Owners of Stansted, MAG, submit their plans for a 2nd runway – or to become a 4-runway hub

MAG, the owner of Stansted, are submitting their proposals for a 2nd runway to the Airports Commission.  They also believe it has the potential to become a UK future 4 runway hub airport.  MAG argues that the airport offers the cheapest and least environmentally damaging location (quite how it could do that, on a countryside location is unclear) for a 4-runway airport and estimate that it would cost £10 billion, although no detailed plans have been drawn up. Local campaign group, Stop Stansted Expansion, said that the MAG proposals were reheating plans put forward back in 2002 that were withdrawn by BAA, the former owners, in 2010. SSE’s chairman said: “We really shouldn’t have to go through this whole argument again just three years after the last threat was lifted. We are profoundly disappointed that MAG has behaved in this opportunistic and irresponsible way. With the airport currently operating at only half its permitted capacity a 2nd runway – never mind a 4-runway hub double the size of Heathrow today – is completely unnecessary on business grounds and it would be completely unacceptable on environmental grounds.” MAG has to admit that it could serve almost double the current number of passengers, without any more infrastructure for some years.
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Stansted’s submission to Airports Commission  (pdf 72 pages)


Below are the three images of possible runway locations from the Stansted airport submission

 

Stansted one north west runway

Stansted one east runway


Stansted hub airport with 4 runways

 


 

By contrast, this is an aerial view of the areas under threat of new runways at Stansted:

Stansted airport aerial view now 2013

 


 

Stansted presses for second runway

Submission to Airports Commission claims cheapest and least environmentally damaging option for four-runway super-hub

by, transport correspondent

Anti-Stansted expansion sign protesters called the plans ‘opportunistic, irresponsible and pointless’. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

The owner of Stansted is delivering a submission to the Airports Commission including two options for a second runway and pointing to its potential transformation into Britain’s biggest four-runway hub.

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) will argue that the airport offers the cheapest and least environmentally damaging location if the government-appointed commission decides that a single super-hub is the answer to the country’s aviation needs.

It estimates the cost of transformation into a four-runway hub at £10bn, although no detailed plans have been drawn up. However, MAG stresses that it believes far more passengers could be served without immediately expanding its infrastructure and will present Stansted as the most flexible option to meet growing demand for flights.

Local campaigners said the proposals were “opportunistic, irresponsible and pointless”.

Charlie Cornish, chief executive of MAG, said: “Our short-term priority is to make Stansted better for passengers than ever before, and we’ve made major progress in our first four months of ownership, including starting work on an £80m terminal transformation.

“Stansted is uniquely placed to meet the UK’s aviation capacity needs now and over the next 15 years. Almost overnight, Stansted could double the number of flights it handles without any need for significant investment in new infrastructure.

MAG is anxious to promote the claims of its other airports, primarily Manchester, as well as East Midlands and Bournemouth. All have spare capacity and the regional airports point to millions of passengers who travel to London rather than flying from their nearest base.

Cornish said MAG believed an approach that maintained competition between airports was the best solution. He said: “Developing new capacity at a number of airports is likely to be best for passengers. Should the commission take a different view and conclude that the UK needs an effective hub to provide international connectivity, then Stansted could certainly fulfil that role in a cost-effective way.

“The costs and the environmental impacts of building new capacity at Stansted are likely to be far lower than at alternative locations.”

MAG will say an additional runway could be built either to the north-west or the east of the existing runway, raising its capacity to between 70 and 90 million passengers a year.

An expanded Stansted’s noise impact would be a small fraction of Heathrow’s. Only 1,250 residents currently suffer noise above the 57 decibel average nuisance threshold, compared with 258,500 at Heathrow.

Local campaigners Stop Stansted Expansion said that the MAG proposals were reheating plans put forward back in 2002 that were withdrawn by BAA, the former owners, in 2010.

The campaign group’s chairman, Peter Sanders, said: “We really shouldn’t have to go through this whole argument again just three years after the last threat was lifted. We are profoundly disappointed that MAG has behaved in this opportunistic and irresponsible way.

“With the airport currently operating at only half its permitted capacity a second runway – never mind a four-runway hub double the size of Heathrow today – is completely unnecessary on business grounds and it would be completely unacceptable on environmental grounds.”

MAG bought Stansted from Heathrow early this year for £1.5bn after its former owners were forced to sell by the Competition Commission. The group has said it will invest £230m in transforming the current facilities after years of passenger decline.

The Airports Commission, led by the former Financial Services Authority chief, Sir Howard Davies, set this Friday as a deadline for submitting long-term proposals for new runways. Heathrow and Gatwick are both arguing for extra runways, while London mayor Boris Johnson has argued for new airports in the Thames estuary or Stansted expansion. A shortlist of options will be announced by the end of 2013, with final recommendations published after the 2015 general election.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jul/19/stansted-second-runway-airports-commission

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HERE WE GO AGAIN – SSE SLAMS OPPORTUNISTIC, IRRESPONSIBLE AND POINTLESS EXPANSION PROPOSALS FOR STANSTED

19.7.2013  (Stop Stansted Expansion)

Proposals today from the Manchester Airport Group (MAG) to develop Stansted into a two-runway, or even a four-runway, airport have been described by Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) as “opportunistic, irresponsible and pointless”.

Commenting on the submission to the Airports Commission, SSE Chairman Peter Sanders said: “It is of little consolation that MAG has framed its proposals in an unenthusiastic, half-hearted way which grudgingly admits that it would be ‘willing’ to add an extra runway or runways at Stansted, about 15 years from now, if that’s what the Airports Commission and the Government decide is best. This will be seen by many as an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for any decision to expand the airport.”

The MAG proposals resurrect the expansion options for Stansted put forward by the Government almost exactly eleven years ago, in July 2002. These all came to nothing but it took an eight-year battle before BAA, the former owner of the airport, conceded defeat and withdrew its plans for a second runway.

During that time – from 2002 to 2010 – needless stress and anxiety was caused to those whose homes were threatened by the bulldozer and over a £1billion was wiped off local house prices – all for nothing. Now, just three years later, there is the prospect of another prolonged battle over the same issue.

Peter Sanders added: “We really shouldn’t have to go through this whole argument again just three years after the last threat was lifted. We are profoundly disappointed that MAG has behaved in this opportunistic and irresponsible way.”

“We will be doing everything possible to convince the Airports Commission to reject the idea of any new runways at Stansted. With the airport currently operating at only half its permitted capacity a second runway – never mind a four-runway hub double the size of Heathrow today – is completely unnecessary on business grounds and it would be completely unacceptable on environmental grounds. Even looking 15 years down the line and beyond, there is no case for Stansted to be one of the short-listed options.”

Mr Sanders concluded: “This will once again create widespread blight and uncertainty in the local community, and once again it will prove to be a pointless exercise. As in the past, any proposals for an extra runway or runways at Stansted will be met with fierce local opposition, will be fought tooth and nail, and will ultimately be defeated.”

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS
Today’s proposals from MAG are contained in its submission to the Airports Commission, the independent body, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, which has been given the job of advising Government what, if anything, needs to be done to maintain the UK’s status as a global aviation hub.

It will now be for the Airports Commission to consider MAG’s proposals for Stansted alongside other airport expansion proposals it has received, including for Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham and for a new airport in the Thames Estuary. The Commission will produce a shortlist by the end of the year and will make its final recommendations in two years’ time, in mid-2015.

http://www.stopstanstedexpansion.com/press460.html

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Capacity for Growth –Stansted’s potential to meet air capacity needs

19 July 2013   (Stansted Airport website)

http://www.stanstedairport.com/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/capacity-for-growth-%E2%80%93stansted%E2%80%99s-potential-to-meet-air-capacity-needs

New owners M.A.G have today set out London Stansted’s potential to meet air capacity demand in London and the South East in the short, medium and long-term, and presented a range of options which it believes should be on the Airports Commission’s shortlist for further study in 2014 and 2015.

M.A.G’s submission, ‘Capacity for Growth’, responds to a call for evidence from the Airports Commission which is examining options for meeting the need for additional airport capacity in the South East.

Charlie Cornish, Chief Executive of M.A.G, said:

“Our short-term priority is to make Stansted better for passengers than ever before, and we’ve made major progress in our first four months of ownership, including starting work on an £80 million terminal transformation.

“Stansted is uniquely placed to meet the UK’s aviation capacity needs now and over the next 15 years. Almost overnight, Stansted could double the number of flights it handles without any need for significant investment in new infrastructure.

“Looking to the long-term, the interests of passengers will be best served by a pragmatic approach, focused on delivering new capacity that is cost-effective and flexible, and capable of driving competition across the aviation industry.

“Developing new capacity at a number of airports is likely to be best for passengers.  Should the Commission take a different view and conclude that the UK needs an effective hub to provide international connectivity, then Stansted could certainly fulfil that role in a cost-effective way.”
“Both options should be considered, but whichever path the Commission takes the costs and the environmental impacts of building new capacity at Stansted are likely to be far lower than at alternative locations. From the short term to the long term, Stansted ticks every box.”

The options for Stansted set out in M.A.G’s submission to the Airports Commission include:

  • Options for an additional runway, either to the north-west of the existing runway (with capacity of between 70 – 80 million passengers a year) or to the east of the existing runway (with capacity up to around 90 million passengers a year).
  • An airport with four runways (with capacity of between 140 to 160 million passengers a year) designed and operated as an effective hub airport with good resilience and easy connections for passengers between flights.

The Airports Commission has identified the criteria it will use to evaluate the options for expansion. Stansted is well placed against each of these criteria as a viable, cost competitive expansion option, with lower environmental and social costs than the alternatives.  Of particular note is the fact that even with new runway capacity, Stansted’s noise impacts will be a small fraction of those experienced around Heathrow.

Capacity development at Stansted would support London’s development to the east and along the London-Stansted-Cambridge corridor, and act as a catalyst for growth and productivity in a region that will be critical to driving economic growth in the UK in the future.

Key benefits of further expansion at Stansted include:

  • Stansted is a scaleable and flexible solution to the UK’s aviation capacity needs – able to offer additional capacity and then grow incrementally to two, three or four runways in the future.
  • Fewer residents are exposed to noise at Stansted than at other major airports in the South East; 258,500 at Heathrow compared to 1,250 at Stansted.
  • The space for additional runways, terminals, roads and rail connections is more readily available at Stansted than at alternatives.
  • Stansted is likely to represent the most cost-effective solution for the country. It is estimated a on-airport cost of developing a four-runway hub at Stansted would around £10bn – much less than the cost of an Estuary Airport or expansion at Heathrow.

M.A.G Airports Commission Submissions

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Stansted: four runway expansion would cost £10bn

Stansted could be developed into a four-runway airport capable of handling up to 160 million passengers a year for £10 billlion, its owners have said.

VILLAGE OF MOLEHILL GREEN ON THE BORDERS OF STANSTED AIRPORT

Stansted currently serves around 17.5m passengers a year. Photo: Paul Grover

19 Jul 2013  (Telegraph)

Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which bought Stansted for £1.5bn in February, has set out several options for expanding the Essex airport, including transforming it into a four-runway hub which could serve between 140m and 160m passengers a year.

The group has also presented the Government-appointed Davies Commission with options on where it could build a second runway at Stansted, to the north-west of the existing runway or to the east.

Stansted has found itself at the heart of the debate over where to build new runways in the South East of England, with the Mayor of London suggesting it is one of the locations where a new four-runway airport could be built to replace Heathrow.

Gatwick has suggested Stansted could form part of a “constellation” of two-runway airports to serve London.

MAG, which bought Stansted from BAA, said “both options should be considered” although it added: “Developing new capacity at a number of airports is likely to be best for passengers.”

Stansted, which sought planning permission for a second runway in 2008, only for the proposal to be scrapped, argues fewer local residents in its vicinity are exposed to noise than at any other of the major airports in London.

A second runway to the north-west of its existing runway would allow the airport to handle 70-80m passengers a year.

A second runway to the east would boost the airport’s capacity to 90m passengers a year, according to documents released this morning.

The airport, which has been in decline since 2007, currently handles 17.5m passengers a year although it could accommodate as many as 40m-45m without building any additional runways.

MAG estimates it would cost around £10bn to transform Stansted into a four-runway “super hub”, although this doesn’t include the cost of improvements to rail and road links.

This compares to the estimated £14bn-£18bn cost of adding a third runway at Heathrow or the £50bn price tag for a new airport in the Thames Estuary.

Charlie Cornish, chief executive of MAG, said: “Both options should be considered, but whichever path the Commission takes the costs and the environmental impacts of building new capacity at Stansted are likely to be far lower than at alternative locations. From the short-term to the long-term, Stansted ticks every box.”

Stansted has published its proposals as the deadline closes today for submissions to the Airports Commission, which is chaired by former Financial Services Authority boss Sir Howard Davies.

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson backed a new airport on the Isle of Grain in north Kent as his preferred option for solving Britain’s aviation logjam, although he also put forward proposals for transforming Stansted.

Heathrow hit back on Wednesday with plans for a third runway at three potential sites, one at the village of Stanwell Moor in Surrey , the second at Harmondsworth in Middlesex and the third at Sipson north of the airport.

Gatwick will publicly publish its full report on Tuesday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10190194/Stansted-four-runway-expansion-would-cost-10bn.html

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