Manchester Airport ‘to be as busy as Heathrow’

8.3.2010   (Manchester Evening News)
 
Exclusive by Alice McKeegan
 

 
Manchester Airport will double the number of flights it handles and become as
busy as Heathrow is today, the government has predicted.

According to the official forecast, there will be 449,000 take offs and landings
at Manchester by 2050 – up from 213,000 in 2005.
It would mean a flight taking off or landing on average every 70 seconds.

The forecast was published in a report to the Committee on Climate Change and
has been described as ‘shocking’ by opponents of the airport’s expansion.

Campaigners warned that the surge in air traffic would lead to another terminal
being built at Manchester, although airport chiefs denied the claim.

The Department for Transport put forward the predictions as part of efforts to
determine Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions. They predict Manchester will be
the fastest growing of the four biggest airports in Britain and will overtake
Gatwick to become the second busiest. By 2050, it is predicted to handle as many
flights as Heathrow does now.

But Heathrow is also forecast to expand, albeit at a slower rate than Manchester,
and will still be the country’s busiest airport, with just over 700,000 flights.

Lib Dem councillor Martin Eakins, who has campaigned against airport expansion,
said: "Nobody I’ve spoken to was aware of the extent to which Manchester Airport
hopes to expand, indeed those I’ve told are both shocked and stunned by the news.
The wider community should be consulted as homes under or near flight paths will
surely lose their value due to the increased noise and pollution.

"Manchester council, which jointly owns the airport, should come clean and assess
the impact these extra flights would cause before pressing ahead."

Robbie Gillett from the Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport pressure group said:
"It’s time to update our thinking about airport expansion. We need to create jobs
in low carbon industries and move away from this ‘all-growth-is-good-growth’ mentality."

The figures are included in a report by the Committee on Climate Change. It warns
that Britain’s aviation demand could grow more than 200 per cent over the next
40 years and the number of passengers could rise from 230m to 695m per year.

That would threaten the government’s aim to keep carbon dioxide emissions at
or below 2005 levels and put Britain 600,000 take-offs and landings over the target
limit.

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: "We welcomed the report published by the
Committee on Climate Change and as an industry pledged again to reduce levels
of carbon dioxide emissions substantially in the years ahead. Aviation holds a
key role, not only in providing essential transport links that enable economies
to grow, but in bringing important benefits to society, the value of which should
not be underestimated."
 
 
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1194908_manchester_airport_to_be_as_busy_as_heathrow
 
 
see also
 
Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport   (SEMA)
 
 
and   more information and news on Manchester Airport
 
 
and     Committee on Climate Change report on the future of aviation, December 2009
 
Report at   http://tinyurl.com/ybczeen         and Manchester figures in a table on Page 28.
 
 
  
see also
 
 
Press release from SEMA   (Stop Expansion at Manchester Airport) Save Hasty Lane Campaign     

   
Airport plan to create ‘Heathrow of the North’ exposed
   
7.3.2010

A shocking plan to turn Manchester Airport into the ‘Heathrow of the North’ has
been exposed today by local campaigners.

   
Figures buried in the back of a recently published government sponsored report
project that Manchester Airport will be as busy as Heathrow Airport is today,
should the expansion plans go ahead.
   
Cllr Martin Eakins, who discovered the figures, said:
   
"Nobody I’ve spoken to were aware of the extent to which Manchester Airport hopes
to expand, indeed those I’ve told are both shocked and stunned by the news.   The
wider community should have been consulted as homes under or near flight paths
will surely lose their value due to the increased noise and pollution. Manchester
City Council, who own the airport, should come clean and assess the impact these
extra flights would cause before pressing ahead with any further expansion."
   
SEMA spokesperson, Robbie Gillett said:
   
"Doubling the air traffic coming in and out of Manchester Airport will make it
as busy as Heathrow is today, and will make it the 2nd busiest airport in the
UK. The City Council owns the airport, yet it is consistently omitted it from
their climate change action plans. This totally undermines its credibility. It’s
time to update our thinking about airport expansion. We need to create jobs in
low carbon industries and move away from this ‘all-growth-is-good-growth’ mentality."
   
Ends.
   
   
Notes to editor:
   
The December Climate Change Committee report (http://tinyurl.com/ybczeen   pgs 27-28)   contains figures that project a massive escalation of Air Traffic Movements
(ATMs) at Manchester Airport, making it the busiest airport in the UK, after Heathrow,
and near the levels of ATMs seen at Heathrow today:

The report warns that should such capacity expansion go ahead, the UK will be
600,000 ATMs over the maximum limit.   It says:

"Our analysis suggests however total ATMs need to be restricted to a maximum
of about 3.4 million in 2050, about 0.6 million below the level modelled in the
Likely scenario." Pg 27

The report says that this target can be achieved by restricting the capacity
of certain airports:

"This restriction could be achieved through a range of different policies relating
to taxes, capacity expansion or slot allocation at specific airports." Pg 28

Some of the information from
Table ES.2b   Projected runway capacity, utliisation and target compatible ATMs
in 2050 (Likely scenario assumptions)
(These figures assume new runways by 2050 at Heathrow and Stansted)
 
Airport                           Maximum runway                                           Planned capacity, ATM

                                            capacity (ATMs, ‘000s)                          distribution (‘000s)

               

Heathrow                             702                                                                                       702

Gatwick                                    260                                                                                         260

Stansted                                   480                                                                                         317
London City                         120                                                                                         120
Luton                                             135                                                                                          135
Bristol                                           226                                                                                        
127
Birmingham                          206                                                                                         206
Manchester                         500                                                                                         449
Glasgow                                     226                                                                                         198
Edinburgh                                 450                                                                                         224
 
Other UK Airports       4,000                                                                                    1,227
 
Total                                              7,304                                                                                  3,965
 
Target compatible
ATMs                                                                                                                                                3.418
 
Difference between
the Likely scenario
and target compatible
ATMs                                                                                                                                                  547

 
 
For follow up quotes, questions, interviews or to arrange a photo, please contact:

Cllr Martin Eakins, Lib-Dem Parliamentary Candidate, Wythenshawe and Sale East:
075 078 547 10

Robbie Gillett, SEMA (Stop Expansion Manchester Airport) spokesperson: 0774 6711
667
 
 
also
 
If new runways are not allowed at Heathrow and Stansted, and keeping within the
CCC’s guidance limit for ATMs of a maximum of 3,418 per year, there would be the
potential for airports such as Manchester to increase their ATMs much more. The
449,000 figure could even be exceeded.   The CCC report makes no attempt to presume
which airports would be allocated this additional number of flights – which would
be difficult so far in to the future.
 
In addition, figures from the DfT’s UK Air passenger demand and CO2 forecasts
2009
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/atf/co2forecasts09/co2forecasts09.pdf   (ATMs on page 145)   show Manchester to be the second highest, behind Heathrow,
by 2030 and the anticipated emissions by planes from Manchester  would also be
second highest (page 143) by 2030.
 
 
The CCC report also says that (page 22):
 
Given increasing load factors over time, an increase in passengers of around
60% on 2005 levels by 2050 would be possible, taking total annual passenger numbers
from 230 million to around 370 million. This would be equivalent to taking total
passenger trips (one departure plus one arrival) from 115 million in 2005 to around
185 million in 2050.

This target-compatible demand growth of around 60% compares with the growth of
over 200% which might result in a world where there were no capacity constraints
and no carbon price.
see also
 
Don’t panic’ call over flight forecast figures
 
Knutsford Guardian.   18.3.2010  
Jeff Gazzard makes some different assumptions, including that Manchester would  
only get an extra 8% of flights..