecasts mean new runways should be out of the question

February 15, 2013    The Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) has produced a policy briefing arguing that climate change considerations should rule out building any new runways in the UK. The paper shows how the latest official forecasts indicate that both passenger demand and CO2 will exceed the levels deemed compatible with the Climate Act by the Government’s independent climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, unless new constraints are imposed on aviation emissions. The growth in air passengers and in aviation carbon emissions exceed the levels required by the Climate Act even in the DfT’s so-called “constrained” forecasts, released this January. The constrained forecasts are for future air passenger demand with no new runways being built, with Air Passenger Duty (APD) continuing, and with carbon costs being incorporated into ticket prices though the EU ETS or a comparable global scheme. So even with these constraints, the UK’s aviation carbon emissions would be too high. Let alone with more runways. Click here to view full story…

Cross-Party letter sent to Transport Secretary – asking for final report of the Davies Commission to be published earlier

February 13, 2013     A sizeable group of MPs, peers and campaigns have joined with the leaders of nine local authorities to call on the Government to bring forward the publication date of the final report of the Airports Commission, headed by Sir Howard Davies. They have written to Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, asking for the report to be published well before the 2015 General Election. The scheduled date for publication is currently July 2015, two months after the Election. They are also calling on Sir Howard Davies to “lay out very clearly the direction of his thinking” in his interim report which is due at the end of this year. In the letter they argue that such a lengthy period of uncertainty is not at all helpful to businesses seeking to make investment decisions or indeed the wider economy of the UK. Also that the residents of West London deserve to know what implications the Commission’s recommendations will have on their lives.   Click here to view full story…

Heathrow Airport produces its 5 year business plan with large rise in landing charges to pay for £3 billion investment

February 12, 2013    Heathrow Airport has produced its business plan for Q6 (which is the 6th period of 5 years, from April 2014 -2019). It plans to spend some £3 billion on infrastructure, like work on Terminal 2. As Heathrow and the CAA over-estimated the number of passengers using Heathrow over the past 3 years, their income has been lower. Therefore Heathrow plans to raise its landing charges per passenger, by as much as 30 -40% by 2019 – much more than inflation. It said its prices “inevitably” had to rise in order to ensure a “fair return” to its investors. The CAA will publish its final decision on whether it has approved Heathrow’s proposals in January 2014. Launching the investment plans, Colin Matthews said the airport envisaged passenger numbers increasing from just under 70m now to around 72.6m by 2018-19. Heathrow’s 5-year plan is separate from any decision on whether a 3rd runway is built. Maximum airport charges allowed by the CAA are calculated using a complex formula taking into account the total value of Heathrow’s assets, return on capital invested and forecast number of passengers.    Click here to view full story…

Airports Commission Publishes Guidance Document and First Discussion Paper

February 1, 2013     The Airports Commission, under Sir Howard Davies, has now published 2 documents that will begin its dialogue with stakeholders, including the public, on the subject of aviation capacity. The first publications is a guidance document which serves as an invitation for parties with an interest in the future of the UK’s aviation policy to submit their ideas for making best use of existing capacity and on adding new capacity in the longer term. The document seeks views on the short, medium and long term options and provides parties making submissions with information on the commission’s timetable of work, as well as guidance on the factors that are of interest to the commission. The second paper is a discussion paper on demand forecasting. The paper seeks to examine the role of forecasting as a tool to help enable the commission in addressing the range of issues that will play a part in their assessment of the evidence on the nature, scale and timing of the UK’s future aviation capacity and connectivity needs. There are a range of deadline dates for comments on different aspects – the two earliest deadlines being 15th March 2013.     Click here to view full story…

New Air traffic forecasts: Government expects growth in air travel to slow down considerably

January 30, 2013    The Department for Transport expects the rate of growth in air travel to slow down considerably over the coming decades. Their passenger forecasts published late yesterday expect demand for air travel to increase by just 1%-3% a year up to 2050 compared to historical growth rates of 5% a year over the last 40 years. The DfT lists 4 reasons for the slow down in growth for air travel: – higher oil prices; – an end to the decline in average fares seen in the last two decades; – the maturity of the air travel market to and from the UK; – and the availability of alternative modes of travel. The Department estimates that the major South East airports will be full by 2030 but recognizes there is some uncertainty about this: “ there is a range around this projection and they could be full as soon as 2025 or as late as 2040”. The central forecast, taking into account the impact of capacity constraints, is for passenger numbers at UK airports to increase from 219 million passengers in 2011 to 315 million in 2030 and 445 million by 2050. Compared to the DfT forecasts in August 2011, these forecasts are 6% lower for 2030 and 5% lower for 2050. Any proposals for airport expansion must be seen in this light.    Click here to view full story…

Phase 2 of HS2 announced, with no spur to Heathrow – though that could be added later

January 29, 2013   The government has announced details of the 2nd phase of High Speed 2, from Birmingham north to Leeds and to Manchester. The Chancellor, George Osborne, predicted the investment would become “the engine of growth” in the north of England and the Midlands. The government is due to finalise the precise route of HS2 next year in advance of legislation in 2015 – though it is likely to be delayed by a flood of judicial reviews and court actions over the legality of the consultation process. These could delay planning authorisation, and ultimately require routes to be heavily redrafted. Instead of work on the first phase, to Birmingham, starting in 2017, it could be delayed till 2022. A planned spur taking HS2 to Heathrow has been put on hold until after the Davies review of Britain’s hub capacity is completed in 2015. The HS2 document says: “there would still be the opportunity to consult separately at a later point and include the Heathrow spur in legislation for Phase Two without any impact on the delivery time if that fits with the recommendations of the Commission.” Meanwhile, a useful piece by Christian Wolmar sets out the main reasons by HS2 is not a wise plan, and not value for money, or even of environmental benefit.  Click here to view full story…

Operational freedoms trial at Heathrow to end a month early, on 28th February

January 24, 2013    Operational Freedom trials at Heathrow started in November 2011 and ended in February 2012. The second phase of the trial started in July 2012 and due to go on until the end of March 2013. In November 2012, BAA announced that two parts of the trails would not take place (Phase 2, Operational Freedoms 2 and 3 – about delaying flights from 4.30 to 5.00am in exchange for more flights from 5.30am to 6am; and re-directing departing aircraft from their route sooner after take-off). Simon Burns has now announced that the trials will end a month early, on 28 February 2013. Some specific tests scheduled for March will be brought forward into February, which will accommodate the space left behind by the early morning arrivals freedom being inoperable during the trial period. Simon Burns says: “The revised end date will enable the overall analysis of the trial to begin sooner and support the government’s objective, as announced in the Autumn Statement, to bring forward the consultation and final decisions by ministers on whether an operational freedoms regime of some form should be adopted on a more permanent basis at Heathrow.”     Click here to view full story…

Stansted to be sold for £1.5bn to Manchester Airports Group

January 18, 2013   Manchester Airports Group has won the bidding process to buy Stansted, at £1.5 billion – higher than commentators though the price would be, when bidding closed two days ago. MAG will now own Stansted, Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports. Heathrow Airport Holdings, will retain only 4 UK airports compared with its original 7 – Heathrow, Glasgow, Southampton and Aberdeen. The sale is expected to close by the end of February. MAG also includes the commercial property company, MAG Developments, which has a £350m portfolio across its existing 3 airports and is leading the £650m Enterprise Zone development, Airport City, at Manchester. MAG also runs businesses in car parking, airport security, firefighting, engineering, advertising and motor transport. As part of the transaction, Australian infrastructure investment group Industry Funds Management (IFM) will become an investor in MAG, invest new equity and take a 35.5% stake in the enlarged group.   Gatwick sold for £1.51 billion and Edinburgh sold for £807 million.  Click here to view full story…

Birmingham Airport consultation on new flight paths from 2014 due to runway extension

January 11, 2013     Birmingham airport’s runway extension was started in November, and is likely to be ready by early 2014. There is now a Birmingham airport consultation on new flight paths, that will be needed for the extended runway. The 3-month consultation has started over new departure routes which would need Civil Aviation Authority approval. The new routes have been designed using the latest technology that allows aircraft to fly more precisely (a sort of aircraft sat nav). As the runway will be extended further south, there will be a change to the routeing of aircraft after taking-off to the south. This is due to the earliest point that aircraft can turn after departure also moving further to the south, affecting the routeing of aircraft which will mean a change for some communities. There are already some very annoyed residents, who will now suffer a lot more noise. They are not reassured that planes are theoretically a bit less noisy than they used to be, as they are now larger and heavier, and more frequent. No date is given for the end of the consultation, but is is probably around the end of March 2013      Click here to view full story…

Luton airport planning application submitted – to demands that it should be called in

January 9, 2013     Luton airport has submitted its planning application for expansion up to 18 million passengers, to its local authority, Luton Borough Council. However, Luton Borough Council is also the owner of the airport, and so local people are asking that the application should be called in. The application does not include a runway extension, but does include changes to taxiways, access roads, parking aprons, car parks and changes and extensions to terminal buildings. The work proposed is focused primarily on removing the bottlenecks which affect throughput of passengers and planes at peak times. By dualling the access roads and increasing the security check lanes, passengers can arrive and be processed more quickly. By extending the taxiways and adding more piers, planes can be filled up can get into position for takeoff more quickly. And by adding more customs and baggage reclaim facilities, arriving passengers can be moved more rapidly through the terminal. There are 250 documents in the application, making it difficult for local people to assess. The consultation period ends on 18th February. There is local concern about the amount of extra aircraft noise there will be, if Luton is allowed such significant expansion. There are also serious concerns about road congestion – currently about 80% of the airport’s passengers travel to it by road.   Click here to view full story…

Intergenerational Foundation report shows the double injustice to future generations from not fully taxing air travel

January 4, 2013   The Intergenerational Foundation (IF) has been established to promote fairness between generations. They believe that each generation should pay its own way, which is not happening at present either financially or in terms of climate. A new report on aviation shows that aviation is subsidised, through not paying either VAT or fuel duty, and that this amounts to an annual subsidy of some £11 billion per year. This is money lost to the public purse, which could contribute towards funding public services. This means that there is a double injustice to future generations. Under-taxing aviation not only adds to the national debt which future taxpayers will have to fund, but also encourages more flying and greenhouse gas emissions which future generations will have to live with. Future generations will pay the price of the failure of this generation to control flying. It should be essential reading for all those involved in the debate about the future of aviation.  Click here to view full story…

The Times – on the questionable lobbying of MPs on Parliamentary All Party Groups, such as the one on aviation

January 3, 2013    The Times, writing about the lobbying by industry of parliament, says of the Commons all-party group on aviation that is one of a large number of such groups that are not official bodies. There is concern about the extent to which these all-party groups get a lot of funding from companies, and produce reports that do not properly declare the degree of influence that has been exercised by outside interests. The Times reports on how the all-party Parliamentary Aviation Group produced an report in August, on the subject of Air Passenger Duty (APD) and its effect on the aviation industry. It did not clearly declare that it was produced “with help from” airlines, travel companies and airports through the “A Fair Tax on Flying” campaign group, which wants APD cut for reasons of self interest, to increase the amount of air travel. The report, being biased towards the airlines, ignores the other side of APD – that it is in compensation for airlines paying no fuel tax and no VAT.  Click here to view full story…

Government fails to properly include international aviation in UK carbon budgets – decision put off till 2016

December 19, 2012    The government was legally required to make a statement to Parliament by the end of December on whether it will include CO2 emissions from international aviation and shipping (IAS) in the UK’s climate target under the Climate Change Act. Today Ed Davey went against the advice from the Committee on Climate Change, and postponed the decision, using some ambiguous wording. His exact words were that the government “is deferring a firm decision on whether to include international aviation and shipping emissions within the UK’s net carbon account” and that it “will revisit this issue when setting the fifth Carbon Budget (2028 – 2032).” ie. in 2016, which is after the next general election. IAS will continue to be excluded from the first 4 carbon budgets, which run until 2027. The Chancellor and many Conservatives are reluctant to do anything that can be seen as strengthening environmental regulations. If the greenhouse gases from IAS were included in the UK targets, other sectors, including electricity generation and industry, would have to make steeper cuts in their emissions. Government justifies its postponement by arguing that there is uncertainty about the EU ETS at present, and also whether there just might be progress on a global aviation carbon scheme through ICAO in 2013.    Click here to view full story…

London City Airport plans for larger aircraft and increased capacity – to local criticism

December 15, 2012     London City Airport already has consent to increase the number of flights per year to 120,000. The airport is now planning to submit a planning application to Newham Council in spring 2013 to allow “major infrastructure changes” (not including a runway extension) that could allow the airport larger planes. It wants to be able to handle aircraft the size of the Bombardier C-Series, [110 to 130 seats] so it can have flights to medium haul destinations like the Middle East and the east coast of the US by 2016. The plans are apparently “in their early stages, with the airport set to consult with local residents in the coming weeks.” The airport, which currently handles around 3.2 million passengers a year, and some 73,000 flights. It has ambitions to increase capacity to 10 million travellers and 120,00 flights annually. The airport announced separate plans for €19 million investment on buildings, gates etc last month, with work starting in early 2013.  Click here to view full story…

IAG signs non-binding MOU with Ryanair for some 19 Heathrow slot pairs belonging to Aer Lingus

December 15, 2012    Ryanair, which owns 29.8% percent of Aer Lingus, in June renewed its effort to buy the rest of Aer Lingus, to boost its Irish operations. The EU blocked a previous takeover attempt 5 years ago, saying it would create a monopoly for Irish flights. Now IAG has signed a non-binding agreement to buy landing slots at Heathrow airport from Ryanair as part of its takeover bid for Aer Lingus. This is subject to EC approval, and Ryanair hopes the sale of the slots will help its bid to buy Aer Lingus. Ryanair proposed selling more than 85 % of Aer Lingus’s Heathrow slots and the FT says Ryanair has reached agreement with BA. Aer Lingus already has 23 daily slot pairs at Heathrow, which amounts to 3.5% of the total. It currently flies to Heathrow from Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Belfast. It recently tried – but failed – to get some of the 14 pairs of slots that had been owned by BMI. Let’s see if BA uses its new slots for flights to the emerging markets – or just more lucrative tourist routes. Click here to view full story…

Outline planning application consultation till 20th December on Manchester Airport City Enterprise Zone

December 10, 2012    Following on from the approval given to the £100m World Logistics Hub at Manchester Airport in November, outline plans for a 2nd major development, Airport City North, are now at the public consultation stage. Residents have until Thursday 20th December to submit their comments, when the plans go before the Wythenshawe Area Planning Committee. They will then go to the Manchester City Council Planning and Highways Committee meeting on 17th January (tbc) for the final decision. It is intended that the 65-acre site will become a ‘Major International Business Park’, containing 4182 car parking spaces, 1293 hotel rooms, manufacturing, offices and retail space. The plans (application no. 100831) are available on Manchester City Council’s Planning website, and comments can be submitted by email. The World Logistics Hub is just part of the project. Others are MedCity with the University Hospital South Manchester Foundation Trust.  Click here to view full story…

Gatwick and Heathrow attack each other in row over hub airport status, new runways and flights to Far East

December 3, 2012      Heathrow and Gatwick have given evidence to the Commons Transport Committee. Colin Matthews for Heathrow said Heathrow should be the single hub, and needs a 3rd runway. Stewart Wingate, Gatwick chief executive, said he would oppose a 3rd runway at Heathrow and wanted to see Gatwick develop as a competing hub airport. Gatwick announced plans to connect low-cost domestic and European flights to long-haul services, to the Far East or USA, with improved baggage transfer, to take on Heathow’s hub airport model. Mr Wingate also proposed London should be served by three 2-runway airports, with both Gatwick and Stansted getting an extra runway, instead of Heathrow getting a 3rd. He rejected suggestions that the South East was facing an airport crisis and said: “There’s a lot of capacity in the system. The challenge is how to make better use of it in the short term.” As well as representatives from the 4 main London airports giving evidence, there were also anti-expansion campaigners. EasyJet said “The importance of the hub airport has been massively overstated.”                                              Click here to view full story…

BA chief Willie Walsh comes out against a third Heathrow runway

December 2, 2012     John Stewart writes, in a blog for HACAN, that at at conference on 30th November Willie Walsh said he did not believe a 3rd runway at Heathrow would ever be built and that British Airways was basing its future plans on that belief by buying slots from other airlines at Heathrow and expanding its operations in Madrid. This has important implications for the future of UK aviation policy, and leaves Heathrow Airport without a critical ally. Walsh said BA is planning for life without a new Heathrow runway, and it appears that BA no longer sees the runway as in its commercial interesst. He also said he was opposed to mixed-mode at Heathrow. BA’s newly-acquired Heathrow slots could in due course be used to serve the emerging markets of Asia and Africa and Madrid had good connections to South America.     Click here to view full story…

Saturday 24th November: European Day of Action against Night Flights - Pyjama Photocall under the Heathrow Flight path, and others across Europe

“BAN NIGHT FLIGHTS”

On 24^th November Heathrow campaigners staged an event in Hounslow (Lampton Park) as part of the European Day of Action against Night Flights.  People whose lives are badly affected by disturbed sleep from night flights got together to say “Ban Night Flights” – with a colourful display of banners, pillows, duvets, dressing gowns, slippers, nightwear, and hot water bottles.  The UK Government is expected to consult next month on a new night flight regime for the three designated airports – Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick.  The current agreement with the airlines runs out in October 2014.   Night flights are hated across Europe and demonstrators across Europe are also calling for the widely hated night flights to be banned.  Events were staged in Belgium, Italy and across Germany. This day of action is expected to mark the start of a Europe-wide campaign to get them banned.   Click here to view full story… and more photos ….

Boris Island airport details – off Whitstable. 5 runways, maybe 6. With potentially 3 landings and 3 takeoffs every 90 seconds

November 26, 2012    The Sunday Times reports that Boris has met Sir Howard Davies, to push his opposition to Heathrow expansion (and probably his idea of a massive Thames Estuary airport). This would be built in the sea, just off the coast of Whitstable and Herne bay, and have five runways – with the potential for a sixth. This airport could handle 150m-160m passengers a year – more than double the current size of Heathrow. They claim this airport could be built in 7 – 8 years, and it “would be able to handle 3 flights landing and 3 taking off simultaneously, growing to 4 each way if it is expanded to 6 runways. This would enable it to accommodate about 240 flights an hour.” (Has NATS been consulted??) The airport terminal would be at Ebbsfleet near Gravesend with tunnels for high speed rail links under the Thames (or perhaps overground) to the airport. The plans by Bridget Rosewell’s would cost an estimated £49bn, falling to £39.5bn if the railway goes partially overland. Appears to be just south of the 175+ wind turbine London Array.     Click here to view full story…

As many as 30,000 demonstrators from across France in peaceful protest against Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport

November 17, 2012 

On Saturday perhaps as many as almost 40,000 people (estimates range from 13,500 to 40,000) – and some 400 tractors – gathered to protest against the proposed airport Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Despite the strong mobilization, socialists politicians do not want to abandon the project – which was supported strongly by Jean-Marc Ayrault. – who used to be Mayor of Nantes and is now Prime Minister. This was the reoccupation demonstration, aiming to try and reoccupy some of the land evacuated forcefully by police last month on the site of the future airport. Behind a large banner: “Against the airport and its world the struggle takes off”, the protesters gained a wooded area where they built a small house to shelter opponents, using a human chain and tractors to bring in the wood for construction. The prefecture has reiterated that these buildings were will not be allowed to remain, but the protesters intend to stay. They have set up a tent on land loaned by a local farmer as a new headquarters for the opposition and a first meeting to define “strategy” to follow in the coming days, is scheduled for Sunday.    Click here to view full story…

Heathrow gets another report from Frontier Economies – pushing dodgy figure of £14 billion loss in trade … if no massive UK hub

November 15, 2012    Heathrow has commissioned yet another report from Frontier Economics, making out that there is a huge loss – “up to £14 billion per year” – to the UK economy from not having a massive hub airport. Colin Matthew does admit that the headline figure,for purposes of publicity, of £14 billion “should be treated with caution”. ie. it is a somewhat random figure, and quite how it is arrived at is not explained. In a Frontier Economics report in September 2011 they said there might be a £14 billion loss of trade over 10 years, not per year. The analysis seems to seriously confuse chicken and egg. Do more flights to certain destinations generate more trade – or are more flights needed once there is already trade with that destination? This seems to be a very one-sided report, putting a flimsy case for self-serving ends, and deliberately misleading on the realities on air travel. In reality 70% or so of flghts from Heathrow are for leisure purposes – not businesses. More long haul flights for leisure are what airport expansion would promote. These lucrative routes are what Heathrow wants more of. More flights are profitable for airlines and airports, without doubt. But the benefit to the UK economy as a whole is very much less certain.    Click here to view full story…

EC freezes ETS for airlines flying to and from Europe till November 2013 progress by ICAO

November 12, 2012     The EU has announced that it will delay the date by which airlines have to pay for their emissions on flights to and from Europe. This is very disappointing  news. However, they will only delay until there is progress by ICAO on producing a global deal on aviation emissions. If there is not adequate progress by ICAO when it meets in November 2013, the EU ETS will continue to include international aviation, as it does now. Flights within Europe remain in the ETS as before – whether by EU airlines or non-EU airlines – the change is only for flights to and from the EU. Connie Hedegaard, announcing the change, said EU member states will still have to formally endorse the Commission’s exemption for non-EU carriers. The change has occurred because of intense pressure from countries such as the USA, India and China – and lobbying from Airbus on fears the ETS is causing it to lose plane sales. China and India have far more to lose than us if they start a trade war, because they export far more to us than we export there. Nonetheless, the EU and UK have meekly conceded to blackmail from China instead of doing the right thing. We understand that David Cameron was lobbying the EU to defer ETS. It demonstrates, yet again, the UK and EU leaders prefer to sacrifice action on climate change in favour of narrow business interests.  The EC has repeatedly said it only included aviation in the ETS after more than a decade of inaction at the ICAO. Unfortunately the concessions made by the EC are much larger than required,  and there is no expectation that ICAO will come up with anything worthwhile in the next year.but on the positive side, the EC can no longer be accused of not doing anything in response to voluble continuing criticism over its approach to aviation and climate change.    Click here to view full story…

On ETS deferment news, green NGOs say “No more excuse towards a global measure to cut aviation’s emissions”

November 12, 2012      The formal proposal, which will likely be released in a few weeks, will allow airlines to surrender CO2 allowances by April 2014 and not by April 2013, as originally foreseen. With the new announcement by the EC today, in delaying implementation of the ETS, a press release from Transport & Environment in Brussels (speaking for green NGOs involved in aviation, such as the Aviation Environment Federation, and WWF UK) says it is vital that the one-year deferral does not end up as a definitive one. This is definitely a deferral rather than a suspension – the aviation industry will lobby very hard on this, trying to get it made permanent. The green NGOs think today’s concession is bigger than necessary, because it is more than commensurate with the limited progress made in last Friday’s ICAO Council meeting towards a global market-based mechanism (MBM) to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation. The environmental groups say no excuse is left for ICAO to come up with a concrete and global measure at its triennial assembly in September-October 2013.    Click here to view full story…

NGOs (and EU) cautiously welcome ICAO’s decision to speed up work on a global measure to reduce aviation emissions

November 9, 2012     The Council meeting of ICAO has agreed on some important issues relating to so-called ‘market based measures’ (MBMs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation. These recognise that global MBMs are technically feasible, while in the past there have been objections. In the past there has been insufficient political will, but now the decisions have moved to a political level. Tim Johnson, Director of Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) said: “ICAO has shown that with coordinated effort the technical issues can be resolved. Similar and rapid effort is now required to resolve the political questions in a spirit of fairness and equity while remembering that addressing aviation’s climate change impacts is a necessity. Everyone says a global approach is the way to go – now it’s time to match these words with deeds.” ICAO will now set up a High Level Group which will make proposals on an MBM as well as a so-called ‘framework’ for MBMs on how countries would implement them. These proposals will be put to the triennial Assembly in September 2013.  Click here to view full story…

Tim Yeo, Chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, warns Treasury and DfT on excluding aviation from Climate Change Act

November 6, 2012    The Energy and Climate Change select committee is recommending inclusion of aviation (and shipping) emissions in the UK Climate Change Act which the Government has to decide on by end of December. The Chairman, Tim Yeo, has sent letters to the key departments who will be making the decision, two of which (Treasury and DfT) are opposing inclusion. Tim Yeo has written to Sajid Javid at the Treasury, Patrick McLoughlin at the DfT and to Greg Barker at DECC. He sets out clearly that the advice of the Committee on Climate Change is very clear on this issue: if the UK is to make our fair share of effort towards a global 2°C climate objective, annual UK greenhouse gas emissions – including international aviation and shipping emissions – need to fall to around 160 MtC02e by 2050. If international aviation and shipping are excluded from the accounts, an 80% cut would allow other sectors to emit 160 MtC02e, with aviation and shipping emissions occurring in addition to this. This would lead to total emissions of around 200 MtC02e, which is not consistent with meeting a global 2°C climate objective.’   Click here to view full story…

Airports Commission under Sir Howard Davies. Membership and terms of reference announced.

November 2, 2012   The government has today announced the full membership and terms of reference of the Airports Commission, to be chaired by Sir Howard Davies, and to “identify and recommend to Government options for maintaining the UK’s status as a global aviation hub.” The government says it has identified individuals with a range of skills, backgrounds and experience to sit on the committee. The Commission also intends to appoint a panel of expert advisors. Members are: Sir John Armitt, former Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority; Professor Ricky Burdett (LSE); Vivienne Cox (was at BP Alternative Energy); Professor Dame Julia King (a member of the CCC); Geoff Muirhead CBE (former CEO of Manchester Airports Group). The terms of reference are that it will “The Commission will examine the scale and timing of any requirement for additional capacity to maintain the UK’s position as Europe’s most important aviation hub; and it will identify and evaluate how any need for additional capacity should be met in the short, medium and long term.” And it should “should engage openly with interested parties and members of the public,” etc    Click here to view full story…

AirportWatch says Government’s new aviation policy neglects regions in favour of SE

October 30, 2012    Residents living close to regional airports are likely to remain exposed to increases in noise, pollution and traffic despite a Government shake-up of its aviation policy, according to AirportWatch, the network of airport community campaigners from across the country. AirportWatch is calling on on the Government for leadership on a truly national aviation policy, not one that just focuses on the needs of London and the South East. The call comes on the day before the Government consultation on its future aviation policy closes. There are serious concerns that proposals in the consultation neglect the regions and are likely to lead to “a two tier system” unless government is prepared to give some direction to all airports. The majority of the noise and air pollution proposals in the consultation document are confined to Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted with the Government suggesting that at the UK’s other non-designated airports they are dealt with through voluntary local agreements.    Click here to view full story…

Violent clashes between opponents and gendarmes in the battle against Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport

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Another bonkers airport idea. A 4-runway Luton. Proposed by architects. Airport says it is unworkable

October 25, 2012    It seems almost every week, there is another story about some sort of science-fiction type airport proposal. Barely thought through. Barely plausible. This time is the turn of Luton to have 4 runways proposed by a firm of architects, Weston Williamson – which seems to have mainly worked on railway stations in the past, in terms of transport projects. The scheme’s backers claim that, of the capital’s six airports, only Luton has good enough UK-wide links to make it a nationally accessible hub, next to the M1 and on the high-speed Midlands rail line to St Pancras as well the Thameslink route to central London and the south coast. A spokesperson for London Luton Airport Ltd, said: “We don’t think these plans are workable.The idea of a new airport immediately to the south of Luton was first raised in a 2002 masterplan which was subsequently found to be unrealistic, largely because of the cost and the site’s valley location.” They were “setting themselves apart” from the proposal. The topography is not suitable.   Click here to view full story…

As many as 8,000 in Frankfurt airport protest to mark 1st anniversary of opening of 4th runway

October 21, 2012    On Sunday, a year after the opening of the 4th runway at Frankfurt airport, thousands protested peacefully against the increasing noise in the region. There may have been as many as 8,000 people there. On a bright autumn day they assembled by the fence next to the runway and showed their anger partly by making loud music. They are demanding planned construction of a new third airport terminal to be ceased. They are also demanding the closure of the 4th runway, and an extension of the ban on night flights from 22:00 and 06:00 in the morning. The government insist that the expansion of the airport provides opportunities for economic growth. However, they realise they have a real problem with aircraft noise and the extent of persistent citizen opposition. In the past week,three new measures had been adopted on noise, including an increase in the angle of approach and an increase in altitude. The protesters to not intend to give up their opposition.    Click here to view full story…

Aviation must not be dropped from UK carbon target say campaigners

19.10.2012   AirportWatch has condemned plans to exclude international aviation and shipping from the UK’s carbon budgets, a move they claim would seriously damage the country’s targets to cut climate change emissions.  Any suggestion from DfT and the Treasury for removal of aviation and shipping from the UK’s fifth carbon budget, due for consideration in 2015 will be actively opposed. At a select committee on energy and climate change meeting this week  the DfT argued that the UK could save money in future if it were to drop aviation and shipping emissions from its 2050 target. The DfT did however note that this would sacrifice the environmental benefit of including them. The Committee on Climate Change stressed at the meeting that excluding these important sectors (likely to account for around 25% of the UK’s total emissions by 2050) would mean the UK would be very likely to miss our climate objective of limiting the risk of global warming exceeding 2 degrees C and there was now no good reason for excluding them. Representatives of the aviation and shipping industries confirmed that they were comfortable with aviation and shipping being included in budgets. Neither industry would either attract further costs or need to limit expansion as a result of their inclusion.  http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=351

Gatwick airport to push for 2nd runway – opponents say scheme has repeatedly been found impracticable

October 17, 2012    Gatwick has declared its intent to push for a 2nd runway and is to start drawing up detailed plans for government approval. The airport says the runway is “affordable and practical” and will allow it to compete with Heathrow. Although an agreement prohibits any new runway opening before 2019 at Gatwick, the airport is to start detailed work on the options, to be presented to the Davies Commission – with a view to getting the go-ahead after the next election. The airport says a 2nd runway would increase capacity to 70 million passengers a year (it handled around 33 million in 2011) and would also mean the construction of a third terminal building. Campaigners warned they would “fight tooth and nail” against any proposal. Brendon Sewill of GACC said: “The option they have got does not make for a good airport, with no proper space for planes and a new terminal between them [the runways] – unless they’re demolishing part of Crawley. We are totally opposed on environmental grounds. I don’t believe a new runway will be built until Stansted is full, but it’s a long way off. They’re putting their hat in the ring. They’ve said they want to sell the airport in 2018 so our guess is that they’re aiming to keep the price up for when they sell it rather than building a runway.”    Click here to view full story…

Many protesters evicted from homes to be demolished for future Nantes airport. Demolition gets under way.

October 16, 2012                                   A major evacuation operation by security forces of houses squatted by opponents of the proposed airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, north of Nantes took place on Tuesday morning. Eleven houses and land that had been occupied on the site of the future airport were evacuated without incident by more than 500 gendarmes. At the first home some 150 protesters, some of whom are locals and some anti-globalisation activists, had gathered. Homes that have been evacuated are now subject to enhanced surveillance before being demolished “in the coming days.” The airport developers want preparatory work for road improvements serving this “inter airport” between Nantes and Rennes to begin by the end of the year. Work on the airport itself must begin in 2014 for commissioning in 2017. The airport plans have been approved by the State and local socialist party, but the new airport’s usefulness is disputed, on economic grounds as well as its environmental impact.   Click here to view full story…

BAA name to be dropped – as the company is now primarily Heathrow. It will be called Heathrow Ltd

October 15, 2012  From today the name BAA will be dropped. Heathrow, Glasgow, Aberdeen Southampton and Stansted Airports will operate solely under their own stand-alone brand. Colin Matthews, said that as over the past few years, BAA has sold its stakes in Gatwick, Edinburgh, Budapest and Naples airports – and now Stansted – the name BAA no longer fits as it does represent all British airports; “we are not a public authority; and practically speaking the company is no longer a group as Heathrow will account for more than 95% of the business.” BAA Ltd has changed its name to Heathrow Ltd.  Glasgow, Aberdeen Southampton and Stansted Airports will operate solely under their own stand-alone brand.   Click here to view full story…

New report says UK airport emissions today cause about 110 early deaths per year, of which 50 are due to Heathrow

October 12, 2012  Premature deaths from Heathrow pollution would treble by 2030 if a third runway is built, according to an academic study to be published next week. The study says that even if Heathrow does not expand, increased numbers of flights will lead to a more than doubling in the number of deaths from pollution. The research is the first to analyse the health consequences of aircraft fumes at the 20 major airports of Britain. It reveals there would be major health benefits if Heathrow operations were replaced with a new hub in the Thames estuary. This is because Heathrow is located in a busy population centre, and also as the prevailing wind in London is westerly, the pollution is blown over millions of people. The research says that, based on 2005 data, UK airports contribute to 110 early deaths each year, mostly due to lung cancer and cardiopulmonary complaints. Of those, 50 can be attributed to Heathrow alone. With a 50% growth in air travel, there would be 250 early deaths in the UK. And that is not including road vehicle pollution, just that from planes. Click here to view full story…

Times reports that DfT could be sued about road traffic growth forecasts that are too high

October 8, 2012      Times reports that experts believe that car use will not rise sharply again and that investors may not see the returns the DfT forecasts suggest. Pension funds and other private infrastructure investors could sue the Department for Transport if their official forecasts for long-term traffic growth fail to materialise. This comes in a warning by Prof Phil Goodwin at the annual European Transport Conference in Glasgow. The Transport Planning Society — a panel of local government representatives, consultants and academics – is calling for an urgent review of the DfT’s forecasts because they are “now so far from reality”. Some academics believe we will get to “peak car”, where car use has plateaued at a lower level than previously anticipated. The DfT’s UK figures show that miles per driver peaked in the late 1990s, levelled off in the last decade, and fell in the recession. Could this happen for pension funds and investors in new runways or expanded airports?    Click here to view full story…

Policy Exchange produces report hoping to shift Heathrow a few km to the west, with 4 runways over the M25 …

October 5, 2012   The Policy Exchange, which says it is a leading think tank to deliver a stronger society and a more dynamic economy (nothing about care of the environment)

have put forward a proposal to expand Heathrow, by building 4 new runways. And moving the existing two a mile or two to the west, on top of the M25. Then there would be a two more runways, one parallel to each of the shifted runways. The Policy Exchange then says that if this cannot be built, 4 runways could be be built at Luton instead. They claim around 700 properties (in Poyle) would need to be demolished compared to the 1,400 that would need to go to make way for the estuary airport, and its purpose would be to send a “much needed signal to people that Britain is open for business.” They dismiss the problem of carbon emissions by presuming that all homes in the UK will be insulated, so leaving fossil fuel for transport – and that travelling is much more appealing so we can “have the money and carbon allocation to see the world.” A very odd report, with some very dubious logic ….. not quite in the real world …Click here to view full story…

Boris Johnson: Estuary airport to cost taxpayer £30 billion for the road and rail links alone

October 4, 2012     It has emerged that the cost of road and rail links from his proposed Thames Estuary airport to London would be around £30 billion, over 15 years, and that would have to be paid by UK taxpayers. He believes a new estuary airport would cost at least another £50 billion, and that could be financed entirely by the private sector. Boris gave a speech at County Hall, to business leaders, Boris attacked the so-called “dither and delay” over formulating its aviation policy, and warned that future generations “would believe the Coalition had ‘frittered away their futures’ by delaying a decision until after the 2015 election. Mr Johnson’s team denied that today’s remarks were intended to steal Mr Cameron’s thunder at the Conservative party conference.However, his airport comments appear to be linked with his positioning himself within the Conservative party. He is also keen on expanding Stansted, as another alternative.   Click here to view full story…

Lib Dems resolute on no 3rd Heathrow runway and no Gatwick or Stansted runways

September 23, 2012    At the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference in Brighton, they have voted against new runways at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted. They also voted against a Thames estuary airport. Dr Julian Huppert told members it was time for the party to set out an aviation policy which “balances the need for growth with the clear environmental threat that we face”. He said we simply must not build airport capacity which would force us to miss carbon reduction targets, and that there is space at existing airports with existing infrastructure for growth in passenger numbers. Many have spare capacity, including Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester and Birmingham. We need to use existing capacity better. The would like a new hub airport however, but only if other runways are closed to make up for it, so there’s no net increase in runways or total capacity. However, Nick Clegg has said he will wait to see the outcome of the Davies commission. Click here to view full story…

US Senate votes to shield US airlines from EU ETS

September 23, 2012    The US Senate unanimously passed a bill on Saturday 22nd September that would shield US airlines from paying the EU ETS. The Senate approved the bill in a scramble to complete business ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional and presidential elections. The message was that the EU “cannot impose taxes on the United States.” It is being spun that the ETS is a way of the EU “paying down European debt through this illegal tax” and the money should instead be”investing in creating jobs and stimulating our own economy.” There was backing from both parties. The House of Representatives has passed a similar measure, and could either work out differences with the Senate’s version or accept the Senate bill when Congress returns for a post-election session. The Senate bill gives the US transportation secretary authority to stop US airlines from complying with the ETS. The bill increases pressure on the ICAO to devise a global alternative to the EU ETS.   Click here to view full story…

Nantes airport protest at the Eiffel Tower, complete with sheep and tractor

September 17, 2012

Over the weekend, the very active and energetic protest group against a new airport at Notre Dame des Landes, near Nantes, took their protest to Paris. This coincides with an environmental conference taking place in Paris, but which will not discuss the airport issue. The protesters managed to quickly get a tractor close to the Eiffel Tower, the main symbolic image of Paris, and erect a pen for some sheep they had brought with them, which they grazed on the grass around the tower in the Champ-de-Mars. All this was watched with great interest by bemused tourists, who took loads of photos, as seeing sheep, tractor and protesters under the Eiffel Tower is not something one expects to see every day. The protest is against President Hollande’s support for building the airport, and his refusal to meet them. The protest continued over night.    Click here to view full story…

Commons Transport Committee inquiry to scrutinise the Government’s aviation strategy

September 13, 2012   The Transport Committee has published the terms of reference for a new inquiry that will examine the Government’s aviation strategy and will focus on aviation capacity in the UK. The Davies Commission will not produce its final report until 2015. Louise Ellman, the Transport Committee’s Chair, said she believed a strategy for aviation capacity should not be delayed further. She is inviting the public to submit their views, by 19th October. Her committee aims to influence the Government during the policy development process “with sensible but challenging recommendations and to make sure that aviation policy stays high on the political agenda.” The Committee will look at connectivity, economic impacts, APD, making best use of existing airport capacity, noise and carbon emissions.And “Do we need a step-change in UK aviation capacity? Why?” Click here to view full story…

Boris to hold rival inquiry on Thames estuary airport or expanding other airports, excluding Heathrow

September 10, 2012    Boris Johnson plans to hold a rival inquiry into the future of aviation capacity which will specifically exclude a 3rd runway at Heathrow. The Aviation Commission on aviation capacity, to be chaired by Sir Howard Davies, announced last week, will include Heathrow. Boris’s “call for evidence” will hear from airlines, airport operators, local authorities and aviation experts, on his proposal for a new airport in the Thames estuary or expansion on alternative sites around the capital. The inquiry will last between 9 and 12 months – reporting two years earlier than the Davies Commission. The findings of the Boris inquiry will be presented to the Davies Commission, and Boris has reluctantly decided to cooperate with because of the “realities” of the situation. Windsor MP, Adam Afriyie, is backing Boris in favouring an estuary airport.  Click here to view full story…

Government announced the creation of independent Aviation Connectivity Commission – the call for evidence on airport capacity, which had been due shortly, has been cancelled

September 7, 2012     The DfT has now announced that it has asked Sir Howard Davies to chair an independent Commission tasked with identifying and recommending to Government options for maintaining this country’s status as an international hub for aviation. It says the Commission will examine the scale and timing of any requirement for additional capacity to maintain the UK’s position as Europe’s most important aviation hub; and identify and evaluate how any need for additional capacity should be met in the short, medium and long term. In doing so, the Commission, will provide an interim report to the Government no later than the end of 2013 setting out its assessment of the evidence on the nature, scale and timing of the steps needed to maintain the UK’s global hub status; and its recommendation(s) for immediate actions to improve the use of existing runway capacity in the next five years – consistent with credible long term options. The Commission will then publish by the summer of 2015 a final report, for consideration by the Government and Opposition Parties. A decision on whether to support any of the recommendations contained in the final report will be taken by the next Government.  Click here to view full story…

Patrick McLoughlin replaces Justine Greening as Transport Secretary at the DfT

September 4, 2012  And Simon Burns replaces Theresa Villiers.

Patrick McLoughlin, who was Chief Whip, has now become Transport Secretary, replacing Justine Greening, who – because of her strong opposition to a 3rd runway at Heathrow – has been moved (to be International Development Secretary). The Campaign for Better Transport said it was “a big shame” to lose Greening because she was “actually putting in place a long-term strategy for transport, a rare thing”. John Stewart, Chair of HACAN, said her removal heralded “big changes in aviation policy”. Theresa Villiers, who was Aviation Minister, has been replaced by Simon Burns, with Theresa moved to become Northern Ireland Secretary. Patrick McLoughlin is MP for the Derbyshire Dales, and served briefly as a junior transport minister under Margaret Thatcher from 1989 to 1992. As a backbencher, he voted for a “rethink” on the Labour Government’s policy of expanding Heathrow in 2009 when Villiers made this the Conservatives’ policy. He is apparently afraid of flying, (or he was 20 years ago) and started his working life as a farm worker and a miner. The DfT Aviation team has also been reshuffled.  Click here to view full story…

Sky above Chiswick, west London, on 8th September 2012 evening

Luton Airport’s revised master plan released 

September 3, 2012     Luton Airport has today released its revised Master Plan for airport expansion, starting a 6-week public consultation. However, detail on the environmental impacts of the proposals is not going to be made available until the planning application is submitted in November. Local campaign group, HALE, commented that the owners and operators want to increase capacity to match Stansted and Manchester, even though Luton Airport is on a cramped site and surrounded by towns and villages. The proposals for expansion would result in 58% more flights than in 2011 – an average 160 extra flights per day. There would also be a longer morning ‘rush hour’ with flights every 90 seconds at peak times. The noise limits set are so high that they would have little effect, and the larger planes are likely to be more noisy than those currently using Luton. The noise insulation offered by the airport does not cure the problem.    Click here to view full story…

Independent on Sunday: Secret plan for 4-runway airport west of Heathrow

September, 2  2012    The Independent on Sunday reports that a British business consortium (that won’t declare publicly who it is) is proposing a scheme for a 4-runway to the “west and north-west “of London, and the plans are to be submitted to the Government as a solution to the alleged aviation crisis that is dividing the coalition. This new airport could – the firm claims – rival, or even replace, Heathrow to challenge other European hubs in providing air links with the Far East (links which Heathrow can and does provide). Sites in Oxfordshire and Berkshire could potentially be in the frame for the airport, estimated to cost £40bn to £60bn. The “call for evidence” on airport capacity is due shortly, and could start this week. This new idea of a new airport to the west with road and rail links to the capital would be seen as a “wild card” capable of challenging the Thames Estuary airport idea backed by Boris. The IoS says the documents state: “…delivery of any scheme must have cross-party backing and must be supported by business and the workforce.” The consortium of businesses behind the plan are expected to reveal themselves within weeks and is understood to have started talks with Chinese sovereign wealth funds.     Click here to view full story…

David Cameron will not drop opposition to Heathrow third runway until at least 2015

August 29, 2012     The Telegraph reports that David Cameron will not drop his opposition to a 3rd runway at Heathrow until at least 2015, despite lobbying from business leaders who say the delay is damaging the UK economy. The Telegraph says the PM is, however, prepared to consider the case for a new airport to the east of London. Meanwhile Nick Clegg said the Liberal Democrats would block any move by their Coalition partners to build a third runway. Justine Greening said a change in policy on Heathrow would make her position “difficult”. The Prime Minister has previously stated that this was an absolute commitment with “no ifs, no buts”, giving him little room for manoeuvre – the commitment was in the Tory manifesto. Justine says “I don’t think any of the facts have changed around the third runway.” However, now after the next election, there is likely to be increased pressure for airport expansion, if the Tories can retain power.   Click here to view full story…

Tim Yeo demands (again) that PM backs Heathrow 3rd runway and claims it’s a leadership issue

August 28, 2012    It is August. And the end of the Silly Season, with little hard news. So the media have given a disproportionate amount of coverage and hype to repeating this old one, with a few additions. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, (where else?) Tim Yeo, who now backs Heathrow expansion, urged David Cameron to act or risk “presiding over a dignified slide towards insignificance”. The Telegraph etc suggest top ministers are reconsidering their opposition to a Heathrow 3rd runway. However Justine Greening has repeated, yet again, that there was a “political consensus” against a new runway, that the coalition ruled out any expansion before the next election, and that a short runway at Heathrow is not a “solution” to any alleged south east runway capacity shortage in the south east, and that there has been no change in the facts since 2010. Labour also currently opposes the idea of a third runway. Tim Yeo also says, for unaccountable reasons, that the “environmental objections” to the expansion of Heathrow were “disappearing”. On the day when the Arctic ice has reached an all time low.   Click here to view full story…

BAA agrees to sell off Stansted airport – no further appeal to Supreme Court

August 20, 2012     BAA has finally agreed it will not mount a final appeal to the Supreme Court to avoid having to sell Stansted. The Court of Appeal last month upheld a competition ruling dating back to 2009, dictating that Stansted must be sold. BAA has been told it does not have the legal grounds for a further appeal. BAA still asserts that the Competition Commission is wrong, as Heathrow and Stansted serve different markets. BAA has been trying every delaying tactic to delay the sale for as long as possible, due to the current depressed market. The airport is valued at around £1 billion. Stansted, which deals mainly with leisure travellers, has been hit hard by the double dip recession and has been losing passengers consistently since 2007. There is no timetable yet for the sale. MAG and South Korea’s state-owned Incheon airport group are possible buyers.    Click here to view full story…

Manchester Airports Group secures £1bn boost to buy Stansted in deal with Australian investors

August 5, 2012    Manchester Airports Group has struck an £1bn deal with Australian investors in preparation to try and buy Stansted. The deal is conditional on the sale of Stansted going ahead. Australian infrastructure group, Industry Funds Management, has won the contest to buy a 35% stake in the MAG. This will lay the foundations for a takeover of Stansted. MAG is currently jointly owned by Greater Manchester’s ten town halls. The share of MAG owned by Manchester City Council would fall from 55% to 35%, and the other 9 councils would jointly have a 30% stake, down from 45%. Manchester council would have equal voting rights as IFM. All 10 town halls approved the new structure. However, BAA says it will now take its case to the Supreme Court after its case was rejected by UK Court of Appeal last week. MAG already owns Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth airports.   Click here to view full story…

Stobart Group gets go-ahead for Carlisle airport redevelopment scheme but with many conditions

4.8.2012   Carlisle City Council have granted planning permission for the Stobart scheme to develop Carlisle airport. They plan to build a 394,000sq ft freight-distribution centre and to resurface the runway for passenger flights and air freight. However, permissionis only agreed in principle and is subject to a string of legal conditions being met.  The council decision is subject to an Appropriate Assessment by Natural England and a Section 106 agreement including obligation on Stobart to keep the airport open and the runway maintained, various travel plan obligations, and the payment of £100,000 in order to enable the undertaking of a habitat enhancement scheme to benefit breeding waders. Objectors could yet seek a judicial review of the council’s decision. Click here to view full story…

BAA finally runs out of runway at Stansted and loses Appeal Court legal challenge

July 26, 2012     BAA lost its latest challenge today against a decision forcing it to sell Stansted. The appeal by the Spanish-owned company was rejected by three Court of Appeal judges in London. In 2009 the Competition Commission ruled that BAA must sell Stansted and two of its other UK airports, and BAA has since mounted a series of unsuccessful legal challenges against the decision. Earlier this year BAA lost an appeal before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.  A BAA spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of the Competition Commission.  We will now consider its judgement carefully and we intend to submit an appeal  to the Supreme Court.”  Click here to view full story…

AirportWatch’s initial comments on the Government’s Aviation consultation document

July 12, 2012   This is an initial comment, after a quick reading of the government’s aviation policy consultation document. John Stewart comments that the consultation is still a document which envisages a lot of growth in air travel. Whether that level of growth is compatible with climate change and noise concerns is highly debatable. But the consultation document is more honest than we have seen from previous governments. It recognises that there is a tourism deficit, due to air travel, and that the UK is already about the best connected country in the world, contrary to the aviation industry’s spin. It also recognises that landing slots need to be sorted out, as they are a major hindrance to efficient use of airport capacity. However, the document is weak on climate.   Click here to view full story…

Airport capacity consultation delayed by coalition tension – main policy consultation to be published today

July 12, 2012     The government will today publish its consultation on future UK aviation policy, covering noise, night flights, carbon emissions, air quality and regional airports. The more controversial part, on expanding south east airport capacity, with perhaps a new runway, or runways, has been so contentious, and caused such internal difficulties for the coalition government, that it will be postponed till an unknown date in the autumn. The line the industry and the media are all taking on the news is to bemoan the delay in dealing with the south east because expansion is, allegedly, so important to business. The media are also disappointed that for them the “sexy” part of the consultation has been delayed, particularly as many of them are under the impression that the Government will name airports, which is unlikely. The delay to the second part of the consultation is not a huge problem, but the current consultation is absolutely key, because it is the basic document which will set overall policy; if and where expansion is needed (the second paper) will fall within that framework.     Click here to view full story…

DfT has confirmed that the aviation policy consultation will be published on 12th July, but capacity consultation delayed till autumn

July 11, 2012    Earlier in the day, the Times reported that part of the aviation policy consultation will be published tomorrow but that the call for evidence on airport expansion will be delayed until September. The consultation released on 12th July will be restricted to proposals on emissions, night flights, noise levels and regional airports. Justine Greening is expected to announce, tomorrow, that the Government is ready to listen to arguments on expanding Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted, or building a new hub airport in the Thames estuary — but not yet. The delay is due to the internal political problems the coalition has on the airport issue, which it is finding hard to resolve. It is speculated that the Tory MPs keen on a 3rd Heathrow runway see the delay as evidence that the Government is coming round to accepting their case – in spite of Justine Greening’s firm opposition.   Click here to view full story…

Free Enterprise Group of Tories now want not only a 3rd Heathrow runway, but a 4th – by demolishing 4 villages

July 8, 2012

Opponents hit back on industry campaign to stop increases in Air Passenger Duty

July 4, 2012    AirportWatch has hit back at the aviation industry’s A Fair Tax on Flying campaign with its own Fair Tax on Flying campaign – suggesting that the £8 billion plus tax subsidy the aviation industry already enjoys must be reconsidered. The industry is lobbying for no further rises in Air Passenger Duty. Next week Virgin is expected to spearhead a new assault on APD. Public awareness is needed to counter the industry’s suggestions that APD is “unfair” and “too high” when the aviation industry is benefiting from tax breaks through paying no VAT or fuel duty, at a time when the Coalition Government is having to make drastic cuts to public services, to save money. The airline lobby’s new A Fair Tax on Flying website highlights ‘key facts’ convenient to their cause and glosses over others. AirportWatch shares the view of the industry campaign that there should be a “comprehensive study into the full economic effects of aviation tax in the UK” which the industry is calling for. The tax does indeed need to be fair.  Click here to view full story…

FT says Tories now back Heathrow 3rd runway, if they can get outright majority at next election

July 1, 2012      The Financial Times says that David Cameron has now quietly swung his support behind a 3rd Heathrow runway, but this is deeply opposed by the Lib Dems. Therefore, though the coalition is committed to no 3rd runway in this term of parliament, the Conservaties would now try and get it passed, if they won the next election (? May 2015) by an outright majority, without the Lib Dems. There will be the two aviation consultations this summer (July probably) on aviation policy and hub capacity, but the FT says – after discussion with a senior government figure – that “the official response to this – a final policy paper on hub airport capacity which was earmarked for March 2013 – is now set to be delayed for several years, effectively postponing any firm decision until after the general election. The next three years will therefore feature efforts by the coalition to prove it can improve Britain’s hub airport capacity, while making no big-ticket decisions.”  Click here to view full story…

Justine Greening confirms, in Parliament, no new runways at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted and no Heathrow mixed mode

June 29, 2012     Transport Secretary Justine Greening has insisted the Government will stick to the coalition agreement’s restrictions on airport expansion, ruling out a 3rd runway at Heathrow. She also confirmed the government’s support for the full agreement, signed between the Tories and Liberal Democrats, which also rules out further runways at Gatwick and Stansted. The question she was asked, in Parliament, was (by Julian Huppert, Cambridge Lib Dem) “Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Government will stand by the whole of the coalition agreement in this area? Will she confirm that they will stand by the cancellation of the third runway at Heathrow, as she has said, will refuse additional runways at Gatwick and Stansted, and will rule out mixed mode at Heathrow?”. Her reply was: “I think I have been very clear: the coalition agreement, in its entirety, stands. That is the position.”   Click here to view full story…

BA uses its new BMI slots at Heathrow, not for emerging economies, but largely leisure destinations. As usual.

June 27, 2012    BA got 42 daily Heathrow slots from taking over BMI. And it said very publicly, in March, that it would be using these to fly to the emerging economies – in Asia, Africa and Latin America – which is part of the myth that the aviation industry is peddling at present. So what are the slots actually being used for? One flight per day to Seoul. The rest are domestic UK (Aberdeen Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester), or Zagreb, Las Vegas, Barcelona, Marseilles, Phoenix, Zurich and Bologna – with more flights to some. So that is where the money is. So much for the desperate need for slots to fly to second tier Chinese cities. This really proves what a lot of misleading PR is being put out by BAA and the airlines at Heathrow.   Click here to view full story…

8,000 Frankfurt protesters form a 4 km human chain to show their opposition to aircraft noise

25.6.2012     About 8,000 protesters linked hands to form a human chain along the bank of the Main river, which they see as the boundary between the south of the city, badly affected by aircraft noise, and the quieter north. This included a massive Mexican wave along the line. Those campaigning against the noise from Frankfurt airport are calling for the extension of the ban on night flights from  2300 to 0500 or  2200 to 0600 and a cap on aircraft movements. The huge and effective German protests against aircraft noise started at Frankfurt, after the opening of the 4th runway  that opened in October 2011. Now aircraft noise is being seen not as a regional problem but a national German problem, and also a European problem. Citizen groups across Germany are collaborating with each other, and with those in other countries.    Click here to view full story…

Drop Thames Estuary airport plans, says London Assembly

22.6.2012 Members of the London Assembly have urged mayor Boris Johnson to stop promoting a new airport in the Thames estuary, branding the scheme a ‘vanity project’. The assembly has passed a motion – proposed by Murad Qureshi – calling for the mayor to abandon proposals which they warned would have a devastating effect on the west London economy if Heathrow is forced to close, with up to 100,000 jobs on the line. The motion also warned that the project would create “huge environmental damage to a protected area” used by migrating birds as well as increase noise, congestion and pollution. It says the mayor’s plans as “simplistic and ill-considered” and called on him to “abandon this vanity project”.    Click here to view full story…

Smartphone app trial by UCL to capture and map Heathrow flight noise

June 19, 2012    HACAN has teamed up with University College London (UCL) to enable local communities on the flight path into Heathrowto do something about the problem of noise pollution for themselves. A new free to download app, called Widenoise, on smart phones enables them to collect their own noise readings. Isleworth has been chosen as the project location because it is directly under the Heathrow flight path. The readings taken by the phones can then be mapped and the combined information shared by all. From the launch on 19th June, the project will run for 4 weeks, and local residents are being encouraged to take part. and send in readings. The project will include the first few weeks of the ‘operational trials’ due to start on 1st July. It will give residents a really useful way measuring the impact of the trials.    Click here to view full story…

Munich residents vote against new 3rd runway at Munich airport – 54% said NO

June 17, 2012    Munich residents voted against development of a 3rd runway, in a poll by the City of Munich, which owns 23% of the runway (state and federal government own the rest). Just over 54% of polled voters were against the new runway and 45.7% in favour, according to preliminary results of the vote on Sunday.  Though the city only owns part of the airport, this is thought to be a veto. Munich Mayor Christian Ude said he would accept the result “without ifs or buts.” Bavaria’s state government, however, said it still hopes the runway could eventually be built. Munich is Germany’s second-biggest airport. The vote has dealt another blow to airlines clamouring for growth in Germany. A German district government ruled in favour of the €1.2 billion Munich runway project almost a year ago. This vote shows, quote: “how difficult it has become to make clear the significance of important infrastructure projects in our country,’ according to the Munich airport chief. Click here to view full story…

600 homes to finally get £1,500 compensation for building of Manchester 2nd runway

June 15, 2012     Nearly 600 homeowners and 6 schools in Knutsford and Mobberley are to get a pay out for the building of Manchester Airport’s 2nd runway. This will come from the airport’s owner, the Manchester Airports Group. The householders say claimed their properties were devalued due to the noise from the planes since the runway opened in 2001. The schools will get £1,300 each. This has been brokered by local MP, the Chancellor George Osborne, and Jeff Gazzard. Two years ago 300 Knutsford and Mobberley residents were compensated. This is the final compensation and the end of an 11 year battle. The total payout comes to £1 million. The airport will also pay the council tax precept, £117,702. which is levied to fund Knutsford town council and Mobberley parish council, for one year.    Click here to view full story…

New AirportWatch BLOG.  The German Spring Takes Off

15th June 2012    On the weekend that campaigners occupy the centre of Munich, John Stewart outlines the story of the nationwide protests against airport expansion taking place in Germany, at Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich.  And the implications this has for aviation policy in the UK.  At a time when the industry is pressing once again for a third runway at Heathrow, it likes to give the impression there is little real opposition to expansion in the rest of Europe.  The German experience tells a very different story. “It is impossible at this stage to predict what will happen in Germany.  Or in France.  But the protests have almost certainly changed the landscape forever.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to expand airports anywhere in Western Europe.  That is the new reality that governments and the aviation industry have got to face up to.”  Read the blog

Rival plans for Luton Airport expansion to be merged

June 7, 2012     Not altogether surprisingly, the hitherto-separate plans produced by the airport owner and the airport operator have been combined, and the airport operator’s concession to run the airport has been extended to 2031. That takes some of the urgency out of the need to produce planning applications as the 2014 break-point in the concession is no longer a factor. There is likely to now be a planning application later this summer. More details will be released when the plans are finalised in July. The new scheme is likely to have a passenger throughput up to “about 18 million a year” and an additional 40% more aircraft movements a year. However, earlier this year the operator – London Luton Airport Operations Limited (LLAOL) – said 15 million was more realistic.    Click here to view full story…

Murad Qureshi on how Heathrow is expanding passenger numbers, but BAA don’t want Londoners to know it

Date added: May 30, 2012

In his blog, Murad Qureshi (Chair of the Environment Committee, of the London Assembly) writes that after a week of BAA propaganda last week in the pages of the Evening Standard you would be forgiven for thinking that Heathrow is not expanding – but it is! It may not be by the number of flights coming in and out of Heathrow but it certainly is by passenger numbers. The A380s have around 500 passengers each. At present Heathrow turns over 69 million passengers annually and once the redevelopment and construction of the five terminals are complete, it will be able to cope with 90 million passengers a year. This capacity is not something we hear about often but the fact is that Heathrow will be able to deal an extra 20 million passengers annually! This point is made well by AirportWatch yesterday in a letter to the Financial Times.   Click here to view full story…

Munich protest banner drop - “No Third Runway” - off the spectacular Stadhaus 

May 30, 2012

Protesters from Plane Stupid Germany have performed a stunning protest against the proposed third runway at Munich airport. They displayed two large vertical banners beside the huge clock, just above the Munich Stadhaus world-famous Glockenspiel. One banner reads “KOA Dritte” – No Third Runway. The other reads “Weltstadt” with a heart, as Munich has as one of its slogans, World City With a Heart. The protest is about runway plans, without a democratic referendum, and that the airport has tried to influence the decision process by contributing about €1 million. The new runway would demolish a village, ruin the homes of many people and devastate a huge area. Plane Stupid also fear the contribution to climate change, as the airport is the largest CO2 emitter in Bavaria.  Click here to view full story…

BAA given last chance to appeal Stansted sale

May 28, 2012     At the Royal Courts of Justice in London, BAA was told it could make its case for the final time before the Court of Appeal. No date has been set for a hearing. This means the 3-year long battle by BAA to avoid having to sell Stansted drags on, yet again. The legal battle started back in March 2009 with a Competition Commission ruling that ordered the break-up of BAA. It has already had to sell Gatwick and Edinburgh airports, and BAA argues that the aviation market has changed substantially since the original ruling. It also stresses that Stansted does not compete with its only other remaining London airport, Heathrow. The airport’s MD says the ownership battle had hampered the airport’s ability to grow and attract more airlines, and it has lost about a quarter of its passengers since 2007.    Click here to view full story…

Finally after a week of pro-Heathrow aviation lobby spin the Standard, they publish some letters against

May 28, 2012    Last week saw a series of stunningly one-sided pieces in the Evening Standard, putting the pro-Heathrow expansion case with no attempt at balance – and unquestioningly regurgitating aviation industry lobbying without any critical analysis. The last one on Friday was by Tim Yeo, saying that he now backs a Heathrow third runway. But this article contained so many really bizarre, and mis-informed statements, (such as claiming that planes will be so quiet that people will not notice them flying overhead at night,and that a third Heathrow runway will not increase UK aviation CO2 emissions) that the Standard could see it was time to put a few of the opposing arguments. There are today 4 letters in the Standard, including one from AirportWatch. The letters are on CO2 and the ETS; the phenomenal connectivity that Heathrow already has; the fallacy of quiet aircraft in future; and the dismal air quality around Heathrow already.  Click here to view full story…

Shock of discovery of Luton Airport plan to expand up to 30 million passengers (not just 18 million)

May 25, 2012      Herts County Council has just discovered that Luton Airport’s owners – Luton Borough Council – are hatching plans to increase capacity not just to 18m passengers per year – but to 30 million. HCC says this is frightening. 30 million is triple what the airport currently handles. Their pre-application to the National Infrastructure Planning body refers to a planning application as early as end of 2013. The airport (and its owners, Luton BC) have indicated from the start that they would eventually like to see the capacity increased to 30m passengers per year. Yet the planning consultation they put forward publicly only talks of 18m. The current airport operators (a different company) made it very clear that even this would constitute over-investment, and that a realistic maximum for this “local” airport would be more like 16m passengers per year. To aim for 30 million would require the application to be called-in by government.   Click here to view full story…

Spate of suspiciously pro-Heathrow articles that have appeared in the Evening Standard. Why?

May 24, 2012    Something odd is going on at the Standard. There is a new editor, Sarah Sands. And the paper has done three days on the trot of large articles giving the maximum publicity it dares to promoting the BAA line that Heathrow has to be expanded. Without any new facts or particularly strong arguments to back up the hype. With the aviation policy due to start some time in the next few months, the Standard appears to be putting all its effort into changing the climate of opinion in London, by this rather unsubtle publicity drive. Who is paying for it? Who is behind it? Why is no other point of view being put? All rather suspicious. Not a sign of a well edited newspaper. And some of the economic claims are pretty laughable. But the Standard got Boris re-elected, so they hope they can work their magic again on the runway issue …    Click here to view full story…

Chinese airport protests about serious aircraft noise over residential areas near Shanghai Hongqiao

May 24, 2012   Local authorities in China are considering reducing the number of large airplanes used at Hongqiao Shanghai International Airport, to try to ease noise complaints from nearby residents. This is according to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Hongqiao airport is close to the city center, and there are many residential communities nearby. Complaints about noise levels began after the airport’s new Terminal 2 was put into use ahead of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Earlier two CPPCC members advised that more large planes be detoured to Shanghai Pudong International Airport to reduce noise levels at Hongqiao. The government’s slow reaction to the problem has caused fierce conflicts between official departments and the people. Some 7,000 others from two communities about 500 meters from the new airport terminal, have taken turns over the past year to protest against the noise at the airport daily.  Click here to view full story…

Are the B787 Dreamliner’s claims to be a new generation in aircraft fuel efficiency over-stated?

May 7, 2012      Kevin Lister has written an open letter to the Aviation Minister, Theresa Villiers, pointing out to her that, despite all the hype about the Dreamliner being touted as the first of a new generation of planes, it is not greatly more fuel efficient than others. It is not likely to “solve” the industry’s future fuel or emission problems. Looking at the likely number of passengers, the range and the fuel capacity, the fuel consumption figures for the A380, Boeing 787, 777, and 747 very comparable. And are in the same range as the old Lockheed Constellation aircraft of the 1950s. The Dreamliner has lighter components, using carbon fibre rather than aluminium. But its main aim is to be a slightly smaller plane, that can fly long distance, without needing to refuel. This means carrying a great deal of fuel on take off for such a long trip. A doubling in a plane’s speed increases drag by a factor of four, and the power consumption of the engines by a factor of eight. Therefore, for greatest fuel efficiency, a plane would fly more slowly and over relatively short distances.   Click here to view full story…

Reponses from numerous AirportWatch member organisations to the Scoping Document consultation

The DfT has consulted on its scoping document, to develop a “Sustainable Framework for UK Aviation”. This consultation closed on 20th October. There will be a further, full, consultation next March on the developing policy, for planned adoption by government in March 2013. AirportWatch has produced a range of supporting evidence documents, to back its arguments, and these as well as the AirportWatch response are now available. Also excellent, detailed, comprehensive and closely argued responses from a range of AirportWatch member organisations, arguing for a truly environmental responsible and sustainable future UK aviation policy.  20.10.2011  More …..

Aviation now contributes 4.9% of climate change worldwide

Work by the IPCC now estimates that aviation accounted for 4.9% of man-made climate impacts in 2005. This contrasts with the 2% figure that is constantly quoted by aviation lobbyists, and 3% which the same authors quoted two years ago. They have now revised their estimates with 2 important changes: including for the first time estimates of cirrus cloud formation and allowing for aviation growth between 2000 and 2005. The effect of these is to increase aviation’s impacts to 3.5% without cirrus and 4.9% including cirrus. 23.5.2009  More  …

Committee on Climate Change.

4th Carbon Budget UK should commit to a 60% cut in emissions by 2030 as a contribution to global efforts to combat climate change.

Aviation emissions must be no higher in 2050 than in 2005, and to do this, all other sectors must cut by 85% by 2050 to allow aviation to grow by 60%

The Committee on Climate Change today recommended a Carbon Budget for 2023-27 and a target for emissions reductions in 2030 – halfway between now and 2050. The recommended target for 2030, to cut emissions by 60% relative to 1990 levels (46% relative to current levels), would then require a 62% emissions reduction from 2030 to meet the 2050 target in the Climate Change Act. The Carbon Budget says international aviation and shipping should be included, and it is vital that UK aviation emissions in 2050 are no higher than in 2005.  Also that, as technologies to cut aviation emissions are not readily available, other sectors of the economy will need to cut by 85% in 2050 in order to let aviation grow by 60%.  7.12.2010  More …..